22 Really Bizarre Facts About The Most Orwellian Society On Earth

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a truly Orwellian society where there is absolutely no freedom of speech, absolutely no freedom of religion and absolutely no freedom of the press?  You may think that the rules that you are currently living under are bad, but the country that I am about to discuss exercises total control over the population.  In this nation, you can only choose a haircut off a pre-approved list, and smiling on the wrong day can literally get you sent to a prison camp.  Unfortunately, once you are sent to a prison camp you will be worked day and night until you either starve or drop dead.

Of course the country that I am talking about is North Korea.  The following are 22 really bizarre facts about the most Orwellian society on Earth…

#1 The first “Great Leader” of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, is deeply revered in North Korea.  In fact, there are approximately 40,000 statues of Kim Il-sung scattered all throughout the nation.

#2 In North Korea, it is believed that “destroying a statue is the most hideous insult to our supreme authority and our people and is an act of war no less serious than an armed invasion”.

#3 Hanging up pictures of founder Kim Il-sung is compulsory for every household in North Korea.

#4 It is against the law for citizens of North Korea to smile on the 8th of July.  If you break this law, you can be sent to a prison camp or in some cases you could even be executed…

Everyone loves a smile. But what if there were laws on when you could do it? Sound nuts? Believe it or not, it’s against the law for North Koreans to smile on July 8, the anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s death.

If Citizens do happen to break the law for this rule, they could be sent to concentration camps or even pay with their lives. The same goes for being loud, drinking, or having a birthday party. So, whatever you do, don’t smile on July 8.

#5 After he died, the body of Kim Il-sung was embalmed and it still lies in state in Pyongyang.

#6 The same thing was done to the body of Kim Jong-il when he died…

North Korea has announced that the body of late leader Kim Jong-il will lie in state permanently at a palace in the capital, Pyongyang.

His body will be displayed at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace alongside his father, Kim Il-sung.

#7 The North Korean people were told that Kim Jong-il actually bowled a perfect game the first time he ever tried bowling…

Kim Jong Il’s mythology is no less extensive. His birth was hailed as “heaven sent” by propagandists, and state media has often touted impossible feats: He scored a perfect 300 the first time he tried bowling, and shot five holes-in-one the first time he played golf. Upon his death in 2011, the skies about the sacred mountain Paektu in North Korea allegedly glowed red.

#8 The Constitution of North Korea actually guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press…

Citizens are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, demonstration and association.

The State shall guarantee conditions for the free activity of democratic political parties and social organizations.

#9 The Constitution of North Korea also guarantees freedom of religion…

Citizens have freedom of religious beliefs. This right is granted by approving the construction of religious buildings and the holding of religious ceremonies.

#10 In 1987, North Korea began construction on the Ryugyong Hotel, which would have been the tallest hotel in the world at that time if it had been finished on schedule in 1989.  Instead, construction of the bizarre 105 story skyscraper that somewhat resembles a pyramid was suspended in 1992, and the unfinished structure was just a massive concrete shell towering over Pyongyang completely empty for the next 16 years.  Work began once again on the project in 2008, but it is still unfinished to this day…

That pointy building in the center of the capital Pyongyang is the Ryugyong Hotel, also known as “the hotel of doom.” At a height of 1,079 feet (329 meters), it is the tallest unoccupied building in the world, according to Guinness World Records. Construction on the abandoned residence began in 1987 and has stopped and started several times over three decades due to North Korea’s economic woes.

#11 One of North Korea’s greatest national treasures is the Pueblo – a U.S. naval vessel that the North Koreans captured from “the imperialist Americans” back in 1968…

USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is a Banner-class environmental research ship, placed into service during World War II, then converted to a spy ship in 1967 by the United States Navy. She gathered intelligence and oceanographic information, monitoring electronic and radio signals from North Korea. On 23 January 1968, the ship was attacked and captured by a North Korean vessel, in what became known as the “Pueblo incident”.

#12 Current leader Kim Jong-un didn’t like the rules of basketball, and so he radically changed them…

Even the country’s sports are isolated from the rest of the world. Kim Jong-un apparently didn’t like the OG way basketball was played, so decided to rewrite it. The North Korean basketball rules say that slam dunks are worth three points and field goals in the final three minutes of the game are worth eight points.

#13 Police in North Korea are often given promotions when they are able to to identify and arrest Christians…

North Korea’s secret police, the Ministry of State Security, are incentivized with promotions when they apprehend Christians and other believers.

“Those charged with Christianity often face execution or are forced to live out the rest of their lives in political prison camps,” testified Inje Hwang, an investigator with Korea Future Initiative, during a webinar hosted by USCIRF.

#14 Children in North Korea are taught that Christian missionaries suck the blood of children…

Even children are taught from a young age to be suspicious of Christianity.

“In schools, young children are taught that Christian missionaries are spies of the countries who seek opportunities to invade North Korea and they’re shown graphic images of missionaries sucking the blood of children to show how malicious they are,” said Suyeon Yoo, co-director of Korea Future Initiative. “And they are taken to state-run exhibition halls where religious adherents are presented as murderers, spies, and where Bibles are displayed as trophies taken from enemies of the state.”

#15 Christians are executed in some of the most brutal ways imaginable in North Korea.  In one case, a group of Christians was crushed to death by a steamroller…

“While Interviewee 17 was in the North Korean Army, his unit was dispatched to widen the highway between Pyongyang and the nearby port city of Nampo. They were demolishing a vacated house in Yongkang county, Yongkang district town, when in a basement between two bricks they found a Bible and a small notebook that contained 25 names, one identified as pastor, two as chon-do-sa (assistant pastors), two as elders, and 20 other names, apparently parishioners, identified by their occupations. The soldiers turned the Bible and notebook over to the local branch of Department 15 of the Korean Workers Party (KWP), but the Party officials said it was up to the military police unit, Bowisaryungbu gigwanwon, to investigate. Tracked down at their place of work through the listing of occupation in the notebook, the 25 persons were picked up without formal arrest by the military bowibu. The interviewee was not aware of any judicial procedures for those seized. In November 1996, the 25 were brought to the road construction site. Four concentric rectangular rows of spectators were assembled to watch the execution. Interviewee 17 was in the first row. The five leaders to be executed – the pastor, two assistant pastors, and two elders – were bound hand and foot and made to lie down in front of a steamroller. This steamroller was a large construction vehicle imported from Japan with a heavy, huge, and wide steel roller mounted on the front to crush and level the roadway prior to pouring concrete. The other twenty persons were held just to the side. The condemned were accused of being Kiddokyo (Protestant Christian) spies and conspiring to engage in subversive activities. Nevertheless, they were told, “If you abandon religion and serve only Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, you will not be killed.” None of the five said a word. Some of the fellow parishioners assembled to watch the execution cried, screamed out, or fainted when the skulls made a popping sound as they were crushed beneath the steamroller. Interviewee 17 thought, at the time, that these church people were crazy. He thought then that religion was an “opiate,” and it was stupid for them to give up their lives for religion. He heard from the soldiers who took away the other twenty prisoners that they were being sent to a prison camp.”

#16 It has been estimated that over 150,000 people live in six giant North Korean concentration camps…

All the fanciful and funny myths about North Korea’s dictators cover up a disturbing truth, however: Some 154,000 North Koreans live in prison camps, according to South Korean government estimates. (Other international bodies put the number at closer to 200,000). There are six camps, surrounded by electrified barbed wire. Two camps allow for some “rehabilitation” and release of prisoners, according to “Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West” (Viking, 2012). The rest are prisons for life.

#17 The conditions that prisoners must endure in North Korea are absolutely deplorable…

Extrajudicial executions, rape, forced abortions, jail without trial, torture, starvation rations that leave prisoners so hungry some turn to eating insects.

These are just some of the abuses commonplace in North Korean prisons and other detention facilities, according to former detainees whose testimony forms the basis of a new report released by a human rights watchdog this week.

#18 A song entitled “No Motherland Without You” was written specifically for Kim Jong-il, and it is one of the most popular songs in North Korea.  It is regularly sung by the North Korean military.

#19 Most Americans don’t know that the North Koreans have developed a nuclear missile that can “reach anywhere in the U.S. mainland”…

North Korea said Monday leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to develop more powerful means of attack, days after the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years.

The statement suggests North Korea might perform additional launches or even test a nuclear device soon as it pushes to modernize its arsenal and increase pressure on the Biden administration while nuclear diplomacy remains stalled. Last Thursday, the North performed its 12th round of weapons tests this year, launching the newly developed, long-range Hwasong-17, which analysts say was designed to reach anywhere in the U.S. mainland.

#20 North Korea has successfully tested an undersea drone that is reportedly similar to Russia’s Poseidon doomsday weapon…

According to KCNA, the test was personally overseen by dictator Kim Jong-un, who wanted to warn the U.S. and South Korea they are causing a “nuclear crisis” with their “intentional, persistent, and provocative war drills.”

North Korea’s state Rodong Sinmun newspaper published a photo of Kim standing next to a large torpedo, which may or may not have been the undersea drone. The article also included photos that purportedly showed the drone maneuvering underwater and then kicking up a pillar of water, depth-charge style, when its test warhead detonated.

#21 Kim Jong-un has repeatedly threatened to nuke South Korea.  Here is just one example…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons to destroy South Korea if attacked, state media reported Friday, after South Korea’s president warned that if the North used nuclear weapons it would “face the end of its regime.”

The fiery rhetoric isn’t new, but comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula and just weeks after North Korean state media released images of Kim visiting a uranium enrichment facility, which produces weapons-grade nuclear materials.

#22 Kim Jong-un has also threatened to “thoroughly annihilate” the United States…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to “thoroughly annihilate” the United States and South Korea if provoked, state media reported Monday, after he vowed to boost national defense to cope with what he called an unprecedented U.S.-led confrontation.

Even knowing all this, I would love to visit North Korea someday.

But those that visit are certainly not guaranteed to get out alive.

A woman named Yeonmi Park knows what daily life in North Korea is like, because she was born there.  By the age of 13, she had literally witnessed people drop dead from starvation right in front of her eyes.  Thankfully, she was able to escape North Korea for a better life.

In 2016, Park transferred from the university that she was studying at in South Korea to Columbia University here in the United States.  Initially she was very excited to be able to study in this country, but once she started attending classes she quickly realized that “even North Korea isn’t this nuts”…

A North Korean defector said she viewed the US as country of free thought and free speech – until she went to college here.

Yeonmi Park attended Columbia University and was immediately struck by what she viewed anti-Western sentiment in the classroom and a focus on political correctness that had her thinking “even North Korea isn’t this nuts.”

It is so easy to mock North Korea, but the truth is that much of the rest of the world has been going down the same Orwellian path.

Hopefully there will be some positive changes now that a new administration is in power here in the United States.

But in most nations, basic freedoms are being eroded at a staggering rate.

Liberty is such a precious thing, and once it is lost it can be exceedingly difficult to ever get back.

Just ask the people of North Korea.

Michael’s new  book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new  book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other  books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s  books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

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