Are medals some decorative trinkets?

South Korea is not the only country that is fascinated by the secretive North Korea. The same goes for China. Recently, a Chinese entertainment internet site 56ent.com posted a collection of photos titled, “Hard to get photos of North Korean soldiers.” These photos exposed North Korean soldiers covered in badges and medals as well as young students in military training.

The interesting thing is that the people with the badges stuck on their chest are not only retired officers, but soldiers still in service.

First, students from the Revolutionary Academy are introduced. In response, netizens questioned, “Are medals some decorative ornament in North Korea?” ridiculing that the medals were awarded to soldiers at such a young age.

Furthermore, Chinese people find it interesting that the majority of students from the revolutionary academy, whose parents performed meritorious deeds and died for the country wear badges inherited from their parents.

In response to a picture of students training near the beach, netizens even added sympathetic comments “The students are training so hard...” At an age where these North Korean students should be at school learning, they are denied an education and forced to train for the military.

The photos were originally uploaded on baidu.com and were moved to another portal site “Junjingshequ” while gaining much publicity by netizens.

▲ Netizens question, “Are Medals Decorative Ornaments in North Korea?” ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ Retired servicemen wearing an arrangement of medals sit at a park playing cards ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ Three girls attending the revolutionary academy. If you look closely, you can see the differences in the badges and medals worn by the girls. ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ A naval officer sitting down absorbed in deep thought. ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ Demonstrating military artillery with the notion “friendly North Korean military comrades.” ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ Netizens fascinated by North Korean soldiers participating in the mass gymnastics performance in the form of cultural art. ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ “Going to help the people in rice-planting.” From the responses, it seems that Chinese people do not understand why the People’s Army is forced to help in economic construction and farming, even though the nation is not in a fatal situation. ⓒ 56ent.com

▲ Students from the Red Young Guards participating in military drills ⓒ 56ent.com