Tag: ideology
Pyongyang tenants haul water up dark stairwells
A worsening Pyongyang power shortage has left the capital’s new high-rises without elevators or running water in fall 2026. Rather than fixing the problem,...
Fearing a slip, North Koreans avoid saying “unification”
North Koreans still think of South Koreans as members of the same nation, but many now fear those words could slip out at the...
Listening to how North Koreans talk
A film I watched recently added Korean subtitles to a conversation between North Korean characters, as though they were speaking a foreign language. Eight...
Farmer confronts party official about state propaganda
A Workers’ Party official in North Hamgyong province was left red-faced after a middle-aged farmer openly rebuffed his call to emulate the heroes of...
North Korean journalists trade reporting for ideology drills
North Korea has launched a sweeping ideological campaign targeting its own journalists in October 2026, timed to the 80th anniversary of the Korean Journalists’...
Hoeryong lectures target Chinese phone users
North Korean intelligence officers in North Hamgyong province used neighborhood lectures in mid-October 2026 to attack secret users of Chinese mobile phones. Visiting towns...
Pyongyang ties loyalty to Kim mausoleum donations
Pyongyang authorities have launched a Kumsusan Palace of the Sun fundraising drive that runs through the end of 2026. Officials call the campaign voluntary,...
North Korea screens young single women for factory jobs in China
North Korea has begun final screening of unmarried female workers in their 20s bound for jobs in China, and they could start work at...
North Korea uses DMZ landmine blast to step up student military...
North Korean authorities are using last month’s DMZ landmine explosion to justify tougher military drills for high school students. In anti-South Korea lectures, officials...
North Koreans dodge style patrols as constitution enshrines the socialist lifestyle
North Koreans are finding quiet ways around the socialist lifestyle crackdown in 2026, even after Kim Jong Un’s government wrote the campaign into the...
