North Korea has decided to call all steam bath businesses “saunas” and is replacing signboards accordingly. The North Korean authorities\u2014who demand linguistic purity through the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act\u2014have sparked local interest by exceptionally approving the use of a foreign word.<\/p>\n
“Steam baths currently in operation and steam baths inside newly built general amenity facilities received an order signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to use the appropriate term for their business in mid-February,” a Daily NK source in South Pyongan province said recently.<\/p>\n
Kim’s order comes amid North Korea’s recent emphasis on improving people’s lives, including efforts to construct and modernize various amenities. At its core, the order seeks to unify the vague terminology used for these facilities.<\/p>\n
A typical example is the directive to switch from hanjeungtang<\/em>\u2014the Korean word for steam bath\u2014to “sauna.” North Koreans find this interesting because the state has officially approved using a foreign word.<\/p>\n