North Koreans tend to be heavy drinkers and enjoy hard spirits. There aren’t many bars, but alcohol can be drunk in restaurants or bought at the market or at factories to drink at home.

When I was in North Korea there was only one restaurant in my home town which served liquor, and it was run by Chinese people. The restaurant was popular, at least for those who could afford it.



Until 2000 North Koreans weren’t used to dining out so they usually drank at home. But by 2010 we had become familiar with eating in restaurants after coming into contact with South Korean and Chinese cultures.

There are also some kiosks at North Korean markets where people drink, although they have to do this secretly as it is illegal to sell booze in open markets.

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We also buy booze directly from factories that make it. You may ask how this happens in non-capitalist North Korea? Well, people go directly there and pay cash, or buy it through someone they know who works there.

North Korea has many kinds of alcohol but it can be divided into two categories: Number One, made exclusively for the Dear General (the ruling Kim), and Number Two, for everyone else.

You cannot buy Number One booze from the market, although you can get hold of it if you’re well-connected.

Number One alcohol is made from potatoes and has the best taste. It also doesn’t give such a hangover the next morning. Apart from potato-based alcohol, berries and acorns are also used to make liquor.

In the past, only domestic booze was allowed to be sold in the markets but these days you can also find imported drinks, including Chinese liquor. The most widely seen foreign alcohol is the famous Kaoliang Liquor from China.

Most North Korean booze has a high percentage of alcohol and Chinese Kaoliang Liquor (46-50%) is really popular.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has a drink during a toast in Pyongyang. Photograph: AP

Home brew

Home breweries and distilleries are not permitted in North Korea but so many people do this and sell their products at local markets that authorities are not able to stop them.

In my town, one out of every 10 households made alcohol at home. The most widely used ingredients were potatoes and corn. The liquor produced here tends to be stronger than in other regions because of the particularly harsh winters.

North Koreans have a different name for soju, South Korea’s most popular spirit – we call it nongtaegi. It is usually about 20-25% alcohol, but in my hometown it is about 28-30%.

My mother was one of those making liquor at home and selling it. She usually made corn-based drinks.

She would mix corn powder with yeast and put it on a heated floor, covered in a blanket, for 10 hours.

You have to watch it to make sure that it doesn’t get too hot. When she saw malt forming at the top of the liquid she would pour it into a jar and mix it with warm water and wait until it became fermented.

After that, she poured it in the gamasot (cauldron) and boiled it. When it started boiling and steaming, that’s the magical moment when the liquid becomes what we call “liquor”. The final product was always transparent and had a soft taste.

I can remember getting drunk after gulping down a mug of the liquor-in-the-making from my mother’s gamasot. While she was away, my friend and I began drinking one cup after another.

We got drunk and I can’t remember what happened after that. But my mother told us later that when she got home the house looked as if a big storm had swept through it.

We don’t know what exactly we did to trash the house but we know for sure that we kept giggling and had a good time. That’s what alcohol does to you, right? I have to admit, my friend and I kept drinking secretly whenever my mother was not home after that.

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Family tradition

I wasn’t the only one in the family who appreciated booze. My father was another who greatly enjoyed drinking. There was a beer factory near my house and my dad and his friends would bring abut 50 litres of beer home and drink all night.

They would joke and say, “We drink beer so we can go to the toilet more often”. That’s how bad their humour was.

People in my home town considered beer a soft drink and both adults and children would drink it.

The legal drinking age in North Korea is 18 but no one seems to care about that. It is normal for children to go shopping on errands for their parents so shop keepers will sell them alcohol without any hesitation.

At New Year and on public holidays, adults will recommend a drink or two to boys around the age of 15. In Korean culture it is rude for younger people to smoke next to adults but it is fine to drink along with older people.

I would always drink with my father. I became his favourite drinking companion and I can’t wait to toast and drink with him again one day.

Je Son Lee left North Korea in 2011. She is in her late 20s. A version of this article first appeared on NK News - North Korea News