Despite restrictions on money and free time partying is integral to North Korean culture. But how does it compare to cutting loose in the South?

Based on the popular image of the DPRK the idea of “having fun in North Korea” might appear as mere black comedy. Life is, indeed, hard for the average North Korean, and the usual enablers of fun – free time and disposable income – are in short supply.

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In South Korea an excellent road and rail network means that anywhere in the country is within easy reach and people have money to spend on a seemingly endless range of diversions. None of these things are true of North Korea. South Koreans are also not required to attend “self-criticism” sessions and neighbourhood meetings on a regular basis.

However, just like the rest of the world, North Koreans still seek out opportunities to enjoy themselves.

Eumjugamu: an important part of life

The literal meaning of eumjugamu is “drinking, music, and dancing.” The three tend to go together and nowhere more so than in the two Koreas. Although one will very rarely read of it in a “serious” English language book about Korea, Eumjugamu is an important part of life.

Anyone who has spent time in South Korea will attest to the joys of a night out drinking beer and soju (a colourless spirit traditionally based on potatoes or rice), followed by an hour or two in a noraebang (karaoke) room. And as we approach seven decades of division in Korea, the spirit of eumjugamu –

which can be traced back to shamanic tradition and ancient festivals like Dano – is so deeply rooted in Korean culture that those in the North still have an undimmed love for it.



Eumjugamu – drinking, music, dancing – is an important part of life

The DPRK’s leaders have certainly been no exception. Kim Jong-il was known for his love of partying. He was a particularly heavy drinker, who favoured expensive Hennessy cognac. His circle was noted for its alcohol consumption, and his son Kim Jong-un appears to be following suit.

But what of the ordinary North Koreans’ drinking habits? It is impossible for the average North Korean to afford the tequila enjoyed by Kim Jong-un. Most will only have had state-produced drinks like Yangdok-Sul or the famed Taedonggang beer on special occasions , and will probably never have tried any of the powerful fruit-based brews (such as Paektusan Blueberry Wine) that can be bought by foreigners on visits to the country.

Other spirits on sale to tourists include a strong, hangover-inducing pine mushroom soju, and a peculiar alcohol that is apparently made from seal penis.

Customarily, bottles of alcoholic drinks were distributed on the birthdays of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, at New Year, and on the 9 of September – the day the DPRK was founded. These were not working days, so drunkenness was a given.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soju is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Korea. Photograph: Tracy A Woodward/Getty Images

Today however such distributions are much less reliable.Since this is the era of grassroots capitalism in North Korea, there now exists a growing private trade in alcohol. Mass-market beer is also available , but soju is the most cost-effective and legal way of getting drunk in North Korea.

North Koreans have also always enjoyed homemade moonshine, or nongtaegi. For the majority – especially those in the countryside with little or no disposable income – this remains the only option. Typically, homebrewing will be rudimentary, using corn, fruit or ginseng left to ferment in a bottle or jar, and buried under a pile of clothes for warmth.

The hangover produced by this type of alcohol is considered rather exceptional. Though nongtaegi is illegal, any efforts to stop its production are doomed to failure. Those whose job it is to eradicate it often enjoy it as much as anyone else.

According to one defector, around 80-90% of North Korean men drink every day. There is even a popular song, “Weol, hwa, su, mok, geum, to, il Banju”, which can be translated as “Drink on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday”.

A world away in the capital Pyongyang, the growing elite means that new bars and restaurants are springing up all the time. There are several microbrewery bars that produce their own lagers and ales on site.

Whiskey is prized, and not just as a drink in itself, but also as a kind of currency: a bottle of decent whiskey can make a policeman look the other way, a professor award a top grade, or, indeed, gain a foreign tourist special treatment.

Cutting loose at house parties

Unlike in South Korea, house parties are very common in the North. In a country where public behaviour is subject to a relatively high degree of control, a party at home is a natural way of cutting loose.

University students in Pyongyang live with their parents, just as their counterparts in Seoul do. This makes it difficult for them to party at home – but their solution is to convene in abandoned buildings, of which there are many in the city.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, many students actually enjoy being sent away to the countryside to participate in compulsory agricultural labour: though it infuriates parents to see their children being taken away from the lecture hall to do menial work far away from home, the students themselves use it as an opportunity to party every night and meet members of the opposite sex.

Guitars and karaoke

Among all social classes in North Korea, parties are often enlivened by someone producing a guitar or other instrument, and leading a sing-along. Soju helps the good times roll, and even if the electricity runs out (as it probably will), the house party will keep going by candlelight.



Noraebang machines that hold a library of songs ready for karaoke can also sometimes be found in the homes of wealthier citizens . These machines are the mainstays of singing rooms in South Korea, but it would come as a surprise to most people in Seoul to imagine Pyongyangites keeping them in their apartments.

Soju helps the good times roll, and even if the electricity runs out (as it probably will)

These days, North Koreans also have increased access to foreign music, largely made possible by the MP3 player. Cheap players are brought in from China (as well as the MP3 files themselves).

North Korean pop songs could never be accused of being “cool.” There are plenty of love songs, of course, but their lyrics tend to be rather sanitised. Then there are the songs that no young person really wants to listen to at all: those that praise the ruling family, exhort the listener to work diligently, or deliver nostalgic memories of home towns and mothers. By contrast South Korean pop is about love, sex, and break-ups.

‘Goat chimneys’

Cigarette smoking is common among North Korean men of all social classes. A man who smokes heavily may be referred to in old slang as a yeom-so guldduk – literally meaning “goat chimney”, on account of a famous North Korean cartoon of a smoking goat. Some roll their own cigarettes with pages taken from the state newspaper Rodong Sinmun (though carefully avoiding the tearing of any pictures of ruling family members), and others choose among the dozens of local cigarette brands available in North Korea.

Kim Jong-un himself is a smoker, just as his father and grandfather were. And for the benefit of hardcore Pyongyangologists, it can be revealed here that his preference is for a hitherto little-known local brand named 7.27, named after the date on which the Korean War ended – 27 July. 727 is also used on the number plates of cars driven by the upper elite.



A man who smokes heavily may be referred to in old slang as a yeom-so guldduk - literally, 'goat chimney'

Probably the most well-known cigarette brand outside of North Korea is Pyongyang. These are not the best local cigarettes, though. That honour apparently goes to Craven A. The cigarettes otherwise known as “Cat” – due to the image used as its logo – make an excellent low-level bribe.

Since the year 2000 the government has sporadically engaged in anti-smoking campaigns, with Kim Jong-il himself having described smokers as being among the “three greatest fools” of the 21st century – the others were those who do not appreciate music, and those who are not computer literate.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Members of the Korean People’s Army light cigarettes in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photograph: Eric Lafforgue/Barcroft Media

Other narcotics

In 2013 the international media worked itself up into a state of excitement over North Korea’s apparent status as a weed-smoker’s paradise, but this proved to be a drastic exaggeration. As with many other countries the world over, hemp has long been considered a beneficial plant by Koreans.

As recently as the 1930s, the hemp plant was cultivated in every single province of Korea: many considered it an alternative to tobacco, something else suitable for filling out a hand-rolled cigarette.

Interviews with defectors also suggest that North Koreans are not serious consumers of marijuana. The drug of choice is, in fact, something much more pernicious: crystal meth.

Meth, known colloquially as eoreum or bingdu (both mean “ice”, a name by which the drug is also known in the US) is a drug unfortunately suited to the realities of life in North Korea: it is cheap, requires no elaborate equipment or specialist knowledge to make, and keeps the weary and hungry on their feet – at least until they become addicts.

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The seeds of North Korea’s meth problem were sown by the state. The regime has long relied on illicit business activities (including drug manufacture) to shore up its finances and help fill the coffers of “Office 39”, the group that exists to make money for the ruling family.

In a short space of time, meth has spread throughout North Korean society, addicting urbanites.

Elites probably smoke more than anyone else though, as they have more money to spend. Several sources claim that taking a hit in front of others involves little stigma, even among respectable middle-aged ajumma meth is also used as a substitute for medicine: many people with chronic diseases who lack the money to pay for proper treatment turn to it for temporary pain relief.

This is an edited extract from North Korea Confidential by Daniel Tudor and James Pearson, which will published in the UK by Tuttle on 14 April 2015

Daniel Tudor is the former Korea correspondent for The Economist and a regular columnist for the Korean newspaper Joongang Ilbo. James Pearson is a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Seoul, covering North and South Korea.