5 curious things that are prohibited in North Korea

1 - Sleep while the "Supreme Master" speaks

Have you ever slept during a company meeting where you work? Know that in North Korea you could die for it. Former Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol was publicly executed at the end of April this year by an anti-aircraft battery fire. Yong was sentenced to death for falling asleep during an event with dictator Kim Jong-un and not following orders.

No "Hallelujah, Lord!"

If you have a Bible and for some reason plan to visit North Korea, leave it at home. Jeffrey Fowle, 56, did not do this and was arrested in June last year. He was detained for five months for leaving a Bible in the bathroom of a restaurant, because independent expressions of religiousness in the country are prohibited. Fowle was released after talks between the US and Korean government.

3 - Kinship arrest

North Koreans who have some kind of relationship to someone who has been charged with a crime are considered co-responsible and are arrested as well. The argument made for such a condemnation is that it is the same blood running in the veins (same ideology of the Sippenhaft concept used in Nazi Germany).

4 - Do not see or hear anything foreign

North Korean residents are prohibited from watching or listening to any foreign media. The punishments may be lighter, such as imprisonment for up to three years for anyone caught watching a Russian or Indian movie, or the death penalty for American or South Korean media.

5 - If you are not a government official, do not drive

One in 100 people in North Korea owns a car. This statistic can be explained by the prohibitions in this regard. Not only can people who have ties to the government buy cars, no woman, not even the traffic guards who work as “human traffic lights” (since electronics are turned off almost all year), can drive.