A Glimpse at North Korea: Diet and Dress

You see slim people as a rule and perhaps a few lightly overweight people of the nomenclatura, if you happen to catch a glimpse at them. People walk more and eat less calories. You don’t see starving people, but if the “happy” ones just have enough to survive, how about people in the lesser developed regions or in labour camps? You don’t see starving people, you don’t see labour camps, if someone shows you pictures with condemning subtitles, and it’s simply bad journalism, which should only be published in the tabloid press. Some people even try to convince you of cannibalism; I think that’s propaganda – as if the data you get on North Korea wouldn’t be sinister enough.


You don’t see people in rags, people are uniformly but well dressed. Everyone wears a Kim Il Song or Kim Jong Il button on the left breast. There are a few places where people may go to swim like some beaches, which are restricted. But you see swim wear, which excels the 1950ies US in conservatism and shyness.