Collection of Insane and Fun Facts
North Korea is obsessed with Choco Pies from South Korea. There’s a black market for them, and factories once used them to pay worker bonuses. In 2010, The Chosun Ilbo reported that choco pies could fetch as much as US$9.50 on the North Korean black market. In 2014, S Korean activists sent 10K pies to NK with helium balloons. After an injured NK defector crossed the DMZ in 2017, he was given a lifetime supply.
The CIA parachuted hundreds of people into North Korea throughout the 1950s to start resistance networks and, despite never hearing from most of them again, continued to parachute more in until an inquiry in the 1970s questioned the morality of such an initiative.
South Koreans have grown 3 inches taller than their North Koreans counterparts. They are genetically the same and have been living similar lives till divide in the last century. The nutritional difference of only 50/60 years has caused this difference.
North Korea plays basketball with different rules. Slam Dunks are 3 pts, Three-point “nothing but net” shots are worth 4 pts, and teams lose points when they miss free throws.
North Korea had used ‘poo bombs’ – balloons carrying packages of used toilet roll, on South Korea. Military officials there were forced to open and check those ‘packages’ for possible biochemical weapons.
North Korean spies stationed abroad have to receive training on how to shop in supermarkets, use credit cards and visit clubs, as these amenities are not commonplace in North Korea.
North Korea had a show called “Let’s trim our hair in accordance with the socialist lifestyle”.
Larry Abshier, a US soldier in the Korean War, defected to North Korea because he was caught smoking pot. He lived with four other American defectors and was cast in several North Korean films where he became a celebrity.
During truce talks between North and South Korea, each country would attempt to have the biggest flag on their table. If S.K. brought a large table flag, the N.K. would bring an even larger flag to the next meeting. This ended when both parties had a meeting which set table flag size standards.
One of North Korea’s largest exports is giant statues of foreign dictators.