Army, military – these are among the first things that come to mind when one hears the words “North Korea.” Many have seen North Korean military parades or drills on TV. But how do soldiers of the Korean People’s Army live when parades are over?

There are very few articles dedicated to answering these questions. First, the army is rarely studied from a sociologist’s point of view. Usually books about military are dedicated either to a war it has fought in or to the military equipment an army has, not to the life of its soldiers.