Culture
Information related to the North Korean culture and culture in North Korea
Ask a North Korean: How do North Korea’s traffic laws work?
"In most regions outside of Pyongyang, there isn’t much traffic at all and traffic lights are rare"
Ask a North Korean: Does religion survive in North Korea?
"The underground church in North Korea has been almost completely destroyed"
Fresh off the boat: A diplomat’s first impressions of Pyongyang
Martina Åberg Somogyi has been stationed at the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang since August
Lifestyles of the loyalists: How North Korea’s upper classes live
Viewed in context, Pyongyang's elites live relatively humble existences
Facts unknown: Navigating North Korea’s elephant in the dark
The nature of North Korean studies means researchers are often unsure what is true or false
Ask a North Korean: How many North Koreans read Chinese characters?
"I had always wanted to learn Chinese. I memorized 3000 characters by myself in my spare time"
The artist tracking North Korea’s statue-building projects in Africa
Onejoon Che hopes to understand the significance of the Mansudae Art Project
Just war? How North Korea portrayed the Korean War
Early depictions of the conflict emphasized stoic bravery in the face of the "Yankee" invaders
Strictly business: The sex lives of North Koreans
With laws imported from the USSR, sex remains a culturally taboo topic
How North Korean magazines undermined 1980’s Soviet propaganda
The magazines, a throwback to old-school Stalinism, were widely derided by Soviet dissidents