Citizens are not allowed to have any fun for 11 days to commemorate the death of Kim Jong-il.
To mark the death anniversary of Kim Jong-un’s father, North Korean citizens are banned from laughing, consuming alcohol and engaging in leisure activities during an 11 day period of mourning.
The 11-day mourning period began on December 17, the 10th anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s death.
While death and grief are obviously always difficult to deal with, surely getting lit and enjoying a few funny stories would make it a little easier.
“During the mourning period, we must not drink alcohol, laugh or engage in leisure activities,” Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service reported an unnamed resident saying.
The anniversary usually calls for a 10-day mourning period but this year it was extended by another day to mark the decade of the leader’s death.
If a resident breaks the rules they can be arrested. In the past, residents who were found guilty were treated as “ideological criminals.” The unnamed resident said, “They were taken away and never seen again.”
In addition to the ‘no laughing’ rules, residents are not allowed to go grocery shopping and “People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period,” the unnamed resident was quoted saying.
Sounds like a shit deal if you’re born on December 18.
Worse than that, if a household experiences a death, bereaved family members are not allowed to cry out loud. The body, the report said, must be taken out after it’s over.
The anniversary is just shining a light on how difficult and messed up it is to be living in a hermit kingdom.
