Hair salons, flowers, and smiles

Russian state television broadcasts a series of glowing reports about life in North Korea

Earlier this month, a morning program on Russian station television started airing short news segments from Pyongyang. In each broadcast, Pervyi Kanal correspondent Marina Kim focuses on one aspect of the apparently wonderful lives enjoyed by North Koreans. Meduza reviews the content of these strange broadcasts from the world's last remaining Communist dictatorship.

August 17: Happy intersections and sidewalk dancing

Every morning, a young woman traffic controller takes her position at a crossroads and greets drivers “with a smile, military poise, and a perfectly ironed uniform.” The roads are half empty, even at rush hour, though there’s pandemonium on the embankment, where pedestrians are playing sports and dancing. It’s also crowded in the city’s main square, where housewives send off their husbands “into the labor force” with flags, drums, and songs. At six in the evening, the streets fill with people, but they’re headed to dances and night school, before returning home. By 8 p.m., the streets start to empty, and Pyongyang is asleep by 10, “in order to wake with the dawn.”

August 18: Fashion

In the past five years, Pyongyang has witnessed a fashion boom. Girls have started wearing bright colors. All the skirts go down to the knees. “Pyongyang is moving in step with Paris and Milan, and monochrome is in vogue here, as well.” But it’s only at first glance that everything seems the same. Pay attention to those shoes and purses! North Koreans compensate for a lack of costume jewelry with buttons displaying the faces of their leaders. And for those who want more than just imported Chinese goods, there are small tailor’s shops putting out North-Korean-made costumes.

August 21: Ginseng

The city of Kaesong is the first place people started cultivating wild ginseng. The plants are shielded from the sun with thatched roofs and watered three times a day. Farmers even talk to the crops. When ripe, the roots are removed, washed, and processed into “the most delicious ginseng tea,” which is then distributed across the entire country. It’s also used in medicine: for decades, the country has been under international sanctions, severely limiting access to Western pharmaceuticals. The root of ginseng plants prolongs youth and relieves fatigue. “And there are legends about its power over a man’s strength.”

August 22: Hair salons

There’s an elite hair salon in downtown Pyongyang. For women clients, there is an enormously long waitlist. The salon’s manager shows a few examples of some fashionable hairstyles, some for young girls and others for older women. “Korean women love curls,” she says, “because their hair is naturally straight.” There are 14 different options for men: hairstyles for boys, for adults, and for state officials. But everyone is equal at the salon, the manager insists. For some reason, when they wash people’s hair, they face them down into the sink. A haircut costs 20 rubles ($0.34), and you also get a massage and a shave. There’s not a gray head of hair in all North Korea: older people’s hair is dyed with a special powder.

August 23: Food

“Pyongyang is a city of a thousand restaurants.” “Fifteen courses are the daily minimum.” North Koreans are constantly eating kimchi: salad made from fermented cabbage. “But in the 21st century, modern progress has reached the cabbage,” and then we cut to a factory outside Pyongyang, teeming with fancy electronics. Canisters packed with kimchi are sealed up by hand, and stored for three days at negative 3 degrees Celsius (27 degrees Fahrenheit). In the past, North Koreans harvested kimchi in the autumn and stockpiles were typically exhausted by the spring. Today, there’s enough kimchi to full cupboards all year round. North Koreans believe that this cabbage has healing properties. “There really is no flu or cold epidemic in North Korea.”

August 24: Flowers

It’s believed that North Koreans only compose songs about their leader, but there are also songs about flowers. Admittedly, the flowers are named after North Korean leaders. Kimjongilia, a begonia plant named after the late Kim Jong-il, is the “nation’s pride.” “It smells of freshness and our deep respect for the leader.” From very early childhood, every North Korean grows a kimjongilia. On the streets, the only kimjongilias you’ll see are in posters, but you’ll encounter plenty of marigolds, daisies, and roses “in flowerbeds that rival those in Paris and Berlin.” And then there’s the magnolia, North Korea's state flower. It’s depicted on the currency, on state awards, and on monuments. “From the air, even the 150,000-person-capacity stadium looks like a giant magnolia.“

Russian text by Sultan Suleimanov, translation by Kevin Rothrock