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Making one's own medicine is an integral part of being a doctor in North Korea. Those living in warmer climates often grow cotton as well to make their own bandages. Doctors are all required to collect the herbs themselves; Dr. Kim's work unit took off as much as a month in spring and autumn to gather herbs, during which time the doctors slept out in the open and washed only every few days. Each had a quota to fill. They had to bring their haul back to the hospital pharmacy, where it would be weighed, and if the amount was insufficient, they would be sent out again. (..) For years, North Korean hospitals had been using herbal remedies in combination with Western medicine. With anesthesia in short supply, acupuncture would be used for simpler surgeries, such as appendectomies.
"When it works, it works very well," Dr.Kim told me years later. And when it didn't? Patients would be strapped to the operating table to prevent them from flailing about. For the most part, North Koreans were stoical about enduring pain during medical treatment.
(..)
the Great Leader was never far from the children's minds. Whether they were studying math, science, reading, music, or art, the children were taught to revere the leadership and hate the enemy. For example, a first- grade math book contained the following questions: "Eight boys and nine girls are singing anthems in praise of Kim Il-sung. How many children are singing in total?"
"A girl is acting as a messenger to our patriotic troops during the war against the Japanese occupation. She carries messages in a basket containing five apples, but is stopped by a Japanese soldier at a checkpoint. He steals two of her apples. How many are left?"
"Three soldiers from the Korean People's Army killed thirty American soldiers. How many American soldiers were killed by each of them, if they all killed an equal number of enemy soldiers?"
A first-grade primer published in 2003 included the following poem, entitled "Where Are We Going?":
Where have we gone?
We have gone to the forest.
Where are we going?
We are going over the hills.
What are we going to do?
We are going to kill the Japanese soldiers.
One of the songs taught in music class was "Shoot the Yankee Bastards":
Our enemies are the American bastards
Who are trying to take over our beautiful fatherland.
With guns that I make with my own hands
I will shoot them. BANG, BANG, BANG.
(..)
On November 30 (2009), the party announced that it would invalidate all of the currency in circulation and issue new bills. The ostensible reason was to prevent inflation by knocking off two zeroes from the won, which was trading at the time at 3'500 to the US dollar, in order to "strengthen the national currency and stabilise the circulation of the money," as an official of the Worker's Party explained.
Actually, it was a trick. The North Korean regime wanted to confiscate the cash that had been accumulated by the people working at the market. The rules limited what people could trade in for new currency to 100'000 won, later raised to 300'000 won, which meant that nobody would be allowed to have more than $100 to their name. The North Korean regime had pulled the same stunt with the currency few times before, most recently in 1992, but this time people who'd been working at the markets really did have some money and what existed of a nascent middle class was wiped out overnight.
Making one's own medicine is an integral part of being a doctor in North Korea. Those living in warmer climates often grow cotton as well to make their own bandages. Doctors are all required to collect the herbs themselves; Dr. Kim's work unit took off as much as a month in spring and autumn to gather herbs, during which time the doctors slept out in the open and washed only every few days. Each had a quota to fill. They had to bring their haul back to the hospital pharmacy, where it would be weighed, and if the amount was insufficient, they would be sent out again. (..) For years, North Korean hospitals had been using herbal remedies in combination with Western medicine. With anesthesia in short supply, acupuncture would be used for simpler surgeries, such as appendectomies.
"When it works, it works very well," Dr.Kim told me years later. And when it didn't? Patients would be strapped to the operating table to prevent them from flailing about. For the most part, North Koreans were stoical about enduring pain during medical treatment.
(..)
the Great Leader was never far from the children's minds. Whether they were studying math, science, reading, music, or art, the children were taught to revere the leadership and hate the enemy. For example, a first- grade math book contained the following questions: "Eight boys and nine girls are singing anthems in praise of Kim Il-sung. How many children are singing in total?"
"A girl is acting as a messenger to our patriotic troops during the war against the Japanese occupation. She carries messages in a basket containing five apples, but is stopped by a Japanese soldier at a checkpoint. He steals two of her apples. How many are left?"
"Three soldiers from the Korean People's Army killed thirty American soldiers. How many American soldiers were killed by each of them, if they all killed an equal number of enemy soldiers?"
A first-grade primer published in 2003 included the following poem, entitled "Where Are We Going?":
Where have we gone?
We have gone to the forest.
Where are we going?
We are going over the hills.
What are we going to do?
We are going to kill the Japanese soldiers.
One of the songs taught in music class was "Shoot the Yankee Bastards":
Our enemies are the American bastards
Who are trying to take over our beautiful fatherland.
With guns that I make with my own hands
I will shoot them. BANG, BANG, BANG.
(..)
On November 30 (2009), the party announced that it would invalidate all of the currency in circulation and issue new bills. The ostensible reason was to prevent inflation by knocking off two zeroes from the won, which was trading at the time at 3'500 to the US dollar, in order to "strengthen the national currency and stabilise the circulation of the money," as an official of the Worker's Party explained.
Actually, it was a trick. The North Korean regime wanted to confiscate the cash that had been accumulated by the people working at the market. The rules limited what people could trade in for new currency to 100'000 won, later raised to 300'000 won, which meant that nobody would be allowed to have more than $100 to their name. The North Korean regime had pulled the same stunt with the currency few times before, most recently in 1992, but this time people who'd been working at the markets really did have some money and what existed of a nascent middle class was wiped out overnight.
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