North Koreans have been banned from laughing or drinking for 11 days to mark the tenth anniversary of former leader Kim Jong Il’s death, Daily Mail reports.

Government authorities have ordered the public to not show any signs of happiness while North Korea commemorates his death.

Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, and was then succeeded by his third and youngest son, current leader Kim Jong Un.

Now, ten years after his death, North Koreans are being forced to observe the 11-day period of mourning where they are not allowed to laugh or drink alcohol.

“During the mourning period, we must not drink alcohol, laugh or engage in leisure activities,” a North Korean from the northeastern border city of Sinuiju told Radio Free Asia (RFA).

The source added that North Koreans are not allowed to go grocery shopping on December 17 – the anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death.

They added: “In the past many people who were caught drinking or being intoxicated during the mourning period were arrested and treated as ideological criminals. They were taken away and never seen again.

“Even if your family member dies during the mourning period, you are not allowed to cry out loud and the body must be taken out after it’s over. People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period.”

Kim Jong Il died of a heart attack on December 17 2011 at the age of 69 after ruling the country for 17 years in a brutal and repressive dictatorship.

While the mourning period held every year for Kim Jong Il is usually 10 days, this year it will be 11 days to mark the tenth anniversary of his death.

Another source, a resident of the southwestern province of South Hwanghae, said police officers were told to watch for people who fail to look appropriately upset during the mourning period.

They told RFA: “From the first day of December, they will have a special duty to crack down on those who harm the mood of collective mourning.

“It’s a month-long special duty for the police. I heard that law enforcement officials cannot sleep at all.”

The source also added that citizens groups and state-owned companies have been ordered to take care of those in poverty during the period of mourning, as the country grapples with a food crisis.

They said: “Social order and safety must be ensured, so companies are responsible for collecting food to give to residents and employees who cannot come to work due to food shortages.

“Residents must also work together to help out the kotjebi [North Korea’s street beggars]. ‘”

Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, and was then succeeded by his third and youngest son, current leader Kim Jong Un (pictured in 2019) +3
Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011, and was then succeeded by his third and youngest son, current leader Kim Jong Un (pictured in 2019)

The anonymous resident added that mourning for Kim Jong Il, and his father Kim Il Sung, is affecting North Korean’s daily lives.

They said: “I just hope that the mourning period for Kim Jong Il will be shortened to one week, just like the mourning period for Kim Il Sung.

“Residents are complaining that the living are forced to mourn these two dead people to death.”

Three generations of the Kim family have ruled North Korea since Kim Il Sung established the country in 1948. When Kim Il Sung died in 1994, his eldest son, Kim Jong Il, inherited power.

Kim Jong Un is the third and youngest son of Kim Jong Il and assumed power upon his father’s death in 2011.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death, various provinces across North Korea are holding exhibitions of his photography and holding concerts in his memory.

“The old soldiers’ lecture and propaganda team, made up of discharged military officers in their 50s and 60s, are visiting every factory, company and neighborhood watch unit to educate the people about Kim Jong Il’s hard work and dedication,” a third source told RFA.

A resident from Puryong county said that the lectures and performances had already started where she lives.

She said: “They came and sang songs praising Kim Jong Il and held a short lecture about his greatness and achievements.

“It would probably be a better idea to supply the residents with coal or firewood to get them through the winter rather than lectures and propaganda, which is really about as useful as a talking parrot.”

Impoverished North Korea is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, and has long suffered chronic food shortages.

The country is facing its worst economic crisis for years, hit by both sanctions and its self-imposed coronavirus blockade.

In recent months, pictures of the leader have shown his acute weight loss, ‘playing into Kim’s image of being more accountable to the people’ according to Jenny Town, senior fellow at the Stimson Center.

The official Korean Central Television aired a rare interview of an unnamed citizen saying the people were ‘heartbroken’ over the change in his physique and that “everyone just started at the sight of kim"



https://tribuneonlineng.com/north-korea-bans-residents-from-laughing-drinking-shopping-for-11-days-to-mark-ex-leaders-death/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

Mad country

Nonsense the idiot will eat but won't want the citizens to eat.what a wicked world

Oya Kim come and beat me

“They came and sang songs praising Kim Jong Il and held a short lecture about his greatness and achievements

Dictatorship allowed everything happening in North Korea.

What do we now say about the one currently happening in Nigeria.
No be dictatorship in disguise?
Person go cough una go invite am, to come do what abeg to come explain why you coughed?

I have a personal problem with those who had already sold their conscience for crumbs singing and praising their oppressors.


If you don't get it, I can't help you

Country of dictators and saddists

Which kind wahala be this .....so laughter is now endangered feelings in a country..soon them go buy ticket, register to fork their wives .......make dem go buy bitter kola dey chew make bitterness full their mouth for this 11days.

It baffles me why Nnamdi Kanu gave himself Supreme Leader....

Crying gallore..

If you can't laugh, you can cry

helinues:
Crying gallore..
If you can't laugh, you can cry

boss

Shey dey use to laugh b4 ni?

Buhari is a useless man

h

The day revolution takes place in that God forsaken country, that's when kin yong un and family members will know that the people have reached the elastic point. Nonsense and buhari.

Chai
Omo Naija better compared to some places oh

'madness'