North Korea's Propaganda Village

Kim jong-il, the notorious North Korean leader, is famous for both his megalomania(the state media once reported that he shot a 38 under par), and his extreme, if underfunded, nationalism(the Ryugyong hotel, supposed to be a massive symbol of North Korean might, still sits unfinished).



His reign has been alternately amusing and terrifying for both Americans, and his neighbors in South Korea. The US military detachment in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas grimly calls itself the “speed bump”, both an acknowledgement of Kim jong-il's mercurial nature and the futility of their position if war does come about. Despite the grim nature of their duty, since the 1950's these soldiers have been known to chuckle at an extreme oddity on the North Korean side of the border.


The oddity comes in the form of a village called Kijong-dong, known as the “Freedom Village” in North Korea. The village is purported to house 200 farming families. It is said to have a hospital, a childcare center, and both primary and secondary educational facilities. This is odd, as US and South Korean troops have never seen a single inhabitant. The streets are swept occasionally to keep up appearances, but except for the soldiers who crawl the surrounding countryside, the village is deserted, its electric lighting turning on at set intervals to cast garish shadows in the desolate streets. In an interesting aside, the flagpole in Kijong-dong holds the Guinness record for tallest flagpole. It initially could not aspire to this lofty goal, but when the South heightened their corresponding flagpole on the other side of the DMZ, North Korean officials immediately saw to it that theirs was just a little bit taller.


Despite continued North Korean claims to the contrary, the village was built to both showcase the appeal of a communist life, and encourage South Korean defectors. Ignoring direct observation of hollow buildings with no interiors, North Korea has not renounced its official stance on the “freedom village”, and loudspeakers in the village continue to blast propaganda towards the DMZ to this day.

The legacy of communism showcasing its purported superiority has been well-established, and North Korea cannot be faulted for trying. Many a rural South Korean longed for electricity and modern housing in the 1950's, and the North Korean “freedom village” must have been a tempting enticement. Unfortunately for the North Koreans, no defectors have been reported as a result of their efforts. Perhaps their money would be better spent feeding the hungry in a nation where millions have died from famine. Unfortunately, as with the Ryugyong hotel(construction appears to be restarting after a decades long hiatus), the regime does not appear to want to give up the illusion.