North Korea has banned it citizens from laughing, drinking and even grocery shopping in a eleven day celebration of its former league Kim Jong il.
The restriction began on December 17 – 10 years since current North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un’s father passed.
A North Korean from the border city of Sinuiju, told Radio Free Asia: “During the mourning period, we must not drink alcohol, laugh or engage in leisure activities,”
“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.”
Sirens blared out in the capital Pyongyang for three minutes at midday on Friday to order the country’s citizens to bow in respect to commemorate the death anniversary.
“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,” the source told RFA.
Mourning periods for Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung, considered to be the father of the nation, are observed annually. Normally, these periods last ten days, but an extra eleventh day was been added this year to commemorate a decade since Kim Jong-il’s passing.