What kind of life can one live with ten thousand yuan in North Korea? Revealing the real life in North Korea

What kind of life can one live in North Korea with ten thousand yuan? This starts from two aspects:

For tourists, it is enough to last more than 20 days;

For local residents, it can be a delicious improvement. Live for a whole year, maybe even longer.

Everyone must be curious, why is there such a big difference? This is also the mysterious place of North Korea.

1. What kind of life can tourists live in North Korea with 10,000 yuan?

01: Let me first talk about my experience of going to North Korea:

My first impression of North Korea was mysterious and extremely longing for me.

A very good colleague who spent some time in North Korea a few years ago said that North Korean men are so happy. When you get married, you don’t need to buy a house or give a bride price. You can just buy some small gifts to marry a beautiful woman. girl.

The most important thing is that there are more women than men in the population, and there is a lot of room for choice. There is almost no saying that "men can't find wives".

Perhaps it was because of my colleague’s remarks that it deepened my idea of ????wanting to go to North Korea to find out. Finally, in the summer of 2019, my wish came true, and I went to North Korea with my parents.

We booked a tour group in advance at a Dandong hotel. The tour lasted four days and three nights. There were two tour rates of 2,300 yuan/person and 2,500 yuan/person. There was not much difference. The tourist attractions and services were all the same. It's the same, and the expenses are all-inclusive. It's just that the hotel you stay in after arriving in North Korea is different.

We followed the travel agency’s advice and chose the 2,500 yuan/person option. What we didn’t expect was that when we arrived in North Korea, we stayed at Yanggakdo, the best hotel in North Korea for receiving foreign guests. International Hotel.

At that time, I felt that it was a great value for money. Both the overall atmosphere of the hotel and the ingredients provided for our accommodation were of the best quality in North Korea. Especially the service attitude during the meal. I was really flattered during the meal. a feeling of.

We visited Kaicheng and tasted the local aristocratic feast. There is a special copper bowl of rice on the table, which is covered with a yellow lid before eating. It is very similar to an ancient royal feast. The types of dishes include meat and vegetables. Although the quantity is not a lot, it is very satisfying to eat.

The group meal for the tour group is quite good. If you want to taste other delicacies, you need to order separately, but the cost will need to be paid by yourself.

There are many places to shop when traveling. You need to go to their foreign-related shopping malls that are specifically open to foreigners, such as Pyongyang Guangfu Commercial Center. To be honest, the prices there are not cheap, and are similar to domestic prices, such as A bottle of green tea costs 5 yuan, a can of eight-treasure porridge costs 7 yuan, and beef costs 40 yuan/jin.

On the last day, my parents bought some souvenirs and Korean ginseng, which is unique to North Korea. The entire trip was divided among each person, about 4,000 yuan. If converted into 10,000 yuan, it would only be enough for one tourist to pay more than 20 yuan. Days of expenses.

Because the consumption of tourists in North Korea is not low, 10,000 yuan is only enough to live for a period of time. But if you work in North Korea and earn a monthly salary of 10,000 yuan, you can still live a good life even if the prices are higher. Life.

If North Korean residents are given 10,000 yuan, that is another way of living.

2. How would North Korean residents live if they had 10,000 yuan?

Although some people have traveled to North Korea, few people know their true income and price levels.

Just out of curiosity, some people will ask the tour guide, how is your income in North Korea? They will not answer such topics directly, they will only tell you that their salary is enough for them to spend on themselves, and in turn, they will promote their social welfare security.

Housing in North Korea does not cost money, just apply for marriage;

Schooling is free, 12 years of compulsory education, kindergarten (1 year), primary school (5 years), Junior high school and high school each last 3 years;

Free housing, medical care, free physical examination and other pension benefits.

This is an answer that avoids the important and trivial. We also know that their monthly income must not be much, but if you think about it carefully, what they say is not unreasonable.

Wage level

In North Korea, most factories are state-owned and belong to the self-produced and self-sold model. According to the public data in 2019, it can be roughly summarized:

The salary level of ordinary workers ranges from 300 to 700 yuan. Above 700 yuan is considered a high salary level. Scientific researchers, teachers and civil servants belong to this level. North Korean tour guides also belong to the civil servants.

Let’s take 700 yuan as the middle value, then the annual salary income is about 9,000 yuan.

In addition, each post will also issue supply tickets of different amounts, and you can use these tickets to receive necessary supplies for free.

02: Price level

For example: Taedongjiang beer, the most common beer on North Korean tables, costs around ten yuan. In a resort, such a price may be very expensive for us. Ordinary, but probably not the ordinary price for local people.

Before coming to North Korea, I had an illusion:

Judging from the scale and layout of the city, it is similar to ours in the 1980s and 1990s. Their clothes and transportation are also similar to those of that era. memory.

Therefore, it can be inferred that North Korea's income should be similar to ours in the 1980s and 1990s, and prices should be on the low side.

The real situation is that the price of our food in North Korea is similar to that of first-tier cities, and some imported food is even higher than the domestic price.

Although locals also come to make purchases in foreign-related stores, the checkout method is different from that of tourists, and it is not clear how they charge.

I think the most likely reason:

North Korea must be aware of this phenomenon, so it has formulated two different sets of consumption standards. Tourists can only visit designated foreign-related shopping malls. For shopping, local shops and farmer's markets can only be purchased by local residents. Although I don't know the specific prices there, it can be inferred that they are definitely much cheaper than foreign shopping malls.

The salary of 700 yuan a month seems to be very low, but it does not mean that their lives are very difficult; although the salary is not high, they can receive necessities with supply tickets, and their lives are guaranteed.

Some people say that their salary is equivalent to pocket money, which makes sense.

It can be seen from this:

For local residents, ten thousand yuan is equivalent to more than a year's income. With the state issuing supply tickets, education, medical care and housing are all free, which is usually not available Life stress, 10,000 yuan is enough to improve their quality of life for a whole year.

03: Some other observations

The most common means of transportation on the streets of North Korea are bicycles and electric cars. There are relatively few private cars. Residents who have made outstanding contributions to the country will be better allocated. Housing and cars, such as Olympic champions and runners-up.

North Korean residents walk in no hurry. They dress simply, with no denim clothes to be seen, and no begging along the streets. They are a typical self-sufficient country.

Most of the North Korean girls who come to work in our country come from highly educated families in North Korea and have a monthly income of more than 2,000 yuan. They feel that it is an honor to work abroad and it is natural for them to contribute to the country.

For tourists, 10,000 yuan is not considered rich, and it will not last long in North Korea; but if you earn 10,000 yuan a month in North Korea, you will definitely be called a rich man.

Before I went to North Korea, I thought it would be the same as we did in the 1970s, a little poor and backward, and the people’s lives were unsatisfactory. But after I went there, my previous perceptions were overturned.

Looking at the happiness on their faces, I instantly understood: true happiness has nothing to do with material things.