Hold That Smile

"During he 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."

North Korean from northeastern border city, Sinuiju, North Korea

 

"They [the police] 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."

"Residents must also work together to help out the kotjebi [growing number of North Korea's homeless street beggars]."

Second North Korean source, southwestern province of South Hwanghae, North Korea 

Citizens visit the bronze statues of their late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, on the occasion of 10th anniversary of demise of Kim Jong Il

 

In the national interests of the tenth anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, father of the current 'dear leader' of North Korea, North Koreans are cautioned from demonstrating joy for a ceremonial, national period of sorrow over the North Korean leader's death. Restrictions limit how North Koreans may express themselves and their spontaneous moods, in the interests of complete uniformity of a national mourning period. This is a strict imposition on the entire population on pain of state punishment.

There is a ban on laughter and alcohol consumption during the period of mourning. One additional day has been added to the usual ten days of mourning, to commemorate the passing of a ten-year anniversary since the leader's death, and the ascension of his son, Kim Jong Un, the country's current supreme leader whose father's death was marked Friday 17 December.  During that mourning period, North Koreans may not shop for food.

Having ruled from 1994 until 2011 when Kim Jong Il, then 69, died of a heart attack, the man who tyrannized the people of North Korea preferred to be addressed adoringly as 'dear leader'. During his rule a dark period descended on North Korea, with the mid-1990s famine known as the "Arduous March". Euphemisms are beloved of the far East.

 

At midday Friday, as a siren blared for three minutes, North Koreans across the country fell silent and bowed in respect for Kim Jong Il. Pictured: People bow to pay their respects in front of a mosaic that shows a depiction of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, to mark the ten year anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Il, the father of current leader Kim Jong Un, in Pyongyang on December 17, 2021

 

During that memorable period of Kim Jong Il rule, an estimated 3.5 million people perished in a four-year period. The entire Kim dynasty is known for periodic times of mass starvation; truly an 'arduous march of an impoverished, oppressed society. Considered the father of the nation, the grandfather of the current leader, Kim Il Sung, along with Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il's occasion of their deaths are held to be solemn occasions to be observed annually. 

According to RFA (Radio Free Asia), police in North Korea have been warned to look for those who fail to appear upset. An additional effort is required of North Koreans to look after the interests of others who are in a state of famish and impoverishment; if the state won't do it, then the people, themselves struggling for access to food, must. Fears exist of the appearance of a second Arduous March.

Kim, in his trademark leather trench coat, attended a ceremony on Friday at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the mausoleum for Kim Jong Il and his father Kim Il Sung - the founder of North Korea. Pictured: A huge crowd stands in front of the palace on Friday

"In the past, many caught drinking or being intoxicated during the mourning were arrested and treated as ideological criminals."

"They were taken away and never seen again."