Ever wondered if and how North Koreans view porn?
The totalitarian republic of North Korea is known the world over for being a secretive and closed nation run by a dynasty of dictators who, at best, are described as being ‘ruthless’.
The country has a population of over 25 million people who live under a form of communism which strictly controls their daily lives.
All TV and radio stations must be tuned to State broadcasts and harsh punishments are met for anyone who is found to be listening or watching foreign channels. Pornography itself is strictly forbidden yet there is plenty of XXX content to be found in North Korea so how do people get their hands on it and, for those that do, what are they watching?
In this guide to porn in North Korea, we’ve scoured the internet to find out as much as we can about the porn viewing trends and habits of North Koreans. From black market and bootlegged blue movies to how people inside this isolated country are accessing porn online.
Pornography Laws of North Korea
The laws on pornography could not be more clear:
“A person who, without authorization, imports, makes, distributes or illegally keeps music, dance, drawings, photos, books, video recordings or electronic media that reflects decadent, carnal or foul contents shall be punished by short term labour for less than two years. In cases where the person commits a grave offence, he or she shall be punished by reform through labour for less than five years. In cases where such a person imports, keeps or distributes sexual video recordings, the punishment shall be reform through labour for more than five years and less than ten years.”
And the laws on watching porn are similarly harsh with punishment routinely being sent away to labor camps for 2-5 years.
Whilst these are the official laws of the country, it is well documented that the regime often acts of its own accord depending on how it feels at the time. Laws can change in a heartbeat and if the government wants to send a message, then it sends a message. One Amnesty International report described how one man was put to death after he was found to have watched porn with his wife and another woman. The message couldn’t have been clearer with (reportedly) the entire city summoned to watch his execution.
In 2020, reports emerged from the country that the ruling party’s Central Committee was so concerned with the rise in the number of young people accessing pornography that new laws were brought about.
These included making promiscuity a treasonous act along with handling pornography of any kind. Teachers and parents are being encouraged to check mobile devices and personal computers for evidence of illicit material and to report these to the regime. Society in North Korea operates on this societal policing and many students (and their parents and tutors) are anxious over the potential punishments.
So, How Do North Koreans Access Porn?
Though the people of North Korea abide by an imposed set of traditional and conservative cultural practices, sex is a part of all human societies so it stands to reason that porn is a thrilling commodity even under such a repressed regime, despite the potential punishments.
The truth is that adult content is taboo to a lesser or greater degree in pretty much all parts of the world. It’s just here in North Korea that the stakes for watching it and trading it are higher.
So, how do people get hold of something so illicit and restricted?
Access to the internet in North Korea is severely restricted, for citizens anyway, and there are very few ways for people to find out about world events through anything other than by state propaganda.
Instead of a World Wide Web, North Korean has instated a (free) domestic intranet called Kwangmyong. If you can afford a computer then you can use this network to access a very select list of censored websites. Hand-picked by the political leaders and the nations cyber warfare unit, these sites are generally copied from the real internet and given the ‘blue-pencil’ treatment.
There is one secure internet server in the country, but it is thought that less than one percent of the population uses it and this is most likely to be state officials, their families and students who are studying at elite universities.
Because of these restrictions, access to porn from within North Korea is still largely done via hard copy format.
Magazines and adult films (often mass produced in China onto CD-R) are sold at black markets and traded on the China-North Korea border. The majority of these titles are Chinese but there are also thought to be some from other Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and Thailand as well as a small proportion of Western pornography.
By contrast, there is a large adult industry in South Korea (and a large number of Korean porn sites!).
Domestic pornography also exists and was thought to be quite a widespread phenomenon in the 1990s with the ‘elite’ members of the country’s ruling classes. Video recordings were known to be made of North Korean women dancing to music, nude, topless or in skimpy clothing. As recently as 2000, the state-controlled broadcaster, KCBC, produced a pornographic film for officials.
The largest consumers of porn in North Korea are army and political leaders who have greater access and run less of a risk of any prosecution for handling this kind of content.
However, young North Koreans are known to show an interest in pornography and there have been reports that middle-schoolers rent videos from their classmates by the hour.
With no sex-education programmes in place within the country these adult films are often the only way that young people learn about sex and relationships.
There are some anecdotal reports about North Korean women who report the improvement of their partner’s performances after they have watched porn; they get more creative and experimental with pleasing results for all.
Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the amount of pornography that enters North Korea being sourced and distributed digitally. Some citizens and foreigners are able to use VPNs to mask their online activity and more freely access the internet plus those living near the country’s borders with China and South Korea can use foreign sim cards to access adult content over the mobile networks.
A dangerous business, smartphones purchased in North Korea are imported from China by the state who, reportedly, have spy-software routinely installed on them.
According to tech reports made for the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a background program called ‘Red Flag’ randomly takes screenshots of what is being viewed and stores these on a Trace Viewer database. The software also notifies the regime if foreign media files are opened and embed a tracing ‘tag’. If this foreign media file is shared with lots of fellow citizens then the government would know about it.
Despite the risks, the rewards form bootleggers sharing porn is too great and individuals are temped by the vast amounts of cash they can get by doing so.
Many opt to use secure peer-to-peer file-sharing sites like BitTorrent or deal in physical copies of adult films instead. Remember this is a country with vast poverty issues with a nation where it is estimated that almost 40% of the population are malnourished. According to the CIA World Factbook, the annual GDP per person for 2014 was just $1,800 making it one of the lowest in the world so, the cash incentive is a huge motivator even in the face of harsh punishments.
SD cards containing a wealth of adult content can change hands in North Korea for as much as $500 each. The demand is high but the risk of smuggling is one of the main reasons for the high price tag.
One Rule For the People…
Ranked the most corrupt nation on Earth (tied with Somalia; Source: 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index), it is hardly surprising to learn that what whilst citizens who are found guilty of pornography crimes can be sentenced to harsh and brutal punishments, state officials and members of the elite North Korean society can more freely enjoy adult content.
Remember that this is a regime which reportedly makes most of its money through highly suspect and morally controversial activities including the export of methamphetamine, small-arms plus counterfeit pharmaceuticals and cigarettes.
Intelligence in the West reports that North Korean officials, especially diplomats, are big fans of pornography and as, either for personal use of for resale, adult content makes common gifts to dignitaries visiting foreign countries.
Corruption in law enforcement is widespread and though punishments are commonplace there are further reports of police turning a blind-eye to distribution as long as they are ‘in on the action’.
Like many of the children of elite classes the current Supreme Leader of North Korea was educated in Europe and Kim Jong-un was allegedly ‘hauled’ from his Swiss boarding school after state spies found BDSM magazines in his school bags. After hearing of his son’s kinky delectations and concerned over Jong-un’s siblings being led astray, his father ordered them to return home.
It’s worth pointing out though that not everyone is immune to the state turning a blind eye and the regime can revoke its ‘benevolence’ in this area with no warning. When Jang Song-thaek was executed in 2013, (the uncle of Kim Jong-un), distributing pornography was listed as one of his many crimes.
Pornography Viewing Trends in North Korea
We know that access to porn for the masses is mainly restricted to CD-Rs, SD cards and print materials but there are some of the nation who still do access foreign porn websites. We know that the majority of this content is Chinese or South Korean in origin but what about those people who can access porn online? What are they watching?
The world’s largest adult tube site, Pornhub, regularly publishes statistical analysis and insights into the content being view on its platform. And, in 2017, the company was able to report on findings made about the porn viewing habits of North Koreans. With just a few thousands traces of regular incoming traffic from the country, the findings were limited but quite revealing.
According to Pornhub, the most popular search terms from North Korea for content on its site were:
- Chinese
- Mongolian
- Japanese Game Show
- Korea
- Korean
- Japanese
- Creampie
- Public Humiliation
- Swedish
- Hairy Creampie
- Indonesian
- Mongol
- Japanese Massage Sex
The most viewed categories across the site were Japanese, Asian, Big Tits and Cartoon with Korean only ranking as the 9th most popular.
See more: A curation of the best Japanese porn
Other well-visited areas of Pornhub included:
- Double Penetration
- MILF
- Mature
- Big Dick
- Threesome
- Arab
- Teen
- Amateur
- Ebony
- Celebrity
- Hentai
Worldwide, access to Pornhub is made mostly using Smartphones with 75% of all traffic to the site coming via this kind of device. In North Korea, mobile traffic was much lower than average at just 36%.
As for the length of time people watch content on Pornhub from within North Korea, statistics gathered in April 2015 revealed that the average visitor to the site only stuck around for 1 minute and 48 seconds.
Compared to the global average of 9 minutes and 16 seconds this was quick. Viewing just 1.83 pages per visit (compared to the average of 7.6), North Koreans were obviously not keen to stick around.
The same report detailed that just 1.5% of the total viewing figures were female compared to the average of 23% worldwide.
Featured image via FreeIMG/The Noun Project.