Weathering the Summer in North Korea

A water-spray truck sprinkling water on the roads and lawns of Pyongyang.

(Photo courtesy of the author)

Day after day, scorching heat with daytime temperatures hovering above 35°C has continued. North Korea is no exception. Nationwide, "severe heat advisories" and "high-temperature advisories" have been issued. The tropical-night phenomenon, in which Pyongyang's night-time temperatures do not fall below 25°C, has also persisted since late last month. North Korea's Meteorological Hydrology Administration (equivalent to South Korea's Korea Meteorological Administration) has urged people to refrain from outdoor activity during the midday hours and to take particular care of their health — including drinking plenty of water — in order to prevent heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke and sunstroke.

Daytime outdoor construction work has been suspended, and water-spray trucks have appeared on Pyongyang's main roads. Parasols and fans have become essentials when going outside, and the sight of people carrying handheld electric fans (son-p'unggi) to cool themselves is no longer unfamiliar. Air-conditioner purchases have been rising, centred on major cities such as Pyongyang and Sinuiju, but households equipped with air conditioning rather than merely electric fans remain rare. The electricity supply, too, remains insufficient. Although it is not reported in the media, it may be presumed that North Korea has also seen an increase in heat-related illnesses, regional drought and water shortages, and wildfire damage.

North Koreans, too, endure the heat wave with their own methods of escaping the summer heat. Broadly speaking, the scene has not changed much from what the author observed while touring notable spots in Pyongyang and provincial locales such as Mount Myohyang and Mount Chŏngbang during three August visits some twenty years ago. Pyongyang residents generally head, in family groups, to the mountains, parks, rivers, and beaches near their homes to cool off from the heat.

Moranbong, Mount Taesŏng, and Mount Yongak — easily reached by tram or bus — are always packed with families who have come out to escape the heat. When the sun sets, people stroll along the banks of the Taedong River or come out to the fountain-and-flower park near Mansudae to chase away the heat.

People buying shaved ice and cold tea at a beverage stall in Pyongyang.

(Photo courtesy of the author)

Stalls selling cool iced tea, shaved ice, and ice cream are bustling, and office workers cool off from the heat with a glass of cold beer on their way home from work. In Pyongyang, more than 1,000 beverage stalls selling iced tea, shaved ice, and ice cream are in operation, and some 150 Taedonggang Beer halls do business from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. In the current summer season, an average of some 80,000 residents a day are said to visit the beer halls.

Better-off housewives in Pyongyang frequently visit the Ch'anggwangwŏn swimming pool located in the heart of the city. Retirees stroll along Moranbong or the banks of the Taedong River, or seek out the shade to play changgi (Korean chess) and avoid the heat. The sight of people fishing along the Taedong River is also a common scene.

Pyongyang residents eating bosint'ang at the Pyongyang Dan'gogi House.

(Photo courtesy of the author)

The popular summer foods that North Koreans enjoy are naengmyŏn (cold buckwheat noodles) and dan'gogi (dog-meat soup, also called bosint'ang). Pyongyang has famous naengmyŏn restaurants known even to foreign tourists, such as Okryu-gwan and Ch'ŏngryu-gwan, but among Pyongyang residents themselves, Pyongyang Myŏnok is more popular as the go-to spot for the best naengmyŏn. In the summer season it is said to draw some 12,000 visitors a day. Pyongyang naengmyŏn has been known since ancient times as one of Pyongyang's four great foods, along with Taedonggang mullet soup, Pyongyang onban (rice in broth), and mung-bean pancakes. In the past, people sometimes made naengmyŏn at home by pressing the noodles themselves, but dining out is now the norm.

Unlike in the South, dan'gogi restaurants remain highly popular in North Korea as a summer restorative food. North Korea presents the Pyongyang Dan'gogi House and various other bosint'ang restaurants, noting that Korea has had a tradition since ancient times of "fighting heat with heat" (iyŏl ch'iyŏl / 以熱治熱). Heo Jun's Dongui Bogam states that "dog meat is warm in nature and free of toxins, so it thickens the intestines and stomach and adds to one's vital energy." In Pyongyang there are as many as 60 restaurants specialising solely in dan'gogi cuisine. There are course meals by cut, but the deeply simmered soup is a rich broth difficult to taste elsewhere.

People cooling off from the heat at the Munsu Water Park.

(Photo courtesy of the author)

Still, the very best of summer heat-escape is water recreation. Pyongyang's representative attractions are the Munsu Water Park and the Rungnado outdoor swimming pool. Twenty years ago the Munsu Water Park was an ordinary outdoor pool, but in the Kim Jong Un era it was refurbished into a comprehensive water park, and the Rungnado outdoor pool was newly built inside Rungna People's Park together with a dolphinarium (kop-tŭngŏgwan). Not only Pyongyang residents but also people from the provinces on study trips or outings to Pyongyang flock here day after day, vying for space. The Munsu Water Park, which can accommodate 3,000 people at a time, sometimes draws more than 10,000 on a Sunday. Beyond this, Pyongyang has the Mangyŏngdae Water Park, the Ch'anggwangwŏn swimming pool, the swimming pools of Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology, and the swimming pool of the Mangyŏngdae Schoolchildren's Palace, among others.

In the provinces, small-scale outdoor swimming pools are provided along rivers or in parks. Over time, the number of factories and farms equipped with swimming pools as amenities for their workers has also grown. Among sea-bathing beaches, Myŏngsasimni and Songdowŏn beaches in Wŏnsan, Majŏn beach in Hamhŭng, and Yongsupho in Onch'ŏn County on the west coast were well known. Last year, a comprehensive resort was built at Myŏngsasimni and the Wŏnsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area opened. It has lodging capacity for 20,000 people and a maximum daily visitor capacity of 40,000 across its beach and various service facilities. New sea-bathing beaches have been opened or refurbished at numerous locations along the east coast, including the Mount Ch'ilbo coastline.

North Korean tourists visiting Mount Ch'ilbo in North Hamgyŏng Province taking photographs against the backdrop of a waterfall. (Photo courtesy of the author)

North Korean media outlets reported that, amid the dog-days heat, Pyongyang's city swimming pools and the Wŏnsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area have been filled to overflowing day after day. The Wŏnsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area is North Korea's largest coastal tourism complex, developed along the Myŏngsasimni beach with hotels and lodging facilities, commercial and convenience facilities, and marine sports facilities. On the 2nd, Korean Central Television reported that tens of thousands of people had visited the Wŏnsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area, which opened on July 1, over the course of a month, conveying that "on this beach called Myŏngsasimni [Ten-Ri of Fine Sand], a veritable ten-ri of crowds unfolded." About 2,500 sunbeds were installed on the beach, and a large crowd making use of various water-leisure equipment and amusement facilities — motorboats, assorted towable tubes, and the like — was also observed by satellite imagery.

The greatest difference between summer-vacation culture in the South and the North lies in camping and recreational retreats. In the South, individuals visit the mountains, rivers, and beaches during their own vacation periods, but in the North even camping and recreational retreats are organised by enterprise and by group.

Students on a camping trip to Mount Ch'ilbo in North Hamgyŏng Province enjoying themselves on the sands of the Ch'ilbo beach. (Photo courtesy of the author)

North Korea's primary-school and middle-school students learn to swim and escape the heat at the swimming pools in the Schoolchildren's Palaces or at schools equipped with pools. What the students look forward to, however, is life at the camp spent together with friends. During the summer vacation, North Korean children enter the "Young Pioneers' camps" established in each region, where — away from home and together with friends — they can experience a variety of programmes, including tours of historical sites, water play, and recreation. Camps for members of the Young Pioneers (the organisation of primary-school and lower-middle-school students) are provided at major mountains, rivers, and coastlines, such as Mount Yongak in Pyongyang, Mount Myohyang, and the Sŏkdam camp in South Hwanghae Province. Students who have set an exemplary record in Young Pioneers' activities can spend an enjoyable time at comparatively well-appointed camps such as the Songdowŏn camp in Wŏnsan or the Mangyŏngdae camp.

Office workers (factory workers and clerical staff) make use of the recreational-retreat system to visit rest resorts established throughout the country. North Korea has set up a range of rest resorts in each region — from cadre rest resorts to workers' rest resorts — and has operated a recreational-retreat system since 1947. It is, in effect, a form of paid leave for the working population. Under the direction of the "Labour Rest Bureau" within the Cabinet's Ministry of Labour, the retreats of workers and clerical staff are organised across spring, summer, and autumn, while the retreats of farmers take place in winter. Unlike in the South, where this is arranged individually, in North Korea the government organises the beneficiaries and periods of these retreats at the state level. Every year in July and August, North Korea operates special trains on routes such as Pyongyang-Hamhŭng and Pyongyang-Wŏnsan to transport summer holidaymakers and students. Students heading to major camps nationwide, such as the Songdowŏn International Camp in Wŏnsan, during the summer vacation, along with workers visiting rest resorts, mainly use these trains.

The retreat destination North Korea has most heavily promoted of late is the Yangdŏk Hot Spring Cultural Resort, built in December 2019 in Yangdŏk County, South Pyongan Province. North Korea publicises that 740,000 people visited this site — built as a four-season leisure facility equipped with hot springs and a ski slope — in the five years since it opened. For the time being, North Korea is said to have decided to use this location solely as a retreat for its own residents, without accepting foreign tourists.

On visiting famous mountains such as Mount Myohyang, Mount Ch'ilbo, Mount Kŭmgang, Sinp'yŏng Kŭmgang, and Mount Chŏngbang, as well as the Nampo Lock Gate and Majŏn beach in Hamhŭng, one can readily see students who have come to the camps and workers who have entered the rest resorts.

Young people of Pyongyang riding the amusement rides at the Kaesŏn Youth Park in Pyongyang. (Photo courtesy of the author)

Entering the Kim Jong Un era, changes can also be detected in the way young people spend the summer. In Pyongyang, a growing number of young people cool off from the heat by visiting the swimming pools installed at institutions such as Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology, or by heading to the ice rink or bowling alley. Even in the sweltering summer, the ice rink — the depth of winter inside — is a place frequented by couples. The bowling alley in East Pyongyang is said to draw an average of 300 people a day, and more than 1,000 on Sundays. The number of young people visiting the Kaesŏn Youth Park or Rungna People's Park to ride the amusement rides has also grown. The Kaesŏn Youth Park in particular is open even at night and enjoys great popularity among the young.

The "rising hot spot" among young people of late is the computer game arcade installed in the new town of Hwasŏng District. It is a place where, in a cool space, one can enjoy everything from solo games to networked games among friends. It can be used after charging 10,000 North Korean won onto a card exclusive to the arcade, and the cost is by no means trivial. Operating hours run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Beyond workplace-based retreats, individual tourism (referred to in North Korea as ch'amgwan, "observation visits") is also gradually taking root. The number of travel agencies doing business with North Korean residents is said to have increased considerably. It has been more than 20 years since the double-decker bus linking Pyongyang and Mount Myohyang began operating, and more than 10 years since the National Tourism Administration introduced its two-night, three-day summer Mount Paektu tour package. As the economic situation has improved and the transport options available to residents have increased, the number of family holidaymakers — centred on the upper-middle class — visiting sea-bathing beaches and other regional retreat destinations is also on the rise. Recently, the number of people visiting beaches or provincial attractions in their own cars has grown as well. In Pyongyang, the number of privately owned cars has surpassed 12,000, and the political restrictions on private-car owners travelling to other regions are said to have been substantially eased.

The problem of insufficient electricity, however, remains an unsolved task to this day. Central Pyongyang and the newly built Hwasŏng District are supplied with electricity relatively stably, but it is reported that, just a short way out from the centre of Pyongyang, people cannot even run an electric fan amid the heat wave. Depending on region and occupation, and depending on income level, the customs of summering are bound to appear differently as well.

About the Author

Jung Chang-hyun  |  Director, Peace Economy Research Institute

Historian and journalist. Graduated from the Department of Korean History, Seoul National University; completed doctoral coursework at the same institution. Currently Director of the Peace Economy Research Institute. Has pursued research, writing, and journalistic activities in the fields of inter-Korean relations and modern North Korean history for nearly 30 years.