The North Korean regime has appointed lecturers to instruct people to have low-key wedding programs as the country suffers from poverty and food crisis. (Representational photo: RFA)
Apr 12 2023
North Korea’s Communist regime has appointed lecturers to instruct citizens to have low-key wedding programs to express frugality and “patriotism” or face punishment for violations, says a report.
The “wedding guidelines” announced through community lectures by authorities stipulate that no “unpatriotic” extravagant banquets or over-the-top flower arrangements are done along with a barrage of other restrictions, Radio Free Asia reported on April 8.
An unnamed source in the South Hamgyong province said the authorities have cited the chronic food and fuel shortages as a reason to have modest ceremonies.
“The core content is that weddings should be frugal, and done in way,” the source said.
“The lecturers talked about how some people set up lavish wedding banquets or show off their power and status or arrange for a long procession of cars when the groom takes the bride away,” the source said.
“Acts like these, they said, are unpatriotic because they waste fuel and food during this difficult time,” the source further added.
The community lectures were held by the authorities in anticipation of the surge in weddings expected this spring season (March to May) after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions.
Women have been urged to use traditional Korean attire for weddings, while men are permitted to wear Western suits. There is also a ban on using sunglasses, and photography of certain postures of the bride and groom among other restrictions.
The lecturers urged the attendees to avoid taking photos “such as of the groom holding and lifting the bride above his waist, or of the bride and groom clinking wine glasses or of the bride lighting a cigarette for the groom,” said the source.
The authorities have also urged the couples to avoid clothes emblazoned with foreign letters, and long vehicle processions citing all such activities as “anti-socialist attitudes, don’t embrace traditional North Korean ideals.”
However, the restrictions are not only limited to the bride and groom but also involve the guests who attend the wedding, sources say.
The government lecturers advised those attending the weddings to miss as little work as possible.
“Young people attending a wedding were advised to go after work, and groups of 10 or more young people should not follow the bride and groom when they are on their photo shoot,” the unnamed source said.
Another set of lectures in North Hamgyong province focused on the acceptable poses that are to be used in wedding photography, and the size of flowers that are permitted to be used by the bride and groom, another source said.
“Many years ago, the authorities issued guidelines on the size of the flowers that the bride and groom should wear on their chest and hair at weddings, as well as what they should not do when taking pictures,” the unnamed source said.
“We should not decorate the chest with flowers larger than 7-8 centimeters (3 inches) and on the head, no more than 15 (6 inches),” the source further added.
Every flower shop in North Korea displays a detailed government standard of the size of the wedding flowers that can be used, media reports say.
The lecturers also warned the attendees that any violation of the directives would result in penal action as per the provisions of the “Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act” enacted by North Korea in 2020.
Reactionary ideology and culture are defined as “a rotten ideology and culture of hostile forces including South Korean publications that paralyzes the people’s revolutionary sense of ideology and social class and deteriorates and depraves our society.”
It further states that reactionary ideology and culture include “all types of impure and absurd ideology and culture that are not in our own style.”
The law stipulates punishments ranging from a couple of years in labor camps to the death penalty for various offenses.
Earlier, reports emerged that the North Korean regime was importing tons of fruit for the top brass to celebrate a “jesa” ceremony while millions in the country suffer from poverty and hunger.
This traditional ceremony to honor the ancestors has Confucian roots and is celebrated in various East Asian countries.
The North Korean government has imported tons of Chinese-grown fruits such as lychees, pineapples, and mangoes, RFA reported.
Besides, in January, North Korea slashed the people’s annual food ration in half while maintaining cattle food rations at the same level causing widespread uproar among the people. – UCA News
