◎ASIAPRESS rimjingang YOUTUBE playlist
Reporter, Lee Jun of ASIAPRESS, recorded a video on female students who are on a parade drill to celebrate Kim Jong-il’s birthday in 2006. (Taken by Lee Jun, Edited by Nam Jung-hak)
Female students in 5th and 6th grade of middle school (16-17 years old) gather for parade drill at a square near the memorial building for 3 generation revolution in Pyongyang on August 2006. A number sheet is attached on the back of each student. Controller on a tower is pointing out movement of student by using that number. Checked students must join a group for additional practice.
According to the reporter, the drill continues for 12 hours a day during one year for just one minute parade in Kim Il-sung plaza. They get the legs stiffened because the drill becomes so intensified during the last six months before the event. There is a saying “they have to poop while on standing” because they can’t sit on a toilet. Many attendees suffer from serious arthritic joint or digestive disorder after the parade.
Related article:
The Truth Behind North Korea’s Military Parades
* Editor’s notes on North Korean reporters
ARCHIVE(pdf) >>
DPRK MAP >>
