Nordkorea - bisarrt, fascinerande, sjukt

Every summer thousands of North Koreans take to the beaches in their droves to do what all of us love to do at the beach. They have picnics, BBQs, play volleyball, swim and even sing karaoke

You are literally dropped off and told to meet back in a couple of hours. Suddenly you have free reign to wander off, drink some soju with a group of Koreans to your left, have a BBQ with a North Korean family on your right or join in with random Koreans playing beach volleyball right in front of you

North Korea is an unexplored surfing paradise. Really. With a long and sharp coastline, it gets regular swells, at least on the Eastern coast.

North Korea is the ultimate surfing destination of the 21st century

North Korea has added the “rooster hairstyle” and blouses with see-through sleeves to its banned fashion list, saying they “obscure the image of a socialist system,” sources inside the country said.

Violators face up to six months of labor sentences, the sources told Radio Free Asia.

The new regulations were detailed in a video lecture shown to people, with hairstyle violators forced to shave their heads, a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFA Korean on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The bans are the latest to target the fashion choices of the North Korean people, and join a long list of other prohibited clothing that includes sleeveless shirts, jeans, hair dye, non-creased pants, T-shirts with foreign lettering, shoulder bags, and specifically for women, hair below the waist, shorts and figure-hugging tops.

I juni fick bryggeriet Kyonghung Unhasu i Pyongyang order från högre ort om att expandera tillverkningen, brygga fler ölsorter och satsa hårt på export

På öl-appen Untappd skriver en ölälskare i väst om den lager som bryggeriet Kyonghung Unhasu redan tillverkar att den är ”maltigare och gräsigare” än europeisk lager.

Med pris och smak vill Nordkorea konkurrera. Och vem vet vad det finns för potential om Nordkorea släpper en Kim-IPA på export

I Nordkorea finns det ett tiotal stora bryggerier. Störst är bryggeriet som är döpt efter floden Taedong, vars öl återfinns över hela landet och som tidvis exporterats till Sydkorea. Men framför allt är Nordkorea en nation av mikrobryggerier

I huvudstaden Pyongyang finns det lokaler som påminner om ölhallar. Framför allt är det män som går ut efter arbetet. Turister kan köpa en öl för cirka två euro.

They’re coming for you. They’re coming for you. North Korea’s women’s football age-group pathway teams, they’re coming for. Well, pretty much anyone in their way, it seems, after the weekend.

They did it brilliantly too, producing, from the TV footage, a whirl of interplay and high-class finishing. Even the winner in the final was a beauty, scored by Choe Il-son, the hyper-talented 17-year-old cutting inside on the right, gliding past a defender, then shooting left‑footed into the roof of the net via a deflection.

Choe might have had a hat-trick on the day and looks an awesome prospect, scooting about like a combination of teenage Wayne Rooney and teenage Michael Owen, all fearlessly clever direct running, a rogue state Endrick. It is hard to imagine there is a better 17-year-old anywhere.

It’s North Korea, dude. How do you expect them to play? Tireless robot-pressing? A kind of unsmiling insect football enacted for the love of Dear Leader?

In practice the North Korean style was energetic and high pressure, but also free, creative and fun, all inventive high-speed combinations. The players were engaging and a joy to watch