North Korea’s utopian sea flavor of socialism | NK News
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September 20, 2026Sep 20, 2026

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North Korea’s utopian sea flavor of socialism

Fisheries, ‘big hauls’ emphasis shows Pyongyang hasn’t stopped setting ambitious targets

North Korea’s 2016 50-won commemorative stamp, released on January 15, includes some classic socialist or communist developmental tropes. Ears of wheat and sweetcorn cobs are found on any number of stamps from utopia-minded nations from the last century or so, but they are not commonly joined by goats or sheep, and certainly very rarely by fish. Fish and aquaculture, as the reader may be aware, were mentioned almost in passing in Kim Jong Un’s New Year Addressfor 2016, demanding that “fishing sectors … should ramp up production as soon as possible and see to it that the fish farms