North Korea’s very different Lunar New Year: No long holiday, no travel, no ‘tteokguk’

Lunar New Year is also an important traditional holiday in North Korea, but the way it is observed, shaped by political anniversaries, chronic economic hardship and restrictions on movement, offers a revealing contrast with how the same holiday unfolds in the South.

Lunar New Year, or Seollal, marked as the first day of the first month on the lunar calendar, is one of the most prominent traditional holidays in North Korea.

Unlike in the South, where the days before and after the holiday are designated as public holidays to create a long weekend, North Korea observes only the day of Seollal itself as an official holiday. However, this year, the country has a three-day break from Monday to Wednesday.

This is because Day of the Shining Star, the Feb. 16 birthday of late regime leader Kim Jong-il — which the North Korean authorities define as one of the nation’s biggest holidays — falls between Sunday and Seollal Tuesday.

Observers in South Korea say that after holding large-scale celebrations for Day of the Shining Star and Seollal, North Korea may convene its Ninth Party Congress — the first since January 2021, five years ago — to sustain the festive atmosphere.

Traditional holidays in North Korea disappeared after the Korean War as they were denounced as feudal remnants or outdated relics. They were restored in the 1970s as part of efforts to promote homeland visits by overseas Koreans, including by the pro-North Korean General Association of Korean Residents in Japan.

Unlike South Korea, where only Seollal and the Chuseok harvest festival are public holidays, North Korea also designates other traditional holidays as public holidays, including Daeboreum — the first full moon of the lunar year on Jan. 15 of the lunar calendar — and Cheongmyeong, which falls around April 5 on the solar calendar.

The scene on the morning of Seollal in North Korea is similar to that in South Korea, according to defectors, with families performing ancestral rites, visiting relatives and elders in the neighborhood to offer New Year’s bows and exchanging well wishes.

In particular, due to the patriarchal social atmosphere, women in North Korea — who take on most of the holiday preparations — experience stress similar to that of women in South Korea.

However, as North Korean society continues to suffer chronic economic hardship, there are accounts that the custom of eating tteokguk (rice cake soup) to mark Seollal is gradually disappearing.

Some defectors say that in households facing financial difficulties, families often eat onban (warm rice with broth poured over it) or prepare holiday dishes using readily available ingredients, depending on the season and local conditions.

Some members of the privileged class in Pyongyang are said to enjoy special dishes at well-known restaurants. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central Television has promoted scenes of busy, famous restaurants in Pyongyang during various holidays, advertising offerings such as bulgogi, naengmyeon (cold noodles), makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and nokdu jijim (mung bean pancakes).

The biggest difference in how Seollal is observed between the two Koreas is the absence in the North of the tradition of returning to one’s hometown, as residents do not have the freedom to relocate.

As a result, many people spend the holiday enjoying traditional games with nearby neighbors, such as kite flying, spinning tops, seesaw jumping and jegichagi (shuttlecock kicking).

“Right after I arrived in South Korea, I noticed how different it was to send gifts to your close colleagues for the holiday and travel to your hometown to meet relatives,” said a female defector who asked to remain anonymous, describing the similarities and differences in how the holiday is observed in the two Koreas.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]