--- title: "4 surprising things North Korean spies have to learn" description: "North Korea has an intelligence-gathering advantage over the U.S. and the rest of open Western societies, but they have to learn a few things first." date: "2021-05-18" modified: "2021-05-19" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/surprising-skills-north-korean-spies/" categories: - "Military News" tags: - "North Korea" --- # 4 surprising things North Korean spies have to learn ![Close-up black and white portrait of a person wearing a textured fedora hat and small round sunglasses, with a serious expression and a dark shirt, set against a black background.]() North Korea and the United States don't have a lot in common. What they do share is a need for gathering [intelligence]() — typically about each other. While the United States' intelligence agencies might have a difficult time penetrating the North's rigid class system and meticulous tracking of its citizens, the Hermit Kingdom can exploit the open societies of the West to plant its operatives – and it does. --- Kim Hyon-hui was one of those operatives. The daughter of a high-level North Korean diplomat during the Cold War, she trained rigorously in the North as an intelligence operative. She went on a number of missions, including the infamous 1987 bombing of Korean Airlines flight 858, which was personally ordered by President Kim Il-Sung to frighten teams from attending the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Much of her training would not surprise anyone, but some of it might. ![]() *Japanese national Yaeko Taguchi was kidnapped after dropping her kids off at school at age 22. She's been training spies ever since.* ### Japanese There's a special school for North Korea's spy agents, located outside the capital city of Pyongyang. There, they learn the usual spy stuff we've all come to expect from watching movies and television: explosives, martial arts, and scuba diving. What's most unusual is not just that this school also teaches its agents Japanese, but *who* teaches it to them. For the longest time, North Korea denied ever having abducted Japanese citizens for any reason. But a number of defectors, including the captured spy, Kim Hyon-hui, described learning Japanese from a native speaker, Yaeko Taguchi. North Korea has been accused of abducting a number of Japanese citizens to put them to work for similar reasons. The North's disdain for Japan dates back to World War II, owing to the atrocities committed on Koreans by Japanese troops. North Koreans like Japan as much as they like the United States. Maybe less. ![North Korean spies]() *Image by [tragrpx]() from [Pixabay]()* ### Supermarkets It may or may not surprise you to learn that North Korean grocery stores are very much unlike any Western grocery stores. Most of the time, North Koreans don't actually go to supermarkets, no matter how much food is available to them. North Korea doesn't have supermarkets as we know them. ![North Korean spies]() *Image by [Free stock photos from www.rupixen.com]() from [Pixabay]()* ### Credit Cards The idea of using plastic instead of hard currency was a huge surprise to Kim. She had to be trained not just to use a credit card, but how credit cards work in general, considering much of the technology used to create this system of payment wasn't available to North Korea back then (and still isn't, but that's by choice). ![]() *It somehow took practice to dance like this* ### Nightclubs The nightlife of North Korea seems like something from the pre-sexual revolution 1960s. While beer and soju are widely consumed in Pyongyang, even in the capital there are no obvious bars or nightclubs. Many North Koreans spend their evenings with their families at the dinner table or by going to concerts and family fun parks, small carnivals that stay in the same place all the time. To go to a European disco and party like a Westerner required training. --- *-Feature image by [Ryan McGuire]() via [Pixabay]()* ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()