Obstacles to divorce force couples to live double lives
As North Korean regime condemns the divorce and attempts to stigmatize the couple and their children, the couples have decieded to keep double marriage or not register their marriage at all (Image: redonion1515)
An increasing number of couples in North Korea live separately without divorcing and, at the same time, younger couples are increasingly living together without marrying.
The explanation for these social trends is that, while divorce is legal, marriage policy throws up such obstacles as to make it nearly impossible.
“With the younger generation especially, it is now common for couples to live together without officially registering their marriage,” one source in the country familiar with its social patterns said in a recent phone interview.
In the past, unhappy couples generally stayed together due both to the government’s anti-divorce policy as well as the stigma surrounding divorce. This changed in the 2000s when the “jangmadang generation” emerged as the driving force of society and found new solutions.
One was to live together without registering. Another was for married couples to separate and find new partners without ever doing the paperwork.
The source cited the example in Hamhung City of a man named Jeong, 35, living with Lee, 30. After five years together, they still have not registered. As they have no children yet, they see no point in doing so.
“This is not an isolated case,” he said. “You see this everywhere now.”
The source described the case of Jeon, 45, who lives in the Seongyo district of Pyongyang and has been separated from his wife for ten years. His wife had filed for divorce back in 2010, after Jeon returned from a five-year work assignment in Angola and brought back only $500.
In court, the judge said they could divorce, but that Jeon would have to move out of the capital to the countryside. The judge also warned that their son would face serious restrictions in the future, such as difficulty joining the Workers’ Party or advancing socially and being permitted to work internationally. As a result, the couple dropped their divorce plans and decided to live apart. Both now live with new partners while maintaining their legal marriage.
Such “double marriage” or “overlapping relationships” are reportedly becoming more common among the elite in Pyongyang, as well as poorer people in the provinces.
Jo, 45, a miner in Kyongwon County, North Hamgyong Province, separated from his wife seven years ago. They dropped plans to divorce after finding that they would have to bribe officials. Jo lives with his second “wife” without any recognition by the state of their partnership.
Zane is a defector from North Korea. Before defecting in 2022, he worked at a state-run North Korean company based in Russia. Prior to his assignment in Russia, he had worked at the external affairs department of a company affiliated with the DPRK's Escort Bureau. He graduated from Pyongyang University of Architecture.
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