20 Saddest Cities in the World

2. Pyongyang

Pyongyang is not just the capital of North Korea but also its largest metropolis. Those who escape North Korea are frequently eyewitnesses to acts of abuse and brutality. The percentage of the North Korean population that was employed in 2010 was around 59% of the total. Moreover, the majority of clothes in North Korea are designed by the Apparel Research Center, which is housed inside the Clothing Industry Department of the National Light Industry Committee; the term “fashion” is not truly appropriate for this city. Ensuring that one’s Kim Il-sung emblem is properly fastened to one’s lapel is a practice that is performed every day by every North Korean citizen. The Songbun philosophy imposes a caste system on society, which is then used to govern daily life for the people that live there. Despite the fact that it is now impossible to gain an accurate image of the circumstances in the North as a result of the tight control that the government maintains over the media and the inhabitants of the region, it is clear that the circumstances, particularly the lack of freedom or agency of an average inhabitant in the region, make it one of the saddest cities in the world.

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