NORTH KOREA BANS LAUGHING

North Korea, currently in a legal battle with Disneyland over the slogan, “The Happiest Place on Earth,” has banned its citizens from laughing for 11 days as the country commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the death of Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il. During the mourning period, North Koreans must not drink alcohol, laugh or engage in leisure activities. Grocery shopping was also banned on the exact day of the elder Kim’s death — December 17. (* Good – it gave the country’s one grocery store time to restock the shelf.) According to the order, even if a family member dies during the mourning period, you are not allowed to cry out loud and the body must be quickly removed after death. People cannot celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period.
* To insure no one laughs, North Korean TV is airing nothing but CBS sitcoms.
* No laughing? Okay. Can they at least smirk ironically?
* Instead of “laughing gas,” for 11 days, North Korean dentists can only use “serious gas.”
* Here’s a North Korean joke: A guy goes to North Korea, stops an average citizen on the street and asks, “So, what’s it like living in here? The North Korean says, “Oh, can’t complain.”