--- description: North Korea recently ordered its working population to toil nonstop for 70 days in a bid to boost production, but days off can be bought title: North Koreans Must Work 70 Days Straight or Buy Time Off image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ecdc29d6c156bc3/69888acea988ca612e6b6f57/gettyimages-492213610.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # North Koreans Can Either Work 70 Days Straight or Pay to Take a Day Off by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 14, 2016 4:25 AM CUT  Participants wave flowers during a mass military parade at Kim Il Sung Square to mark the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Oct. 10\. 2015, in Pyongyang Participants wave flowers during a mass military parade at Kim Il Sung Square to mark the 70th anniversary of its ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Oct. 10\. 2015, in PyongyangChinaFotoPress/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 14, 2016 4:25 AM CUT Grappling with an intensification of [global sanctions](http://time.com/4255081/north-korea-kim-jong-un-nuclear-tests/ "undefined") over its nuclear-weapons program, North Korea recently ordered its working population to toil nonstop for 70 days in a bid to boost production and demonstrate loyalty. Citizens of the authoritarian nation can, however, [buy vacation days](http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/north-koreans-can-pay-not-to-play-in-pyongyangs-batt-of-70-days-03112016133033.html "undefined") from the government during the 10-week period, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. “If you pay three Chinese yuan or half a U.S. dollar, you can officially take one day off,” RFA quoted an anonymous source in the country’s Yanggang province as saying. While that doesn’t sound like much, it represents twice what the average North Korean earns in a month. The source also added that it will be easier to get days off with foreign currency, as one must pay double the cost in local currency for the same amount of vacation time. In other words, the exercise — which is being referred to in state media as the “battle of 70 days” — could also be seen as a cynical bid to raise hard currency. “This will further drop the value of North Korean currency, which is already devalued so much,” RFA’s source said. North Korea regularly organizes such “battles” to get its population to work harder. \[[_RFA_](http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/north-koreans-can-pay-not-to-play-in-pyongyangs-batt-of-70-days-03112016133033.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4257184/north-korea-work-70-days-pay-day-off/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4257184/north-korea-work-70-days-pay-day-off/"},"headline":"North Koreans Can Either Work 70 Days Straight or Pay to Take a Day Off","datePublished":"2016-03-14T04:25:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:51:48.426Z","description":"North Korea regularly organizes such periods to get its population to work harder","url":"https://time.com/4257184/north-korea-work-70-days-pay-day-off/","keywords":["North Korea","Dollar","yuan","vacation","pay"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ecdc29d6c156bc3/69888acea988ca612e6b6f57/gettyimages-492213610.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ecdc29d6c156bc3/69888acea988ca612e6b6f57/gettyimages-492213610.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"North Korea Celebrates 70th anniversary Of Worker's Party Of Korea","caption":"North Korea Celebrates 70th anniversary Of Worker's Party Of Korea","creditText":"ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4257184/north-korea-work-70-days-pay-day-off/","name":"North Koreans Can Either Work 70 Days Straight or Pay to Take a Day Off"}}]}] ```