The great Poop Culture of Koreans!?

  This introduces the sophisticated stool culture of the Korean people, taken from Wikipedia.

 As of October 23, 2025, only the Japanese version exists (there are no Korean or Chinese versions).

 An excerpt from the Japanese article.

 This is a provisional translation to facilitate the creation of English, French, and Spanish versions.

 I have corrected typos and omissions. Since it is impossible to translate Japanese directly into English, I have modified the Japanese sentences as necessary to make them easier to translate into English.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Feces_Use_in_Korea

〘Use of Human Poop in Korea〙

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article discusses the use of human poop in Korea.

【Summary】

[Use in Agriculture and Livestock]

 In the Korean Peninsula, human feces and urine were used as fertilizer at least as early as the Joseon Dynasty.[1][2] In addition, pigs were sometimes raised around latrines and fed on human feces.[3]

 Due to a shortage of chemical fertilizer in North Korea, human feces collection, known as the "Compost Battle," is held every January. This "battle" is still ongoing as of 2023.[4] In the "battle," all factories and people's groups are assigned quotas. To meet these quotas, human feces are sometimes bought and sold.[5][4]

 In North Korea, human feces are valuable as fertilizer, and it is considered wasteful to use them carelessly. 

 Therefore, when North Korea launched balloons loaded with human poop into South Korea in 2024, animal feces were apparently used.[6]

【Medicinal Uses, etc.】

 In the Korean Peninsula, there are also treatments using herbal medicines derived from human excrement and related products, as recorded in the Donguibogam and other sources.[8]

【Folk Remedies】

 Folk remedies also include the use of human feces.[3] Imamura's "Koreans' Amateur Treatment of Disease, Prohibitions, and Superstitions," in the Collection of Korean Customs, lists the following six therapies using human feces:

　Wrap human feces in “black candy", let it soak for three nights, and then swallow it as a pill.

　“Roast human poop" and hold it between your teeth.

　Smear human feces on rubble and stone, heat it, then add it to water and drink the water.

　Mix human poop with salt and apply it to the face.

　Walk across a ditch, smear it with your own feces, and then cross the ditch again.

　In winter, mix human feces with powdered licorice, fill a bamboo tube with it, bury it underground, and dig it out in the summer, dry it in the sun, and drink the powder.[9]

 Another custom, known as tasting feces, is practiced by children, who lick their parents' feces to determine their health. There are many related anecdotes.[3]

【Other】

 According to the "Memorial Records of the Three Kingdoms," the queen of Silla was chosen based on “the big size of her poop”.[3]

 One myth from the Korean Peninsula states that mountains and rivers were formed by the excrement of gods. Furthermore, excrement symbolizes wealth, good fortune, and longevity, and dreaming of obtaining excrement or stepping in it while traveling is considered good luck.[10]

【Footnotes】

"Line of 'poop trucks' in the middle of Pyongyang... Self-proclaimed nuclear power's 'compost battle'". JoongAng Ilbo (January 23, 2023). Accessed June 9, 2024.

"Collecting human poop: the most painful and difficult task for North Korean citizens". Newsweek (January 16, 2019). Accessed June 9, 2024.

"Dropping livestock dung from the sky...'filth balloons'. "An Expert Explains the Differences Between North and South Korea's "Filth." Abema Times (June 4, 2024). Accessed June 9, 2024.

"The Great Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine," Editorial Committee for the Great Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Yukonsha (Drugs Edition), May 1983, p. 8.

"[Fountain] Human Feces." JoongAng Ilbo (August 20, 2010). Archived from the original as of October 16, 2021.

Imamura, "Collection of Korean Customs," Shidokan, 1914, p. 435.

Choi, 2006, pp. 271–2.

Ito, Kazuhiko, "History of Sino-Korean Relations Before the 7th Century," Hosei University Faculty of Economics Association (Keizai Shirin 87 (3/4)), March 20, 2020, p. 180.