> I seem to recall that in the language, the word for the number "four" sounds similar to the word for "death", and that it is common business practice (a.k.a. superstition) to avoid it, much the way that tall American buildings used to skip the 13th floor. I'm fairly sure that's true in at least one other Oriental language, but the details escape me at the moment.
In Cantonese (Chinese) the number 4 is linked with death and is considered a very unlucky number. Whether that's true in NK, I don't know for sure.
"Four (四, formal writing: 肆, pinyin si4) is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because it sounds like the word "death" (死 pinyin si3). Due to that, many numbered product lines skip the "four": e.g. Nokia cell phones (there is no series beginning with a 4), Palm PDAs, the Leisure Suit Larry games, etc. Some buildings skip floor 4, particularly in heavily Asian areas."
(I don't know if the Oriental characters will show up right.)