infiltrating north korea

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Infiltrating North Korea Part 2: The challenges of being a tourist

by Neil Woodburn Dec 7th 2007 @ 10:00AM

If my hotel was any inclination of what to expect in North Korea--and it turned out to be--

my time spent in the Hermit Kingdom would be as a distant observer far removed fromthe everyday life and culture of North Koreans and cut off from the general populaceitself.

Yanggakdo Hotel is a foreigners-only hotel located on a small island in the middle of ariver near the center of Pyongyang (the building on the left in the photo below). Locals

were not allowed near it and foreigners couldn't step off the island without theirdesignated tour guide. In fact, merely walking out the hotel doors for some fresh air in

the evening was usually met with nervous doormen who would shoo me back inside tothe numerous hotel amenities designed to keep captive tourists entertained--such as a

bowling alley, health spa, pool, ping pong tables, and even a small casino in thebasement.

Even if I had managed to sneak out, I wouldn't have gotten far. There were no taxis totake me anywhere and, for that matter, there was nowhere to go. Bars simply didn't existand showing up to a restaurant without my "minder" would have caused a panic. Plus,

there was the small matter of money. Foreigners weren't allowed to possess NorthKorean currency and any local discovered taking dollars from a tourist was in for somebig problems. Lastly, I'm a 6'4" American with light brown hair; sneaking out and

blending in with the populace just wasn't going to happen.

One simply cannot wander about on one's own in North Korea. Every tour group ismanned by at least one tour guide and one member of the Ministry of the Interior (i.e.the secret police). Of course every secret policeman has a cover story--like being a

teacher or translator--but don't believe it. They will observe and report back to theirsuperiors and, as a result, visitors have to be careful with everything they say. I never

felt threatened or too worried, but I also never felt safe enough to truly say what I wantedto.

Our minders basically had three tasks; to show us around, keep us from talking with thelocals, and to prevent us from taking photographs when we weren't supposed to.

I'm sure it wasn't too difficult to prevent communication with most groups of Americantourists because of the language barrier. The small tour group I randomly joined,however, was mostly made up of missionaries living in Asia who actually spoke some

Korean. They knew the rules, however, and spoke only brief greetings to people walkingby. Our minders, always at our side, made sure the conversation didn't progress beyondthat.


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It was very strange. I've never been anywhere where I couldn't communicate in somemanner or another with the locals, thereby gaining insight into living conditions and

culture that only can be gleamed from first hand experience. Nor have my movementsever been completely controlled; we could only go where they wanted us to go in NorthKorea and see only what they wanted us to see. We couldn't wander into a

neighborhood store or market or anywhere off the carefully choreographed itinerary. Infact, after we pushed too hard one evening to visit somewhere off the itinerary, I wassurprised to hear our frustrated guide quote Shakespeare in telling us that it wasn't

possible, "It doesn't mean I love Caesar any less, it just means that I love Rome more."

Therefore, the most revealing snippets of life were snatched from the windows of our

minivan as we drove between sanctioned locations. That's why so many of my photosare at odd angles and blurry; sticking the camera out the window of a moving minivan

and shooting a click-and-pray was always a hit or miss ordeal.

But even this wasn't easy. Like everything else in North Korea, photography is alsocarefully controlled. We could take photographs anywhere within the capital--except ofsoldiers--but once outside the city limits of Pyongyang, we weren't allowed to take any

shots unless specifically told it was okay. We often asked and were usually told thesame thing.

One morning while driving outside of Pyongyang, we stopped at a simple, non-descriptbuilding that sold snacks to tourists. I'm not sure why someone wanted to take a photo

of this boring structure but our guide turned us down nonetheless. "No you can't," hetold us, and then added with a smile, "but of course I don't know why."

It actually became a running joke in our group and a telling insight into what life was likein this hyper-paranoid country. "Well of course you can take photos," we'd mimic, "just

not here."

Our tour group was therefore limited to the state sanctioned, hygienically scrubbed, life-

is-rosy perspective just as the government wanted it to be. As a result, visiting NorthKorea on a guided tour is like visiting 5th Avenue and assuming the rest of New York is

just as swanky. Unfortunately, the following posts in this series are therefore limited intheir exposure as a result.

Furthermore, I'm following the lead of the North Korean government and exercisingsome censorship myself. Certain photos and very minor incidents which occurred (and

which might seem inconsequential to the reader), could certainly have ramifications forthose involved or photographed. I've even chosen not to post any shots of our minders,

both of whom were basically good guys simply doing their jobs.

And so, I'm forced to present a somewhat biased look at North Korea--certainly a

somewhat biased look is better than no look at all. But don't worry: despite the state's


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best attempts to shield us, there are plenty of chinks in the armor and cracks in thesmoke and mirrors; North Korea is not the worker's paradise it claims to be and this is

painfully obvious no matter how distanced we were from the day-to-day reality of theworld's last Hermit Kingdom.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 3: The enigma of Pyongyang


I was quite pleased to discover that Pyongyang does not suffer from the typicalcommunist infatuation with soulless concrete and is, instead, a rather pleasant cityblessed with wide boulevards, spacious squares, picturesque parks, tree-linedsidewalks, traditional architecture and modern buildings.

What truly separates it from other parts of Asia, however, are its many communistaccoutrements.

Propaganda comes in all shapes and sizes in Pyongyang and it's simply impossible toavoid. The city is flush with politically charged statues, mosaics, posters, andmonuments--which will be discussed later--as well as bright red flags festooned with theNorth Korean hammer, sickle and brush (paying tribute to the worker, peasant and

intellectual).

Despite the negative association of the hammer and sickle in the Western world, theseflags are actually quite festive and lend a welcome splash of color to the city. They'realso enjoyably anachronistic, making it seem as though I had traveled back in time to

1950s Moscow all proudly awash in communist red.

So, this is what it was like in the Soviet Bloc before the Wall came down and capitalism

rushed in with its neon signs, billboards, and McDonald's. I thought at first it would feellike being on a movie set where everything feels slightly fake and manufactured. But the

red flags and banners just felt right, like they belonged--this was, after all, the real thing.

Gallery: North Korea Banners

The Banners of Pyongyang

The most pleasant discovery of Pyongyang, however, was that it was not the polluted

wasteland of acidic air and soot stained masonry so commonly found in othercommunist capitals. This struck me the moment I stepped on to the tarmac of the

Pyongyang airport. I had flown in from China, one of the most polluted countries on thisplanet, and was quite taken back by the sudden shock of fresh air when we landed. This


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is because the North Korean capital relies mostly on hydroelectric energy instead of thecheaply burning lignite coal more commonly used throughout Eastern Europe.

The air is kept even cleaner by the fact that there were almost no cars on the streets--the place was an automotive ghost town. Pyongyang and the rest of North Korea, as it

turns out, operates almost entirely on foot and bike power. Pedestrians and bicyclistswere everywhere. They weren't bunched up and crowding the sidewalks and street

corners, however. Pyongyang is sparsely populated and its mobile citizens were alwaysstrung out and scattered with yards of separation between them. It was a lonely,

spacious form of transportation indicative of the country itself.

The exception was the always overcrowded city busses. Commuters on street corners

throughout the capital waited in very long lines for these busses, lines that werefreakishly orderly as though as though anyone who stepped out of place would be

punished in some manner or another.

Gallery: North Korea Streets

This sense of order permeates the city. This is because only the most privileged ofNorth Koreans (i.e. the party faithful) are allowed to live in Pyongyang. This means that

all three million of them are constantly on their best behavior for fear of getting kicked offthe "island" and banished to some provincial North Korean backwater. This is my theory,

at least. And, I don't think it's too far from the truth. This explains why the bus lines areso orderly, the residents are constantly doffed up in their finest suits, there is absolutely

no crime, and not a spot of litter to be seen anywhere--although with the dearth of

consumer disposables and lack of fast food containers, there really isn't too much toactually litter with. This passion for keeping things clean and orderly even extends to themost remote areas of North Korea where women can be seen sweeping the highway in

the middle of nowhere without a village for miles.

Of course, being a good socialist means taking care of yourself and your society, so a

healthy dose of communist rhetoric coupled with some good old fashioned totalitarianfear has gone a long way in keeping the capital squeaky clean and orderly--albeit

cursed with somewhat of a stilted atmosphere.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 4: The architecture of Pyongyang


Pyongyang, for the most part, is surprisingly tasteful and impressive without being too

ostentatious and grandiose.


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This is because Kim Il Sung, like all megalomaniacs, built his capital to showcase the

power and sophistication of his regime and to serve as a shining example of Socialism'sprowess.

Nonetheless, I had still expected a horribly dilapidated city much like the carcass of somany Eastern European towns I had seen shortly after the fall of communism. But I waswrong, for the most part. Yes, such visual horrors certainly existed: Beyond the city

center, for example, we could clearly make out the concrete hell of socialism where rowsof prefabricated housing blocks were pushed up against each other like tombstones in a

graveyard.

But the center of town itself was a pleasant exception to this horrendous architecture.

Pyongyang had been leveled during the war and the communist city planners hadtherefore been presented a tabula rasa on which to build the model socialist city. The

result was a proud capital that boasted wide boulevards, tree lined sidewalks, numerousparks, and impressive architecture that could be at home even in Europe. Almost.

Pyongyang also has its share of oddball structures and at least one failed skyscraperattempting to be the tallest in the world.

Arch of TriumphPyongyang's Arch of Triumph is taken right out of the pages of Paris, France. Except, of

course, it's three meters taller.

The 60 meter tall (190 ft) structure was built in 1982 with 10,500 granite blocks and

stands as a tribute to the liberation of Korea from the Japanese in 1945. Or, asrecounted in my copy of Pyongyang Review, the arch "reflects our people's ardent wishand steadfast resolve to glorify forever the immortal revolutionary exploits of the great

leader Comrade Kim Il Sung who embarked on the road to revolution in his early yearsand led the 20-year long anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle to victory and returnedhome by accomplishing the cause of national liberation."

Such praise is a very typical North Korean manner of exalting Kim Il Sung and insertinghis "brilliance" and leadership into every single object--manmade or otherwise--the sun

shines upon in North Korea.

Gallery: North Korea: The ArchPyongyang's Arch of TriumphPyongyang's Arch of TriumphPyongyang's Arch ofTriumphPyongyang's Arch of TriumphPyongyang's Arch of Triumph

Ryugyong HotelThe Ryugyong Hotel is undoubtedly the most flagrant symbol of North Korea's failure as

judged by the outside world.


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At 330 meters (1,083 ft) tall and 105 floors, this mammoth structure dominates

Pyongyang's skyline. Originally scheduled to open in 1989, it would have been theworld's tallest hotel at the time and a cultural coup of one-upmanship for the NorthKorean government.

Things didn't go as planned, however. Construction was halted in 1992, leaving Korea-watchers speculating on the many reasons for abandoning such a prestigious project

that was heralded in the local press as the architectural equivalent of the second comingof God.

Poor quality concrete is the most commonly suspected reason, although fundingprobably played a major role as well. Experts estimated the project cost $750 million

dollars and tragically consumed far too many resources during a time of horrific faminein North Korea.

Today, the hotel has become a white elephant which no one, including our guides,would speak about. All references have been stripped from the North Korean mass

media, including my copy of Pyongyang Review which features all the other architecturallandmarks of the city. Stamps bearing its image have been recalled and even statephotographs of the city are now taken in a manner that excludes this monstrous

carcass. This 1,000 foot pyramid of concrete simply no longer exists.

Gallery: North Korea: The Ryugyong Hotel

Pyongyang Metro

The Pyongyang Metro is something else that doesn't really exist. Or does it?

Every visitor to Pyongyang is given a tour of the metro. But, unlike the Moscow Metro in

which tourists could travel at will even during the height of the Cold War, tourists inPyongyang can only travel between Puhung Station and Yongwang Station--

coincidently, the last two stations on the line.

No one seems to know why the other stations are off limits but there is plenty of

speculation. Some believe that these are the only two stations in the system and thatthe commuters we saw riding the train were merely there for show. The more likely

reason, however, is that the remainder of the network may be broken, or simply shutdown to save energy--although this most certainly doesn't impact the rumored secretlines that connect government buildings.

The Pyongyang Metro was opened in 1973 and built in the same grandiose style as the

Moscow Metro; each station a miniature palace covered in marble, mosaics, statuary,chandeliers, artwork, and, of course, propaganda. According to the 1994 English

version of The Pyongyang Metro, North Korea's subway "is not only the traffic means


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but also the place for ideological education. Its inside decoration is depicted artisticallyso as to convey to posterity the glorious revolutionary history and the leadership exploits

of the great leader President Kim Il Sung."

And, indeed, the two stations we visited were impressively decked out with mosaics that

ran the entire length of the tunnel, and included themes that, according to ThePyongyang Metro book "represent the appearance of the country which is prospering

day by day and the happiness of the working people who enjoy the equitable andworthwhile creative life to their hearts' content thanks to the popular policy of the

Workers' Party of Korea and the Government of the Democratic People's Republic ofKorea."

Despite living up to their promise of underground museums, the stations were still a little

dark and gloomy--something which even Korean elevator music piped in over theMetro's loudspeakers failed to alleviate. This is a serious psychological design flaw

considering that the stations--some of the deepest in the world--were also designed todouble as bomb shelters. I can't imagine being trapped down there for more than a fewhours.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 6: Art and Culture, Pyongyang Style


Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world's most reclusive nationand its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series,

be sure to click here.

Like all communist regimes, the North Korean government considers art, culture, sports

and education as integral parts of the socialist upbringing. From pre-1989 East Germanyto present day North Korea, socialist leaderships have consistently provided free, high-quality education for the arts, as well as inexpensive access to performances andevents. I remember spending the equivalent of a nickel to see a superb ballet in St.

Petersburg in 1991. Today, North Korea has kept up this tradition despite limitedresources and a waning economy.

Sports FacilitiesThe country's commitment to sports, for example, can clearly be seen on Chongchun

Street where, in the span of less than a mile, one can enjoy almost a dozen separatestadiums for soccer, handball, table tennis, tae kwon-do, weight-lifting, volleyball,

basketball and swimming. In addition, the government has also built for its people theenormous Kim Il Sung stadium (100,000 seats), a permanent circus arena of over


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70,000 square meters, a futuristic cone-shaped ice rink hall, and the May Day Stadium--one of the largest in the world with seating for 150,000 people.

Gallery: North Korea: Sports Facilities

Grand People's Study House

Perhaps the most pleasant building in Pyongyang is the Grand People's Study House, a30-million volume library and study hall built in 1982 and designed in classic Korean

style. We spent more than an hour touring the facilities and learning about the "high-tech" system which delivers books to the librarian along an automated track. The stacks

aren't accessible and all books must be requested in such a manner--including the fewWestern ones available such as Huckleberry Finn and select works by Hemingway and

Steinbeck.

Despite not being able to personally access the books--something actually quite

common in Western Europe as well--the Study House was still rather impressive. Its 600rooms serve as reading areas and lecture halls and naturally, every single one is

decorated with portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The lectures are free and opento anyone. Frankly, it's a great concept in my opinion, like a free university where just

anyone can drop in.

We poked our heads into a handful of lecture halls but there was only one where I couldunderstand the language spoken: the music appreciation room. In this room students

could request CDs and headphones from the librarian and then sit back and listen atone of 30 desks topped with a boombox. What was truly entertaining, however, was theexample of western music the instructor proudly played for us: Chim Chim Cheree from

Mary Poppins--certainly a classic of western music!

Gallery: North Korea: Pyongyang's Study House

Mangyongdae Children's Palace

The Children's Palace is a younger person's version of the Study House. But instead of

lectures and book reading, the palace serves as a type of after-school activity centerwhere students can take classes in tae kwon-do, ping-pong, calligraphy, needlepoint,

painting, computers, and a variety of musical instruments. The building is massive. Ithas almost 700 rooms, 103,000 square meters of space, and, according to my copy ofPyongyang Review, was built in a semicircular shape "to emphasize the warm embraceof the motherly Party which takes loving care of all students and children."


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I had low expectations when told we would tour the facilities, but was pleasantlysurprised to discover it was one of the highlights of the trip. Our guide led us from room

to room where students either performed for us (see the video at the top of this post) orallowed us to look over their shoulders as they strung beads, embroidered, or performedsome other type of hobby.

Although I was a bit disappointed to learn that only boys could take computer classes, I

was nonetheless blown away by the extraordinary talent we witnessed throughout ourtour.

I still had to keep in mind, however, that the packed classrooms and perfectlychoreographed performances had been carefully arranged for our visit and was justmore of the propaganda continually fed to us during our trip. I therefore wondered just

how busy this place was on a regular basis-although something tells me it's probably nottoo different than what we witnessed.

The grand finale of our tour was a show in the palace's 2,000-seat theater where the

most talented students sang, danced, and played music for us. I'm usually notimpressed by such displays--in fact, I'm always disappointed by how woefully terrible

young students normally sound at talent shows. But this one was different. Every singlestudent seemed to be a child prodigy who performed way above his or her age,

breezing through each performance without a single mistake. The only slightlydisturbing thing about the performance was the tightly regulated structure of play. Every

guitar player, for example, sat in the same erect position with the same stoic face andplayed in the same robotic fashion as though rigidly choreographed by the army. Therewas no spontaneity, individuality, or squeezing more play out of the notes. On the other

hand, some of the dancers and soloists certainly exhibited their share of personality andspunk, especially the spry girl featured in the video above.

Overall, the afternoon spent in the Children's Palace was a real, unexpected treat. I'm

sure it was all just another part of the smoke and mirrors intended to portray NorthKorea in a positive light--although I could be wrong--but it was entertaining nonetheless

and I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 7: The Mass Games


Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world's most reclusive nation

and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series,be sure to click here.


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My trip to North Korea was only the second time since the Korean War that Americanswere allowed into the country. The reason for this rare exception was the Mass Games.

The Mass Games is a wild spectacle of dancers and performers that takes place inPyongyang's 150,000-seat May Day Stadium, one of the largest in the world. While the

games can loosely be described as a "Super Bowl half time show on steroids," such ananalogy fails to capture even a sliver of the energy and uniqueness that is the Mass

Games.

For starters, over 100,000 performers participate in the event. This includes some

20,000 students holding up placards with militaristic precision that puts to shame thestudent section of any American college football stadium. And they're not just flippingcards that spell out simple slogans either. The North Korean students create rich,

detailed landscapes and portraits often enriched with flowing animation.

Gallery: North Korea: The Mass Games

Although the card show is impressive on its own, the 240,000 square-foot stadium floor

is where the real show takes place. This is where thousands of performers tell the storyof how, according to the Mass Games program, "the Arirang nation [Korea], once a

colonized tragic people, has become the master of their destiny and faces the world asa dignified nation."

The result, spread over four acts, combines elements from rhythmic gymnastics,Broadway musicals, and Cirque du Soleil. A rash of brightly-colored costumes and a

booming soundtrack enhance the spectacle even further. The most amazing aspect ofthe whole production, however, is the jaw-dropping, grand scale of thousands ofperformers working in complete unison, as though a single body.

This is, after all, the philosophy behind the Mass Games. Like the socialist system which

created this spectacle, the Mass Games emphasize the group over the individual andillustrates how working together for the common good can produce such works of

perfection.

From a Western perspective, the Mass Games are indeed a microcosm of the North

Korean nation where everything is perfectly regulated with no room for error ormisinterpretation--a place where the individual is lost to the collective amidst a colorfulfantasyland where everything appears perfectly wonderful but nothing is really true.

The North Koreans aren't the only ones to implement such propaganda on such a grand

scale. Other communist nations did so as well--such as Czechoslovakia's Sokolperformances that were held in the world's largest stadium until 1990. Like communism,

however, the mass gymnastic movement eventually disappeared from the face of the


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earth with the sole exception of North Korea.

One day too, it will disappear from Pyongyang as well.

This was my one chance to witness a truly endangered performance and I was therefore

eager to purchase the best seats I could. In a typically un-socialist move, however,foreigners are charged mind-numbingly higher prices than locals. If you go, be preparedfor only two ticket prices: $150 and $300. I opted for the more expensive tickets--the

most I've ever paid to see any show--and ended up sitting where Madeline Albright satwhen she came to visit. This was the best seat in the house--except for the open area

just to my right where Kim Jong Il would have sat had he attended.

When the lights finally dimmed and the Mass Games started, it took only a moment to

realize I had made the right choice to come so far and spend so much. The show wasas spectacular as I had hoped and I sat through its entirety wondering how so many

people could be so perfectly synchronized and expertly choreographed.

And then I remembered where I was.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 8: The Cult of Kim


"Comrad Kim Il Sung is worshipped by the Korean people, not only as the liberator of

the Korean nation, but also as the genuine father and teacher who provided them withall rights and benefits which are indistinguishable to independent beings" --PyongyangReview

The cult of Kim permeates North Korea.

From the moment we arrived at the Pyongyang airport and were greeted with a large

smiling mosaic of Kim Il Sung on the outside of the terminal, there was hardly a momentwhen the face of either the leader or his son were not staring down on us in one form or

another. "The Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung will always be with us!" is the mostpopular of political slogans in the North, and perhaps the most accurate as well.

Kim Il Sung was North Korea's first leader following the defeat of the Japanese in WorldWar II. He was trained under the Red Army and handpicked by the Soviets to take

control of their newest colony. And he did not disappoint. The new leader quicklywhipped the North Koreans into a communist stronghold that actually outpaced South

Korea with rebuilding and economic growth in the immediate years following the war.


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Gallery: North Korea: The Cult of Kim

In the process, Kim established himself as an omnipotent, iron-fisted ruler who toleratedno dissent, exiled opponents and naysayers to concentration camps, and cut off thepopulation from international contact. A pervasive secret police force bolstered by an

invasive network of personal informants further ensured that everyone toed the partyline.

Like all communist leaders worth their salt, Kim patterned himself as the nation'smessiah. Through a carefully orchestrated combination of nonstop propaganda,

brainwashing, and continuous re-education, North Korea has emerged as the world'slargest cult and Kim Il Sung as its glorified leader.

Kim is integrated into all aspects of life: children sing praises to him at school andworkers honor him with shrines at their factories. Kim's portrait is also hanging in every

classroom, train station, public square and on the front of every official building. As ifthat's not enough, every single North Korean adult is also required to wear a pin of his

likeness on their lapel. "Korean people revere him as their father," Pyongyang Reviewsays, "and deem it their duty and their loftiest moral obligation to hold him, the man who

fed and led them, high and loyal."

Since Kim's death in 1994, his son, Kim Jong Il, has assumed the throne and is nowfeatured prominently in state propaganda standing beside the Great Leader (who hasposthumously been promoted to Eternal President) or gloriously leading the nation

forward on his own. In what is undoubtedly the only choice North Koreans have had indeciding a leader, they can now pick between their pins of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

to decide which leader they will affix to their lapel.

There is simply no escaping the Kims when traveling through North Korea. The above

gallery is just a small selection of the never ending flood of statues, mosaics,photographs, and other Kim iconography we encountered during our five days

embedded in the world's largest cult.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 9: Worshiping at the Altar of Kim


It's impossible to visit North Korea as a tourist without being forced to personally pay

respects to the Great Leader oneself.

This is always done at the capital's Mansudae Grand Monument where an enormous

bronze statue of the Great Leader towers above the city. According to my copy of


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Pyongyang Review, the statue was built in 1972 due to the "unanimous desire andaspiration to have the immortal revolutionary exploits of the great leader Comrade Kim Il

Sung remembered for all time and to carry forward and consummate the revolutionarycause of Juche [self-reliance] which he initiated."

The Grand Monument is one of the holiest places in Pyongyang and our guideappeared a little nervous when we piled out of the minivan. "There are a lot of people

here," he told us. "Please don't do anything that would embarrass me." He also askedthat we did not take any photographs of the Great Leader which would cut him in half.

Only full shots were allowed in order to show the utmost respect.

Before leaving the parking lot, our guide walked us over to a small flower stand where a

member of our group was asked to purchase an arrangement. After doing so, we joineda large crowd of North Koreans also bearing flowers, and walked up a slight hill towards

the statue and two large monuments which stand on either side of it, one of whichcommemorates the anti-Japanese struggle while the other chronicles the socialist

revolution and includes a large slogan that reads, "Let us drive out U.S. imperialism andreunify the country!"

Because of the mass of people paying their respects, we had to wait a moment before a

member of our group was allowed to walk the remaining distance and place the flowersat the base of Kim Il Sung. When he returned, we all stood nervously in a line facing thestatue. I wasn't about to bow, and I assumed that the others in my group wouldn't as

well. Our guide however, had no choice. He bent low to the waist and offered up a veryserious bow to the Great Leader. And then, we were free to go.

We hung out for a little while and watched as a never ending flow of North Koreans didthe same as we had just done; parading up to the statue, offering flowers, and then

bowing deeply to Kim Il Sung. For an atheist nation, I never would have expected suchreligious devotion.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 10: The Followers of Kim


Every messiah has a birthplace to which the faithful must make a pilgrimage and paytheir respects. North Korea's Bethlehem is Mangyongdae, a suburban park just outside

Pyongyang's city center where the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, was raised in a small,thatched hut.

Today, the Kim family home is nicely preserved along with, according to my copy of


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Pyongyang Review, "priceless relics associated with the immortal revolutionary exploitsof the beloved leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and the brilliant feats performed by his

revolutionary family." This includes a misshapen water jug the Kim family purchased at adiscounted rate since they were too poor to afford a proper one--a fact proudly pointedout by our guide whose sole job, it seemed, was to ensure that we all understood the

austere, humble beginning of the Great Leader.

Frankly, the hut and personal trinkets contained within were all rather mundane. Whatmade this stop truly fascinating, however, was the mass of pilgrims lined up to pay a

visit. This wasn't a special holiday or even a weekend for that matter. This was just anordinary day in which thousands of faithful Kim fanatics showed up in their very best

clothes and stood in a very long line to pay their respects.

Was this just another production staged to impress the foreigners? Surely so manypeople wouldn't be visiting this historic spot if tourists weren't in town. But I simply didn't

know--one never knows in North Korea. Nonetheless, it provided us with a rareopportunity; the visit was one of the few times we were able to get close to actualPyongyang locals. We had been kept away from them for so long that I felt as though I

had stepped out of the car at Wild Animal Safari and was finally able to stand amongstthe exotic creatures.

And so, I was able to come face to face with the rare North Korean native andphotograph them in the their natural habitat, donning traditional garb and bearing the

ubiquitous lapel pin of the Great Leader. They seemed friendly enough, but it was toughto gauge their disposition. They'd smile and nod their head if we said hello, butotherwise they simply gazed upon us with stoic faces.

North Koreans rarely see foreigners and I can't imagine what must have been going

through their propaganda-stuffed heads as they gazed upon us. We were the enemy,the capitalists from abroad about whom they'd been brainwashed since birth. And that's

when I suddenly realized that we were the exotic creatures being stared at, not the otherway around.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 11: North Korean Style Advertising


Billboards are a ubiquitous presence in most any major city. Depending on localordnances, they may fill the entire side of a building, dominate cityscapes, or simply

appear on the roadside in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The city of Pyongyang is no exception. The only difference is that there is only one


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product being advertised here: communism.

Propaganda is the evil step cousin of advertising and the North Koreans embrace it aseagerly as an account executive on Madison Avenue pitching for the Coca Colabusiness.

Although there's certainly nowhere quite like Times Square in Pyongyang, there ishardly a spot in the capital where one is not exposed to a billboard or mural extolling the

virtues of communism, North Korea, or either one of the Kims.

And just in case someone is blind, a fleet of propaganda vans with speakers mounted

atop drive around the city pumping out the latest rhetoric.

Naturally, the state controls the mass media as well, jamming incoming foreign

transmissions and making it technically impossible to tune into any other broadcastexcept for the official state one. This, in part, is controlled by producing radios with only

a single FM button and absolutely no dial! I had one of these North Korean specialties inmy hotel room and sat staring at it for the longest time; it was simply impossible to

change the station and it left me feeling completely powerless.

Gallery: North Korea: Propaganda

In addition, there is no such thing as the internet in North Korea or cell phones. Anyoneentering the country had to leave their cell phones with customs officials who kept them

locked up and inaccessible for the entirety of our stay. And I certainly didn't get a copy ofUSA Today under my hotel room door.

Surprisingly, being cut off from the outside world was actually somewhat enjoyable forthe five days I spent in North Korea. I quite liked the freedom of not being tied to my cell

phone and email and relished in the ignorant bliss of not being exposed to troublinginternational news. This isolationist cocoon where the state controls everything you hear

and see, however, would not have been fun for too long. Living an entire life under suchconditions would be hell.

There was one brief glimmer of hope, however. One day when driving around theoutskirts of Pyongyang we passed a billboard doing what billboards do throughout the

rest of the world: selling a product. Someone has managed to erect North Korea's first(and only?) billboard, and as you can see, it's advertising brand new automobiles.

And that, folks, is the slippery slope of capitalism.


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Infiltrating North Korea Part 12: A North Korean History Lesson about the U.S.S. Pueblo


The largest symbol of anti-Americanism in North Korea is undoubtedly the USS Pueblo.Naturally, this is an obligatory stop for all tourist groups.

The Pueblo is an American spy ship that was captured just off the coast of North Koreaon January 23, 1968. The North Koreans claim the ship was in their territorial waters

while the Americans claim it was not. It was fired upon, boarded, and then taken to theport of Wonsan.

Today, the spy ship sits moored to the bank of the Taedong River where we visited it onedrizzly afternoon. We were met at the gangplank by one of the only English speaking

docents we had the entire trip. She was dressed in a conservative uniform and spokewith a very matter-of-fact tone.

We followed her onto the ship and into a small room with a handful of chairs and atelevision. This is where we'd spend the next 20 minutes being indoctrinated by a North

Korean video about the Pueblo incident.

The narrator was scathing and never missed the opportunity to add the word

"imperialist" after every time he mentioned "American." He told us how the ship wascaptured in North Korean waters and how the American government continually claimed

it was a fishing trawler--something that even I found a little embarrassing when we latertoured the ship and its enormous banks of encryption machines and electronic

monitoring devices.

The video also included black and white clips of the 82 soldiers captured on board. The

video made no mention of the torture and beatings they endured while in captivity,however, and focused instead focused on quotes by the sailors claiming they were beingtreated better than they deserved.

We were also told how the crew signed a letter of confession admitting that they were

spying on North Korea. The fact that Lloyd Bucher, the Pueblo's commanding officer,underwent a mock execution and was told that his men would be shot one by one until

he signed the confession was conveniently left out of the story.

In addition, two classic acts of defiance were ignored. When the North Koreans forcedBucher to read his confession on a radio broadcast, he cleverly mispronounced "paen,"the Korean word for praise. And so he told the world, "We pee on the North Korean

state, we pee on their great leader Kim Il Sung."


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Although the North Koreans never realized the pun, they did discover another act of

defiance, although too late. It wasn't until propaganda photos taken of the "healthy" crewwere released to the world that the North Koreans discovered the true meaning behindso many middle fingers sticking out. Unfortunately, when they did find out, the surviving

crew suffered terribly with increased beatings.

North Korea refused to release their captives until the United States apologized. It took

11 months but finally President Johnson acquiesced, much to the glee of our smartly-dressed guide who proudly told us that this was the first time the United States had ever

apologized to another nation. The narrator of the video rubbed it in even further,mocking Maj. Gen. Gilbert H. Woodward who signed the apology as being too

"confused" to even remember to sign the date.

Naturally, nothing was mentioned about the United States later disavowing the apologyor about the statement Woodward read before signing it; "The paper which I am going tosign was prepared by the North Koreans and is at variance with the above position...but

my signature will not and cannot alter the facts. I will sign the document to free the crewand only to free the crew."

Walking through the spy ship war trophy after watching the video certainly left a badtaste in my mouth, especially after hearing the narrator's final statement that, "theAmerican imperialists are an aggressor that should be annihilated by force of arms."

Yes, the Americans were spying and yes, the North Koreans caught them, but so much

of the story was purposely left out to paint a very one-sided portrait of the affair. It wasclassic North Korean propaganda and it provided some fascinating insight into the

communist government's control, manipulation, and resultant mindset of theirpopulation. The only difference from what we experienced during our "education" aboutthe Pueblo is that the North Korean people have no outside source of information to


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confirm or deny what the government tells them. Nor, for that matter, will they ever havethe chance to learn for themselves about the bizarre submarine incursions their own

government has ordered into the South.

For more information about the Pueblo, be sure to click here to visit a fascinating

website maintained by the former crew.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 13: Kids will be kids


After enduring five days of stoic faced North Koreans held hostage in their Mao suits, it

was comforting to discover that children are the same everywhere regardless of political

indoctrination.

We'd certainly seen plenty of children during our tour of North Korea and nearly all ofthem were extraordinarily well behaved-much like their parents. But on our final day in

Pyongyang as we were heading to the airport, we stopped for a few minutes at Kim IlSung Square. It was the morning of October 10, and the city was gearing up for theKorean Workers' Party Foundation Day--a national holiday celebrating the creation ofthe communist party.

It was rumored that a massive military parade was scheduled for later in the afternoon--

long after the tourists had left. But in the morning, the square was reserved forthousands of unsupervised kids flying kites and playing games.

It was extraordinarily refreshing to see them running around and having fun. NorthKorea had seemed so sad and humorless during our stay and it left me feeling so verydepressed. But here, right in front of our eyes, was a mass of childhood innocence not

yet tarnished by the state. Sure, you'll notice that many of the children are wearingcommunist red scarves and even Kim Il Sung pins on their shirts, but the weight of such

a horrific dictatorship has not yet settled on their shoulders, thus freeing them from theshackles of socialist adulthood and allowing them to be just like any other happy-go-

lucky child living on planet earth.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 14: Pyongyang Sock Hop



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Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world's most reclusive nation

and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series,be sure to click here.

Yesterday's video captured the playful, innocent spirit of North Korean kids as they flewkites and ran amuck through Kim Il Sung Square in celebration of the Korean Workers'Party Foundation Day.

Today, we take you to another celebration for the same holiday. This one, however, fastforwards to the slightly older age of high school students and their version of a

celebratory get-together that is far more organized in scope and thus, far more indicativeof the tightly structured North Korean lifestyle we had witnessed throughout our stay in

the capital.

Although just a few years older than the kids we saw kite flying in the same square,

playtime seems to have evolved at the high school level to a choreographed effortwhere everyone had a role in a much larger production.

Sure, perhaps I'm projecting too much of the North Korean regime onto a simpleoutdoor dance festival, but it's difficult to imagine otherwise; the state simply controls

and regulates every aspect of life, even down to the moves at a high school dance.

Totalitarian sock hop or otherwise, the production was nonetheless a joy to watch from

high atop the Grand Study House where we had just wrapped up a tour. The dancewasn't on the itinerary but we were able stop for a few moments and take it all in.

The video also includes close-ups of a large Kim Il Sung mosaic, the Yanggakdo Hotelwhere we stayed, as well as the 170-meter Tower of the Juche Idea that was

constructed with 25,550 stones, each representing a day in the life of Kim Il Sung up tothe age of 70 when the tower was unveiled on his birthday.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 15: More song, dance, and a little conundrum aboutchocolate


Since posting last week about the North Korean talent show I attended at the

Mangyongdae Children's Palace in Pyongyang, I've received a number of requestsasking for more video of these outstanding child performers.

And so today, we present a short compilation of some of the best performances from theshow.


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The above video was shot in the palace's main theater after we toured classroom after

classroom of students learning guitar, violin, piano, table tennis, tae kwon do, and aslew of other cultural pursuits; the Mangyongdae Children's Palace in Pyongyang was aregular factory of the fine arts.

The culmination of the tour was the palace's 2,000-seat theater where star pupils put onan amazing show for myself and a small cluster of fellow tourists. The rest of the theater

was filled with a much larger group of young students dressed up in their Sunday bestand giddy with excitement over the foreign guests within their midst. Of course, none of

the students sat next to us, but they were just a few rows away, separated by an aisleand a watchful group of minders and teachers.It was shortly after the show ended that I experienced a rather odd moment.

I had brought with me a Toblerone chocolate bar from home that I wanted to pass on to

one of the students. Naturally, we weren't allowed to do such a thing and so I looked foran opportunity to slip one of them the candy bar when the eagle-eyed minders weren't

looking my way. And that's when I started to worry.

If any of the adults saw the exchange, the kid I gave it to would get in trouble foraccepting something from a foreigner. If any of the other kids saw the exchange, they

would get in trouble for not reporting it. That's the way the system worked. DuringStalinist times in the Soviet Union, for example, anyone who witnessed or overheardsomething even slightly prohibited and failed to report it, were just as guilty. People were

actually sent to the Gulag for not reporting on their friends, neighbors and family eventhough they had done nothing wrong themselves.

I imagine that North Korea isn't all that different. Sure, no one was going to a laborcamp for my Toblerone bar, but there most certainly would have been some type of

ramification if anything had occurred other than the student immediately running to thenearest teacher to hand over the contraband. But let's face it, most any kid on this

planet is going to take the risk of keeping the candy bar despite the near certainty ofgetting caught. And then everybody gets in trouble.

So what's the harm in a single bar of chocolate, you ask?

Plenty.

A political system whose whole existence is dependent upon keeping the populaceignorant by believing that the outside world is a far worse place, would have problems

explaining how a simple bar of chocolate could be so incomprehensibly better thananything domestically produced. And believe me, it was. I had one piece of North

Korean chocolate and nearly gagged.


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A single, tiny triangle of Toblerone could be all the catalyst needed to make one startquestioning the whole system; "If they lied about the quality of foreign products, what

else have they lied to us about?"

Revolutions often begin with dissatisfied stomachs and although I had the power to

possible start one within the easily won-over taste buds of a music student at theChildren's Palace, I chickened out and eventually ended up leaving the chocolate on the

pillow in my hotel room where some adult housekeeper better equipped at possiblyoutsmarting the system might have figured out a way to enjoy the chocolate without

getting caught.

But, I digress. Be sure to click on the video above to watch the wonderful musicaltalents of North Korean students who have never tasted the joy of a Toblerone bar.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 16: A Sunday Drive through Pyongyang

by Neil Woodburn Dec 21st 2007 @ 10:00AM

Travel within North Korea is tightly regulated; tourists pile into minivans and are carted

from landmark to landmark without any opportunity to wander about on their own. Thiswas the most frustrating aspect of my time in North Korea. I simply wanted to stop the

minivan so I could get out and walk the streets, mingle with the pedestrians, poke myhead into local shops, and wander off the beaten path to see for myself what our guides

were keeping hidden from us.

Instead, I spent most of my time like a dog on a car ride, sticking my head out thewindow, tongue flapping in the wind as Pyongyang rushed by.

Such a method of travel, however, can still reveal quite a bit about North Korea's

mysterious capital; I could catch glimpses through the windows of poorly stocked stores,witness locals scrounging for seeds in the grass of city parks, and spy dilapidated

buildings in the distance slowly falling apart. My state sponsored guided tour wasintended to portray the city in a perfect light but unless they tinted the windows of our

minivan, the real Pyongyang was going to shine through on occasions.

The video above is a six-minute, narrated car ride through the center of Pyongyang. I

began filming shortly after entering the city limits--photography is forbidden outside ofPyongyang--and continued sticking my camera out the window until we arrived at the

Grand People's Study House in the center of town. Along the way, we pass a number oflandmarks mentioned earlier in these posts, thus providing the opportunity to see how

these places are stitched into a larger Pyongyang.

The video should also provide a sense of Pyongyang and its scattered pedestrians,


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dearth of automobiles, bland storefronts, monumental architecture, ubiquitouspropaganda, and immaculately dressed citizenry. Until the time comes when foreigners

are allowed to wander the city on their own, 40 mile-per-hour glances such as this onewill continue to be the only window we have into this reclusive society.

infiltrating north korea

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