I did not taste one drop of wine in North Korea but if you are interested in my impressions from five days in North Korea, read on.
About 150 photos are at
http://www.pbase.com/wwll/dprk
I went with a tour from Hong Kong.
North Korea, they call themselves Choson, is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Their official website is http://www.korea-dpr.com/ It is probably the poorest nation I have visited. These are some signs of its poverty:
- Walking appears to be the primary mode of transportation. I saw people working in the fields and nowhere is there a house or vehicle in sight, so they must have walked to where they were working.
- To save on petrol which is 100% imported, cars and buses are not allowed to run on Sundays.
- People wash their clothes in streams. In one case I saw two women washing just upstream from a direct-deposit outhouse.
- Cows are used for ploughing fields.
- In stark contrast to Hong Kong, nobody walks around with bags of purchases.
- Houses in cities are sometimes dilapidated. Houses in the countryside are huts.
Our guides gave three reasons for their poverty:
- From 1992 to 2006 there have been agricultural failures.
- Trade with Eastern European countries died with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
- The US economic boycott.
The nation provides its people with
- free education through high school
- free medical care
- free housing, about 100 square meters for a family.
Upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport we were greeted by a giant photo of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. This reminds me of the giant photo of Mao in TianAnMan Square. With our IL-62 as the only plane in sight, the bags took forever to come out. Then I spotted the reason. A conveyor belt brings the bags into the building and their is another belt that goes around allowing people to claim the bags. Here the transfer between the belts was done by two young women in high heels.
In the capital Pyongyang we were billeted at the Yanggakdo International Hotel. Yanggakdo means sheep's corner island and the hotel is the only thing on the island other than a 9-hole golf course. It stands 48-stories high and can be seen from almost everywhere in Pyongyang. It is supposed to be the best in Pyongyang but it is not much better than a Motel 6. In my room there are two single beds with hard mattresses. The towels are small. The heating/air-conditioning does not work. Fortunately the double windows open. On the television there is BBC World, several Chinese stations, two Russian stations and one local station. Instead of some meaningless painting on the wall, there is a calendar. There are several restaurants, a shop, a bookstore, a bowling alley, a swimming pool but no gym. There is a revolving restaurant on the 47th floor but it does not rotate. In the basement is the only casino in North Korea, operated by Chinese people from Macau. All currencies are accepted but at the tables the bets are in US dollars. When I was there was one table of baccarat and one table of blackjack.
Our first expedition was to Panmunjom, or the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the 38th parallel. From Pyongyang it is about a two-hour drive. The roads are pretty bad, the equivalent of small country roads in the USA, devoid of traffic but with plenty of pot holes. There were lots of walkers and bicycles but no motorcycles. Curiously, many bicyclists walk their bikes. Along the road there were about 19 tunnels. All were completely dark with no lighting. There were checkpoints along the road, with the inspection more detailed as we approached the border.
North Korea is rather mountainous so every possible square meter is farmed. Looking from the bus, I saw that almost everywhere it has been de-forested and re-planting has been very recent.
The DMZ is a two kilometer stretch along each side of the border so it is four kilometers in width. We stopped in a building outside the DMZ, picked up a retired military officer as our guide, listened to a short briefing and walked 10 meters into the DMZ to re-board our bus. The DMZ looks just like other parts of DPRK, with farming. From the South Korean side we know that the area has lots of tunnels and lots of military in hiding.
We arrived at the border and casually walked to the dividing line. We passed a giant monolith with Kim Il-Sung's signature, written hours before his death. First we entered the building where the first negotiations took place. We sat at the negotiation table and listened to the retired officer. This building straddles the border. When you look out the window you can see a concrete line on the ground. That is the actual border. On one side stand the brown-shirted soldiers of the DPRK. Since this was Sunday there were no South Korean soldiers on the other side. Next we went to the building where the armistice was signed. The tables where the signing took place are still there. The officer claimed this is where the US imperialists bended their knees to the Korean people. Afterwards we went up to the balcony of the main DPRK building at Panmunjom for better picture taking. Before leaving, I had my picture taken with the DPRK officer.
We stopped for lunch at Kaesong. Kaesong was the capital of the Koryo Dynasty from 918 to 1392 C. E. Our lunch came in nine copper bowls. A characteristic of much Korean cooking is that they eat things cold. We paid extra for a chicken stewed with ginseng. People from our group said the same dish cost 2.5 times less in South Korea.
After lunch we went to a museum. There was not much to see but the guide was very pretty. On the way back to Pyongyang I thought I saw a prison camp. It consists of a series of single-story buildings with a wall all around.
Back in Pyongyang we went for a ride in the subway or metro. Those familiar with Russian metros will immediately recognize this metro. The same design philosophy of using very deep tunnels doubling as a bomb shelter is here. The elaborate art work at the stations is here. The only thing different here is the latch for opening the car doors from the Paris metro is here.
We ended the day with a hot pot dinner. It consisted of some fatty pork to be cooked in individual stoves.
Bright and early we departed for Mt. Myohyand which means Wonderfully Fragrant Hill. About 90 minutes from Pyongyang, the air is fresh here. We are here to see the International Friendship Exhibition. Two massive buildings house gifts from around the world to Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il.
In the building of gifts to Kim Il-Sung, gifts from specific countries and regions are in different rooms. In the building that houses gifts to the current leader, the gifts are grouped chronologically. The gifts from South Korea to the current leader are in a separate room. There is a room of posthumous gifts to Kim Il-Sung. It is the most eerie room. Gifts vary from museum quality art to the mundane. There is a jade mountain as well as shirts and a ghetto blaster. Stalin and Mao each gave a rail car. The one given by Mao only has a squat toilet. Stalin also gave the elder Kim a bullet-proof car. Each item has a caption in Korean and English.
We had to wear little booties to traverse the kilometers of halls. The copper doors to the building that house gifts to Kim Il-Sung weigh four tons but are perfectly balanced so even a weakling can open it. A soldier carrying a sub-machine gun stands at guard. The building of gifts to Kim Jong-Il is all marble. In this marble palace, even the toilets are made of marble. But the designers neglected to consider ventilation and the toilets were smelly. There is no soap or towels.
There are very few gifts from the USA. President Jimmy Carter gave a small glass dish, the size of an ash tray.
We made a quick trip to a Buddhist Temple. The original was first constructed in 1042 C. E. Those familiar with Chinese architecture will immediately recognize it as a Tang Dynasty structure. It was bombed during the Korean War and re-built. There seems to be nothing in North Korea that predates the Korean War. The grounds have wonderful flowers.
Upon return to Pyongyang we toured the Wartime and Revolution Museum. This is simply a re-enactment of the Korean War, called "the US war," in pictures and artifacts. We had a very pretty guide who spoke perfect Putonghua. We asked and she said she learned in university. We were shown a 360-degree diorama of the furthest advance of the DPRK army into South Korea, complete with a revolving viewing platform. I wanted to ask why the DPRK army advanced so far into South Korea if the Americans started the war. In the basement there is a huge collection of military equipment, from tanks, to airplanes, even a submarine.
For dinner we had cold noodles. It was a rather meager meal.
That night we went to a saline hot springs at Lung Hong. This is a resort for VIPs but now open to paying guests. At specific times the salty hot water came into the bathtub in our rooms. We soaked that night and again before breakfast. Unfortunately there were several power outages during the night.
The next morning we went to Nampo where there is a 8-km long dike. This dike serves several purposes; the main one is to prevent floods in Pyongyang. The project also saves fresh water from entering the sea, creating a huge freshwater lake for fishing.
We went back to the Yanggakdo International Hotel and had lunch Korean style. While the food was similar, the men sat bow-legged while the women knelt.
In the afternoon we went to Mansu (Ten Thousand Birthdays) Podium, an urban park. Wedding couples would first go place flowers at a statute of Kim Il-Sung and then come here for photos. This was a good day for weddings and we saw many newlyweds. From my photos you can see how pretty North Korean women are and how much people enjoy themselves. Some of our group went crazy taking pictures and even barged into people's shoots.
Then it was onto the Youth Palace. This is an after-school activity center where the activities range from calligraphy to kick-boxing. Kids come and do the activities for free but must graduate to the next level in three years. We were treated to short demonstrations in various rooms, from a four-piano piece, to an accordion performance where one girl was almost smaller than the accordion, to a very professional zitar performance. In the computer room, kids were actually writing code. As in everywhere else, there is a photograph of the two Kims in every room.
At five o'clock we went to the weekly performance. The show included singing, dancing, and music performance. It was all very professional. We had the best seats in the house. Unfortunately the power went out after 45 minutes and the show ended prematurely. Some of us offered flowers to the performers. As we were leaving the kids had fun looking at these visitors.
And now for the food in Choson. For the first time in my travels, I packed a can of corned beef, a pouch of tuna and took some bowls of noodles. Fortunately I did not need them. With every meal we had tofu and scrambled eggs. Kimchi was generally available, even for breakfast. Meat was in short supply. We ate more rice to compensate. We had a duck BBQ but visions of Peking duck or even Guangdong roast duck were dashed as we each got a small plate of duck meat to put on the grill. At each lunch and dinner we got two bottles of beer. Quality control is apparently nonexistent as each bottle tasted different. My bottle of duty-free Scotch came in handy.
On the day of our departure we went for a series of photo opportunities, at Kim Il-Sung Square, Juche Tower, the Arch of Triumph and a Tower commemorating the Chinese volunteers in the Korean War.
At Pyongyang Airport we noticed there were only three departures scheduled that day, one of them a charter. We left on a Russian copy of a Boeing 727.
The DPRK officers would not stamp my passport, even though I asked for one. They also take back the visa. Our guides kept our passports the whole time we were in DPRK.
As we experience culture shock upon returning to Shenyang with its KFC, McDonalds and Starbucks, it was time to reflect on our experience in North Korea. This has not been a trip for pampering or cultural climaxes. We had been to a country, due to its self-imposed isolation, was near starvation by its own admission. As China and Russia have found out, tourism can bring easy foreign exchange. Yet our guides admitted the government is unwilling to show the world Choson. In our five days there, I saw five white persons. Most of the tourists were from China. The day after we left, train service became possible between North and South Korea became possible for the first time in 50 years. Our guides doubted whether there will be an influx of tourists. Every price, except for the rare kiosks, was fixed by the government, and for foreigners they are sky high. Experienced travelers from our group estimate prices in North Korea are up to ten times higher than in South Korea or nearby China.
I cannot but think of the similarities between Choson and China of the 1960's. From the drab dress, to the military being everywhere, to people afraid to talk to outsiders for fear of being reported, to near famine, it is all the same.
Yet we were treated differently than what other travelers have reported on the internet. We were not accompanied at all times by a political operative. Except for the officer who guided us around in the DMZ, our guides did not pile on the propaganda nor prohibit us from taking pictures. Perhaps that was because we were from a friendly communist country. Actually our guides were quite frank about the difficulties they have been experiencing.
This trip has been exciting for me in a way. I saw what few have seen. I can only hope that the future is better for the North Koreans.
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The tour
Our tour was operated by Modern China Travel from Hong Kong (http://www.modernchinatravel.com). We first went to Shenyang in China. Shenyang is one of only two cities in China with regular air service to Pyongyang. Because of the air schedule, we spent the first night in Shenyang and then spent two more nights in Shenyang on our return. We spent four nights in North Korea.
I traveled on a passport from the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The brochure from Modern China Travel said that no one traveling on a South Korean or a USA passport will be accepted.
The tour cost was HK$8999 per person. With all the fees and the single supplement, my total cost was HK$11949 (US$1551). This included all air fare, all accommodations and all meals.
There were only nine of us. All the tour members have been to many continents. There were no couples, no smokers and no late-comers. A guide accompanied us throughout and in North Korea we had two guides with us at all times. The tour was conducted in Putonghua, the official language of China.
