North Korea - Peek Behind Curtains

There was one thing I decided that wanted to do while staying in Beijing: Find a way to travel North-Korea, and I did so this is a brief story of what I saw and experienced. Before starting to describe it, if using just one word I would say “mind-blowing” for describing the trip, and that is why it is impossible to explain the experience completely by words and if you would just pay attention for pictures the society looks an ideal place to live. I mean a country with completely free education system, 0 % unemployment and criminal rate, costs of living and basic groceries covered by the state – doesn’t sound that bad society at all, right? But as you might guess, there are two sides in every story…

I was part of the tour group that were mainly Chinese except Dries (Belgian) and Natalie (Slovakian) who were both studying near Shanghai and with them I had an awesome time! Journey to North-Korea started from the Dandong, Chinese border city where we crossed Chinese-Korean Friendship Bridge straight to the N-Korean customs. We were sitting two hours in a train while military officials collected our passport and tourist cards (special thing required from Westerners), wrote up all hi-tech devices we were carrying with us (mobile phones, laptops, cameras, tablets) in order to make sure that what you bring in, you also bring out and checked through our luggage if there is something politically incorrect material. We didn't have anything but there was a group of three Germans in a train who had South-Korean guidebook with them – never saw that book again. But so the journey continued through the countryside and mobile phone signals disappeared. It was like travelling back on time, views from train very mostly quite flat farmland where work is mostly done manually or with the help of water buffalo / ox. There was few tractors in fields, but they were not even close to modern days, more in common transport was a wooden wagon pulled by ox.

We were staying in Yanggakdo Internationa Hotel – international indeed as seems like that all tourist groups will be accommodated there. Again, a well decorated hotel with three restaurants, few coffee places, casino and some shops does sound like a place that there is no need to leave from there.

Everything is perfectly planned so even if you would like to its impossible to leave from there by yourself or encounter something improper. First of all the location is on island in the river that flows through Pyongyang – good way to avoid tourists encountering with random locals. In hotel there is a legend about its fifth floor, its missing on elevator. Some says its propaganda room some say something else, but who really knows. First evening we were going for a dinner Dries took a picture of the floor buttons on elevator where number five was missing. 10 minutes later our tour guide asked Dries on the side asked him about elevator and delete the picture taken from the floor buttons, so there is definitely something. One evening I was sitting in Dries and Natalies room (floor 33) a bit later so as I was on the way my room (room 16) I found out that none of 8 elevators were working – nice evening exercise by running down the staircase. So obviously they monitor tourists at the hotel and during late evening when everyone has gone up to floors, elevators are locked in order to avoid anyone or anything sneak in or out. So everything was perfectly planned, and not only in hotel but during whole trip as there were always a bus driving us from door to door.

There were three main places we visited on our tour: Mt. Myohang, DMZ and around Pyongyang. At Mt. Myohang there were an international exhibition hall where were collected all gifts give to their leaders from other countries. It was the kind of museum that don't see every day. Entrance to the house which looks small outside but actually museum covers 6 floors and 100 rooms of gifts – Its just continuous miles long underground marble tunnels and rooms dug under the mountain full various range of gift items or suddenly there was one room where our group was ordered to stand on few lines before entering room, in the room there was reallife scale vax statue of “the president”, so we lined up in front of that and all bounded for the statue in order to honour him and show respect. Gift times could were just small simple ones like a basketball or crystal classes… Or some huge ones like a train or an aeroplane. And I still can’t understand how on earth it has been possible to get those in there especially when the train was in -1 floor and aeroplane that was clearly too wide that it would have fit into the room it was as one piece or in general how those objects have even transported there mountainous area?

DMZ, Demilitarized Zone – The place where two nations’ South- and North-Korea stand just few meters apart divided by demarcation line.  We were in the room where the agreement to stop Korean War was written in 1953. It was interesting to hear how North-Korea wants to see Korea as one nations but it blames US hospitality to intruded South-Korea during ending of second world ward and also starting for the Korean war. And as long as US got troops in S-Korea, finding to unification of Korea can be extremely difficult task. On the picture white buildings belong to US and blue ones for N-Korea, and the concrete line on the ground between them is the demarcation line so buildings are located on both nations soil in order to create as neutral place as possible to solve possible conflicts or have just high-level governmental negotiations etc.

Pyongyang to be honest seemed like a nice city, especially what I liked in it after living in Beijing that there are not many cars, actually all the cars in North-Korea are owner either by the state or companies. People move around mainly using only public transports or cycling – clean and environmental. We were allowed to take a metro ride between to stations – and oh my I just say, I thought that Moscow metro has been probably the most beautiful one I’ve seen until I saw these two stations. Marble, lights, mural paintings / mosaics, patriarchal music on the background in escalators from 100meter depth back to the top of the ground. There are my activities to do in the city for people living in there, so it really seems like that those North-Korean who are allowed to live in Pyongyang (decision often made by state) are very lucky ones compared to those who live in countryside. 

One day it was arranged a show of local school children for us, that was such a theatre. Those small kids were just perfect performing with all the make-up, keeping same smile on their faces all the time and not doing even a single mistake – They almost reminded like marionettes in my opinion. 

Then on our last evening we could visit in amusement park, what a highlight of the trip. We were four people who went there, “guarded” by two tour guides because “it's a quite busy place so it’s we might get easily lost” and a staff member from the park who made sure that we always skipped the queue in order to minimize risk that we might take contact with local people. 

Of course in Pyongyang (and elsewhere) there were many other places/things we saw but if I would tell everything, I would be still writing a while before finishing this blog.

The thing that made the trip important was not only things you see but the way you build up relationship with your tour guide during that tour because it really depends on your tour guide what kind of holistic picture you will got from the country. Also the role of tour guide is interesting and their work is also strictly followed by the some officials because obviously they are the only people in North-Korea who can continuously be in touch with tourists’ longer period of time. Our tour guide seemed first really shy and quiet but after all she turned out be a really nice person. She told us lot of things about normal North-Korean people daily lives and we also could ask almost whatever we wanted from her, although she was really clever on avoiding answering certain questions if it was too incorrect. And it is amazing when we paid attention on the way she talked and explained on things, the unquestioned respect toward their leaders, especially Kim Il-sung “the president” and how he has influenced building a nation from the scratch.

She was also generally interested about our lives and was curious to see some of our pictures we had on our phones from home countries, families etc… But she only wanted to see them while we were sitting on a bus driving a longer distance, so are tour guides allowed to do that or not? Or she asked what news we have heard about North-Korea, did she ask that because of her curiosity as she clearly have a much better understanding about world out there than average North-Korean or is she told to so in order to gain information what kind of picture Western media spreads about North-Korea? I mean these are the kind of things that come to our mind during our trip so there was no way to know for 100 % what is real and what is not or is something part of big plan and theatre… Or could it really be just a normal curiosity and intend to make as close friendship as she could during times we spent with our tour guide, because it is most likely that we are never going to see or hear from her again because as soon as we crossed the border back to China, everything happened (people we met, places we saw…) in North Korea are anymore just remaining in memories.