True And Craig's Excellent North Korean Adventure

True and I went to North Korea over his Easter break. This report is longwinded - more for True and me than anyone else - so forgive the indulgence.

I had wanted to go for years and True was eager to go, too. We decided rather late, though, so we didn't know whether we would get visas until just a few days before we left.

Then, I put my passport through the washing machine hours before our flight from Hong Kong to Shenyang, China, where we were to catch a flight to Pyongyang. The passport came out of the wash looking like a faded denim flower.

After burning out one of Anna's hair dryers and pressing the passport flat under a leg of our coffee table, I got it in good enough shape to fly (barely - it was still damp when we arrived in China and the Chinese immigration officer smelled it and consulted with his superior before letting me into the country).

But we made it and, above, are standing before the statues of 'the Generals,' as Kim Il Song and his son, Kim Jong Il, are now called in North Korea. The statues are huge and made of bronze. For scale, look at the people standing near their base in the background.

We flew first to Shenyang in northeastern China and spent a night near the airport. This is a picture that True took of me waiting for our flight to Pyongyang the next day.

Shenyang, once known by its Manchurian name, Mukden, was the seat of the Manchu emperor before the Manchus conquered the Ming - the last Chinese dynasty - and founded the Qing Dynasty. They moved the Manchu court to the capital in Beijing.

The Manchus are not Chinese, though they have largely assimilated through intermarriage these days and few speak, much less read or write, Manchurian anymore. I wanted to take True to visit the old Manchu palace, which I saw decades ago, but we didn't have time.

We flew to Pyongyang on a Russian-built Tupolev Tu-204-300, the only one in Air Koryo's small fleet.

Koryo is the name of an early kingdom in Korea, from which the English name of the country is derived. In Korean, the country is called Chosun by the North and Hanguk by the South.

On our way to the Hermit Kingdom!

Disembarking in North Korea. It was exciting.


We covered quite a bit of ground during our visit, from the northern mountains to the southern demilitarized zone.

On the way north, we passed between the Yongbyon nuclear complex, about 10 miles to the northwest of our route near Kaechon, and the notorious Kaechon internment camp, known officially as Penal-labor colony No. 14, about 25 miles to the southeast of our route.

Camp 14 is particularly ghastly, if an account by a purported escapee is to be believed (his story has changed several times since he was discovered working in a Shanghai restaurant by a Washington Post reporter). Nonetheless, conditions at North Korean concentration camps are most certainly horrendous.


Upon arriving in Pyongyang, even before checking into the hotel, we were taken to the monumental statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill in the center of the city. We bought a bouquet of flowers from a kiosk and bowed before the statues before laying the flowers at their feet.

True by the Socialist Revolution monument on Mansu Hill.

There is a similar monument to the anti-Japanese War on the other side of the hill.

U.S. imperialists and Japanese colonialists are the twin demons of North Korea and so True got it from both sides.

Our guide, Miss So. When she met us the first day, she wore Chosŏn-ot, as it is called in North Korea (Hanbok, in South Korea), traditional Korean dress. Other days, she was dressed fairly fashionably - and carrying a Mulberry bag, a gift from her father.

Her father works for the Ministry of Health and travels frequently abroad. Her grandparents returned to North Korea in the 1960s from Japan where her father was born. They are clearly not a typical family.



Ms. So gave us a history lesson. She isn't entirely wrong, as the division of Korea was created by the United States and the Soviet Union while they were occupying the two halves after World War II. Japan very nearly suffered the same fate and the threat of Soviet occupation of northern Japan was one of the main motivations for surrender.

The Koreans wanted immediate independence after World War II, but it was not to be. As in Japan, the continued presence of U.S. troops in the South is controversial and not necessarily welcome by many South Koreans. In the event of war, for example, the South Korean military still fall under U.S. command. They will finally be granted the lead in wartime defense at the end of this year.

One of the most striking things about Stalinist states is the total lack of advertising.


I find it oddly refreshing.

Instead of advertising, there is propaganda.

Here, a traffic policeman. The male traffic cops all look like they are in their 50s or 60s. The females all look like they are in their 20s and 30s. The females are very stylized in their movements and fascinating to watch.

Apartment buildings in Pyongyang. The quality of construction is not as good when viewed close up as it appears from a distance.

This is one of a handful of state-built and state-sanctioned churches in the country.

The pyramid shaped building in the background is the Ryugyong Hotel, a 105-story project that was begun in 1987 but never finished. Ryugyong means 'place of willows,' an old poetic name for Pyongyang, which means 'flat place,' referring to the plain in which it sits, surrounded by mountains.

Work on the hotel initially stopped when the North Korean economy stuttered following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Work resumed in 2008 but stopped again when sanctions were imposed by the West in response to the country's nuclear weapons program. While the exterior of the hotel is finished, it is, apparently, an empty shell.

We stayed at the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where most other foreign tourists stay. This is a view of the hotel from one of the bridges over the Taedong River.

The hotel was built in the late 1980s and early 1990s and feels very run down now. We were on the 42nd floor and the elevator service was spotty due to frequent power outages across the city. Fortunately, we never got stuck between floors.


The hotel is on Yanggak island in the center of the city. We were told that we could go outside (basically to the parking lot), but not to venture beyond the gate unaccompanied by a guide or it would 'cause problems.'

On our first night, Ms. So turned back to us as she was leaving for the evening and implored us to 'promise' that we wouldn't go beyond the gate.

The food at the hotel was not very good and was the same no matter which of the several restaurants they had us eat in.

The 'Chinese' restaurant in the hotel on another evening.

We were served the same sort of Western food there that we had at the other restaurant.

We spent the evenings in the underground entertainment rooms, bowling in the poorly maintained alley (the pins often toppled on their own), playing billiards and, in the 'casino,' playing blackjack.

The casino is operated as a joint venture with a Chinese investor from Macau. The dealers, etc., are all Chinese from the city of Dandong. Taking photos is forbidden inside.

We had to get up early each morning.

This is a view from our hotel window of the Pyongyang Rubber factory complex across the river. The site was a Japanese sugar refinery before World War II.

Bridges across the Taedong River, looking toward May Day Stadium (in the upper right corner) where the famous 'mass games' are held.

The tower of Juche idea. Juche, roughly pronounced joo-chay, means self-reliance and is the name of Kim Il Sung's particular strain of Communist ideology.

We were fortunate to be able to visit Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, once the compound where Kim Il Sung lived and worked and now a mausoleum for him and his son.

Because we were there during Hansik, the Korean tomb-sweeping day, we were taken to the mausoleum to see the two men lying in state under crystal glass sarcophagi.

Of course, photographing inside was forbidden.

Entering the mausoleum is an elaborate ritual - walking down long, long corridors, up escalators and into a cloakroom where we emptied our pockets and left everything behind before going through a metal detector and a pat-down. Then we walked across rolling brushes of disinfectant and through blowers that presumably removed any dust from our clothes.

Once that was done, we were led before a towering marble statue of Kim Il Sung, to whom we were instructed to bow. We visited rooms displaying commemorations and medals for each of the men from leaders around the world and, finally, were led into individual, dimly lit rooms, where each man lies beneath the red flag of the Korean Workers Party.

These are images from the Internet, taken, apparently, from North Korean television.

We circled the sarcophagi, bowing at their feet and again on each side.

After seeing the Kims lying in state, we were taken to Mangyongdae, the sacred birthplace of Kim Il Sung. His father was, according to the official biography, a grave keeper in the hills. The small buildings are reconstructed to Disneyesque perfection.

The next morning, we got up early and drove to the Myohyang Mountains.


We were taken to the International Friendship Exhibition Center, a huge complex of mint green hallways and museum style galleries housing every gift ever given to Kim Il Sung - tens of thousands in all.

Here, True is standing in front of a mural of the Generals in the Exhibition Center. We weren't allowed to take photographs, but the gifts ranged from the audacious to the mundane. There is a bulletproof Zil limousine from Joseph Stalin and a stuffed crocodile standing upright and carrying a wooden tray with wooden wine glasses on it from Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

There is also this English-language copy of the book, Juche! The Speeches and Writings of Kim Il Sung, with a foreword by the Black Panther leader, Elridge Cleaver, who was living in exile in Algeria at the time.

The book was presented to Kim in 1972 by Harrison Salisbury and John Lee, both of The New York Times, during the first visit by Western journalists to North Korea since the Korean War.


True at the International Friendship Exhibition Center. The air was crisp and bracing and the stream running past the center was crystal clear.

We also visited the Pohyon Temple near Myohyang Mountain. The temple was founded in the 11th century but was heavily damaged by American bombing during the war.

There are few practicing Buddhists left in North Korea. Even this priest talked a lot about Kim Il Sung. Our guide cited the Juche idea when asked about her religion.

Another empty restaurant...

... another mediocre meal.

We had Korean hotpot one evening with our guides. We actually had two guides - Miss So and this guy, Mr. Jhong, who said little and appeared to be there to keep an eye on Miss So.


The meal was good, though the quality of the meat was fairly low.

North Korea is full of monumental structures. We were supposed to stop at this one, a monument to the eventual reunification of North and South Korea, on our way south to the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom. I said we would pass.

Our guide at Panmunjom, giving us a briefing on the Joint Security Area under the omnipresent portraits of the Generals. North and South Korea are still technically at war (having never signed a peace treaty after the Korean War) and share the world's most heavily fortified border.


He was very friendly and curious about what we thought of North Korea.

The entrance to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom was fascinating, lined with all sorts of defensive fortifications - like this massive concrete slab over the gate that could be toppled to block a South Korean advance in the event of an attack.


A soldier rode with us down a reinforced roadway to the Joint Security Area. The large blocks along the way are poised so that they, too, can be quickly toppled into the roadway to stop advancing South Korean troops.

We visited the room and the green baize-covered table where the Americans and North Koreans negotiated the armistice that ended the fighting in the Korean War.

True, on the American's side of the table.

We also visited the building where the armistice was later signed.


True, at the American's table. A copy of the armistice agreement is preserved there, along with the faded U.N. flag that the Americans used instead of the stars and stripes - a cowardly act, the North Korean guide said, because the U.S. didn't want to admit that it was an American war.

The place was full of pictures of surrendering Americans.

True looking back at the guard at the main pavilion on the North Korean side of the Joint Security Area.

This is a picture we took from the South side of a guard standing in the same place five years ago.

A view looking south. Five years earlier, we took pictures from the small gazebo on the left in this picture.

We were taken into the center blue building, called the MAC Conference Room, where talks take place between the two sides.

We visited the building from the South side in 2010.


True looking out the window.


Outside, you can see the concrete strip that marks the line between north and south. When we visited from the south in 2010, there were South Korean guards everywhere but no North Korean guards in sight. This time, it was the opposite.

True in the MAC Conference Room.

True, standing on the same spot, five years earlier with a South Korean guard.


Our North Korean military guide was very friendly and much more relaxed than the South Korean soldiers were when we visited in 2010.

Here, True is accepting a commission in the North Korean People's Army.

Later, we had a traditional Korean meal in Kaeson, a city nearby.

It was pretty good. Again, the restaurant was cavernous and empty except for a small party of Chinese tourists.


It is forbidden to take pictures in the countryside between cities so I took these surreptitiously on our way back to Pyongyang. I imagine the rule is because the North Korean government is sensitive about their country being portrayed as poor or backward.

You are also not allowed to take pictures of 'military objects,' of which there are plenty, or of soldiers, of which there are even more. About 5 out of every 100 people in North Korea are in uniform, making it one of the most militarized societies in the world.

In fact, the countryside looks like a lot of places in northern Asia. The most striking thing to me was how well ordered the villages are and how every possible piece of arable land is plowed and planted - even steep hillsides.

There are very few vehicles outside of Pyonyang. The peasants use oxen to pull carts and plows.

Some have bicycles.

Otherwise, they walk.


When we returned to Pyongyang, we went to the Pyongyang circus, which has a permanent home in a theater in town. There is also a 'Dolphinarium' in Pyongyang and various amusement parks to keep residents entertained.

There is a fairly good system of public transportation in Pyongyang, including electric buses and trolleys. Vehicles, whether cars or trucks or buses, are all owned by the state.


We were taken to ride on the Pyongyang Metro, one of the showpieces of the city.


True and I in the Pyongyang Metro. The Rodong Sinmun, or Worker's Daily, is posted on the poles behind us for passengers to read while waiting for trains.

Just like China in the old days, when the People's Daily used to be posted in public places.

True with our guide on the subway. We rode between the Revival and Glory stations. There are about 24 stations on two lines. The system is built about 100 meters below ground and can double as a bomb shelter.

The subway was the closest that we got to ordinary North Koreans. We were not taken into any stores or markets, even though we asked to go.

We were taken, instead to lots of empty, open spaces, like Kim Il Sung square.

The square is marked with place numbers for the mass assemblies that they hold there.

True, with our guides, admiring the Juche Tower across the river.


Of course, we then went across the river to see the Juche Tower close up.

Our guide is on her phone. The North Korean phone system is closed to the outside world and closely monitored. The phones themselves are smartphones produced in North Korea.

There is a closed Intranet, but access to the Internet is strictly controlled. Many work units have an official who sends and receives email from outside North Korea on behalf of the organization.

Another interesting stop was the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. This was our fiercely nationalistic guide there.



I loved her accent and her attitude, which you can see in the video above.


The pride of the museum is the Pueblo, an American spy ship that was captured by the North Koreans in 1968 in what became known as the Pueblo Incident. I remember the event well. One U.S. soldier was killed and 82 were eventually returned but the North Koreans kept the ship as a trophy.

It remains a commissioned vessel of the U.S. Navy and is the only Navy ship currently being held captive.



We visited the Pyongyang Children's Palace, an elite school and extracurricular activity center, and saw kids perform on a number of instruments.


Mathematical formulas are posted on the trees around the Children's Palace to help students memorize them.

I was very impressed that True knew what many of the formulas were for.


On our last afternoon, True asked to go back to see the statues on Mansu Hill. Later, our mysterious male guide said he had been asked why we visited the statues twice and wondered whether I would write our reasons for wanting to go again. I was puzzled and said I'd be happy to, thinking it was for a visitor's center guest book.

We walked toward a small building and a man came out and spoke to him. Then he hesitated and said I only needed to tell him the reason and he would go inside and explain. I said it was because we had started our trip there and True wanted to end it there, simple as that. But I was curious and so repeated that I'd be happy to write something for them and followed him into the building.

Inside, the guide spoke to a guy in a uniform and then told me that I didn't have to write anything because the guy was 'satisfied.' I suddenly realized that they were suspicious of our motives.

Earlier the guides had talked a lot about how many spies they have in North Korea. It's a very paranoid place.

True said goodbye to the Yanggakdo hotel.


Here he is back at Pyongyang airport for the flight to China and then home. There used to be a portrait of Kim Il Sung over the terminal, but it wasn't there when we were there.

We flew out on a Russian-built Antonov jet.

An-148-100B.

The reading material on the plane ...

... was full of bellicose language.

In fact, on 4 April 2013, U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, announced that Pyongyang had "formally informed" the Pentagon that it had "ratified" the potential use of a nuclear weapon against South Korea, Japan or the United States, including Guam and Hawaii.

Still, they are nice people.