North Korea, Cuba, and Coca-Cola.

The two faces of Communism

Who doesn’t love an ice-cold Coca Cola? I’m not the biggest fan. So my New Year’s Resolution for 2015 was to reach every corner of the world where Coca-Cola is not officially distributed. Cuba and North Korea are the only two countries where that’s possible. The similarities between them are striking. Both countries are time-machines: restricted internet access, outdated technology, and a tyrannical government system.

My New Year’s Resolution for 2015 was to reach every corner of the world where Coca-Cola was not officially distributed. Cuba and North Korea were the only two countries where that was possible.

Communism has crept into North Korea and Cuba in 1945 and 1959 respectively. Ever since, both states have shunned the “evil capitalist United States of America”, instituted trade restrictions, and entirely closed off their countries from the rest of the world. Good luck finding Wi-Fi.

If you think about it, the people of Cuba and North Korea will never meet because, well, they have restricted freedom of movement. So that’s why I put together a stitched album of life from the two countries. The following images were taken in North Korea in early October, 2015 and Cuba in late December, 2015.

In one image, North Korea is seen touting its military power during its 70th Party Foundation Anniversary. For North Koreans, military prowess is crucial to deter any outside invasion from the likes of South Korea and the U.S. Each year, North Koreas celebrate the founding of the DPRK ruling party in a huge military show on the 10th of October. The same tank is also to be found in Cuba, where instead of being showcased around, now lies in the Museum of the Cuban Revolution.

North Korea is a much more militaristic nation than Cuba. It has almost 1,000,000 soldiers in its standing Army — the fifth biggest in the world. The NK soldier was photographed at the Demilitarized Zone near South Korea. Cuba, on the other hand, is slowly ditching its military roots. The solider on the right was photographed at the Revolution Museum.

Like in most other countries, the sights of monuments commemorating fallen heroes of the past is pretty standard. For Cuba, there is an infatuation with the likes of Che Guevara, Jose Marti, and Fidel Castro. Those are figures who envisioned an independent nation for all Cubans, free of Spanish and U.S influence. For North Koreans, they dream of a single, unified Korean peninsula free of Japanese or “imperialist” U.S influence. The statues pictured above are of the fallen soldiers / heroes who have paid with their lives pursuing that dream.

Both North Korea and Cuba are similar in their trade restrictions on cars. In North Korea, cars are hard to come by. You need a permit and you need the cash to purchase a car. In 2013, only 314 Pyeonghwa Motors cars were produced (pictured to the left) even though the factory could theoretically produce up to 10,000 cars a year. North Korea’s version of Communism (Juche) states that NK should be self-reliant and independent from outside forces. So cars should naturally be made in North Korea. In other words, don’t expect any Fords here. Cuba, on the other hand, is famous for its vintage cars that were imported before the 1959 revolution. After the revolution, the communist government placed a ban on all car imports. Under Castro and the U.S trade ban, it became virtually impossible to import foreign made cars. As a result, most Cuban car owners turned into self-taught mechanical engineers to fix these irreplaceable cars.

One striking image of North Korean roads is how empty they are. It makes sense. It’s hard to get a permit to purchase a car, and it’s also prohibitively expensive. That’s why when officials suddenly die in “car accidents” people in the Western world find it suspicious. There are almost no traffic jams in the capital city of NK. I’m sure some New Yorkers find that as a positive, but when the reason for that is poverty instead of UberPool and Subways, it’s not as much of a positive anymore. Cuba has its fair share of car traffic made up of old Fords and Pontiacs due to its 50-year-old ban on car imports. Expect more traffic jams in the near future for Cuba as the car import ban is being gradually lifted.

There are very few places where well-built highways are used for more foot traffic than car traffic. In North Korea, the sight of empty highways is very normal. Similarly, the sight of pre-1950 cars in Cuba and empty highways is also ordinary.

As much as North Korean tries to impress tourists, it is hard to hide the crumbling infrastructure even in the capital city of Pyongyang. Granted, housing is free for citizens of NK and Cuba. However, the housing situation is dismal. To the right is a classic Cuban building. It was constructed before the Cuban revolution and has a taste of Spanish architecture. Ever since the Revolution, however, the housing infrastructure deteriorated significantly.

It pains me to write this, but food wasn’t that great in either country. To the left is a traditional NK meal (for those that can afford it). Some might find this disturbing, but the soup is a traditional dog soup which is a delicacy in NK (it doesn’t taste great). To the right is a traditional Cuban cuisine mostly made of seafood, fries, and rice & beans. It’s important to note here, however, that most locals are unable to afford this food due to poverty. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, NK and Cuba experienced great famine, so obtaining this food would have been nearly impossible for most.

Interactions between tourists and locals are limited in both countries. So it is unsurprising that tourists get their own form of currency. In NK, it’s illegal to carry or obtain local currency (shhh!). Instead, tourists use USD, EUR, or RMB. In Cuba, tourists are granted CUC (currency designed for tourist use only), while locals use their local Peso currency of CUP. Needless to say, tourist prices are MUCH higher than locals prices. For example, a concert by a local NK band cost $100 for tourists and 30 cents for locals. In Cuba, taxi rides are almost 25 times more expensive for tourists. Pictured above on the notes are the revolutionary leaders of each country: Kim Il-Sung and Che Guevara.

Propaganda is central in both regions. Therefore, the media is government owned and all news outlets are strictly monitored and fabricated. Newspapers in English are often sold to tourists to give them a sense of what’s going on in the country. Pyongyang Times, I suspect, is just a tourist creation that has no real distribution within the country. The newspaper touts how amazing NK is and how great its leaders are. Cuban newspapers, on the other hand, I suspect are more than a tourist propaganda and could potentially signal to the gradual easing of the strict Communist Cuban regime.

I’m not a huge Coca-Cola fan. But at the end of the day, no form of government should limit basic human rights for its citizens. Everyone deserves freedom of thought and freedom of movement. If the people want Internet, they should get Internet. If they want Coca-Cola, then by all means, let’s get them a Coke.

Footnotes

The above album was made possible by the help of many people. Some of the North Korea pictures were taken by my tour-mates and friends Koen Hausmans and Sascha Effenberger. Endless thanks for them and their expensive DSLRs. The Cuba pictures were also made possible by the help of locals.

Picture stitching was done by the app Pic Stitch. Not the best, but it did its job. Filters were applied using Instagram.

Hit me up on nyassin14@gmail.com for Coca-Cola advice.