A North Korean Soldier Made Fun Of Me
A Frenchman in Pyongyang
I was posted to South Korea in June 2011 and not long after reaching Seoul, I found out that it was actually possible to visit North Korea. And not just the DMZ, which is a short one-day trip from Seoul, but actually flying into Pyongyang and staying there for a few days.
A couple of things had to happen for me to get there:
1. When you are in Seoul, there are no travel agents that will arrange for your trip and even the websites that do are censored and inaccessible from any South Korean Internet provider. The only way is to do it via VPN.
2. You have to book flights and Visas from China. I was surprised to find that North Korea has one of the fairest Visa policies; except from the only country with which they are at war with. It is the same procedure and price for everyone. A 5-day trip from Beijing isn’t cheap – around 1,000 euros and includes everything from flights, visa, hotels and food. There’s no need to bring a lot of extra cash as you will not find too many shops.
A sense of humour
Landing in Pyongyang, I saw my first of many giant portraits of Kim-II-Sung. It wasn’t an exciting airport and the queue at the immigration is as you can imagine it. Old counters, soldiers with giant caps. Not particularly welcoming on first sight.
When my turn came, I took a deep breath and handed over my my passport and Visa to the immigration officer with an “anyoung hashimnikka” (polite “hello” in Korean) in my best Korean accent, and praying he will not have fun turning all the pages of my passport to find my working visa in the South. I was told it would not be a problem but then again, I was entering North Korea. After checking my passport, he replied with an “Entrée refusée” (“entry denied” in French), and with a big smile. I had to ask him to repeat twice to understand. Yes, I was expecting to be surprised that week, but I would have never thought my first encounter in North Korea would be with a soldier trying to tell me a joke (or making fun of me, I am still not sure) in my native language.
Customs are a bit more annoying and longer. They obviously checked every piece of luggage. At that time, pretty much everything was authorized except mobile phones, GPS and K-pop CDs. I had to take out the GPS tag of my camera beforehand. Right after, our two guides were waiting for us and from then on, no matter what we did or where we went, they would keep an eye on us at all times.
The sights and sounds of Pyongyang
The drive to and within Pyongyang was quick; absolutely no traffic jams here. The large avenues and roads are meant more for military parades than private cars. The entrance is quite welcoming, passing under the Arch of Reunification.
The first step for any tourist is the visit of the Mansudae Grand Monument, where everyone has to bow in front of a giant bronze statue of Kim-Il-Sung. Unfortunately for us (or somehow fortunately), the monument was being renovated for the 100th year of the “Juche” calendar. This calendar starts on the 25th April 1912, birth date of Kim-Il-Sung. Suffice to say, this is also the national day in Korea.
Here, there is no North Korea or South Korea. All the maps in the country show one unified Korea with the capital being Pyongyang. At the south of the DMZ, it is a zone occupied by the Americans after they surrendered in 1953. In this version of history, the occupied part is impatiently waiting for the army to free them. Wait, what? Yes, history may be written by winners unless of course the losers have absolutely no contact with the outside world whatsoever. There were no advertising, only propaganda posters in every corner, glorifying the Kim-Il-Sung dynasty, the heroic victory of the army or heavy labour, and a few of them displaying anti U.S images.
The city of Pyongyang is meant to impress. And it does. The residential buildings built in the background of the Juche Tower and the Monument to Party Foundation are perfectly symmetrical, giving an impression of a size much bigger than it really is. The Arch of Triumph has been built with 25,550 bricks, which is the number of days Kim Il Sung had lived until the construction. The monument to Party Foundation, built on the 50th birthday of the party, is 50 m high. Pyongyang metro, with only 2 lines, is the deepest metro in the world.
The Arirang Mass Games
The highlight of our visit was the Arirang Mass Games. It was something unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. The Games were held in the Rungnado May Day Stadium, currently standing as the largest stadium in the world in terms of seating capacity with 150,000 seats.
“Arirang” is a traditional Korean story about a young couple torn apart by an evil landlord. In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it is widely used to refer to the division of Korea. It is also the name of the main newspaper in DPRK. The stories in the show differ from year to year although the main subjects are the same.
The show is simply mind-blowing: 100,000 dancers, gymnasts and musicians gave an incredibly spectacular show. The level of coordination and precision in choreography is simply amazing. During the whole 90 minutes of the show, we were not able to spot one single mistake.
At the back of the show, some 40,000 children created a giant screen by turning the pages of a big book with colour pages, displaying various images of DPRK, flags, monuments and the Kims. Giant propaganda pictures are often followed by applause from the audience.
Taking a step back
It has been three years since my trip and looking back I often wonder amidst the impressive views of the city and beautiful shows, just how real everything really was.
Of course, we only got to see what the North Koreans want us to see. Countryside villages were not accessible, and even photos from the car on the way to the DMZ were forbidden. The houses we could barely see in the villages did not even seem to have windows and we know for a fact that the country has faced severe famine in the past years. As of today, food, water and even electricity are still actively rationed.
Many people have proclaimed that all tourists are followed and the “locals” seen everywhere are plants sent whenever there are tourists to show outsiders how North Koreans have freedom. This would explain why we were not able to change the schedule of our visits.
However, it was interesting for me to see first hand just how such a system could still work. You could imagine being born and raised in such a country, where history had been completely re-written. And being there without access to the outside world, there was absolutely no reason to question or learn about the truth. At the same time, you could vividly imagine the consequences of openly questioning the North Korean regime.
Tourism can be controversial in many countries and North Korea is probably on the top of that list. I believe it’s debate on which everyone has an opinion. On one hand, such an expensive trip clearly covers more than the actual costs. And even if we do not have access to the breakdown, a significant amount of money goes to what is probably the most repressive country in the world today.
On the other hand, tourism in North Korea will create jobs, and this becomes the only way for locals to encounter foreigners, particularly those from the West. Even though there weren’t any means of actually communicating with them, our presence there shows them that there are other people out there in the world that are friendly and curious about them, their country and their way of life.
View more of Sebastien’s travels at https://lensy.com/portfolio/sebastien-trousset/
Additional notes:
The Arirang Mass Games are not held this year (2014) without any specific reason given by DPRK. There is no information whether this is exceptional for this year or meant to continue in the future.
The Mansudae Grand Monument now includes two statues: Kim-Il-Sung and Kim-Jong-Il.
