My 175th country to visit, the DPRK!!

  Pyongyang, Pyongyang, Korea Dem Peoples Rep
Saturday, April 12, 2008

A visit to the Democratic People's Republic of  Korea (DPRK) needs long preparations in advance, and is only possible with an organized tour and with local guides at all times.But it is  possible to visit the country on an individual basis, just one person, its just a minor just a financial problem, as this option does not really come cheap.I searched extensively on the web for a travel agency spezialised on tours into North Korea, and I found interesting offers on the website of Koryo Tours.They are based in Beijing, and managed professionally by a team of British expats...and now, I can not believe it, I am sitting in their cozy office, its the orientation meeting, the day before departure; it is from this rather tiny office, with revolutionary posters on the wall, and socialist DPRK souvenirs for sale, located close to the Yashow cloth market in Beijing, that almost half of the DPRK's tourist arrival figures are organized, Honestly, I dont know another country in the world where one single travel agency has such a strong position, well done!Our  group is a rather strange assembly of travel freaks from a handful of mainly anglophone countries such as NZ, Australia, the UK and Australia, but also a well travelled German fellow is joining as , all in all 13 people!Citizens of the "axis of evil" theory founding country (USA) are forbidden to join such tours, but they do get visas for the mass games in Pyongyang!
Flight JS 152 with Air Koryo from Beijing to Pyongyang, an Iluschyn  plane, there are some Russian, Polish, French and Austrian passengers on board, mainly tourists and friendship groups .2007 there were about 2000 tourists in the DPRK (not incl. chinese nationals), that's the offical figure.
On day one, we visit the Arc of Triumph that is 3 meters higher than its equivalent in Paris.Here President Kim Il Sung had his speech to the Korean people, after the liberation from Japanese occupation.Pyongyang is a modern city, as it was destroyed during the Korean war, almost completely wiped out from the map by American bombs, there were in fact less than 10 buildings standing after the war..!
Our hotel is the "Yanggakdo" on an artificial island in the middle of the Taedong river.
My first North Korean beer, it tastes excellent.
On day two,we visited the tenth Kimilsungia festival that has been held every year since 1999 to mark the Day of the Sun,the  birthday of President Kim Il Sung.The flower has been given to President Kim Il Sung during his state visit to Indonesia in 1965 by then Indonesian president Sukarno, and since then it grows in Northkorea, and is named Kimilsungia.There are about 60,000 Kimilsungias on display, donated by various groups and people around the country.Its so happening that the North Korean TV makes a documentary film as we visit the exhibition hall, and later on we can find this scene with parts of our group in the evening TV news.!
The other highlight, at least for me, is the Juche Tower, because our Swiss study group donated one of the granite rocks, and it is the first time in 26 years that I have seen the stone  again, this time in the basement of  the Juche monument together with other stones from allover the world, mainly donated by  friends of  President Kim Il Sung, and study groups of the Juche idea which itself is based on self reliance and econical independance from foreign powers.The tower was constructed on the occasion of the 70th birthday of President Kim Il Sung, on the 15th April 1982; it is 170meters high, and is made from 25,550 stones, one each for every day in the life of Kim Il Sung..!We enjoy the view from the top, just below the red flame, it was really a good thing that the elevator was working!!
Another picture taking takes place at the Mansudae Grand Monument, an overdimensional bronze figure of President Kim Il Sung, we come here as the locals do, with a bunch of  flowers, as a matter of respect.
Drive to the south of Kaesong where a member of  the army introduces us to a concrete wall, constructed by the South Koreans to perpetuate the division of the Korean peninsula.The wall is 5 to 8 meters high, and not visible from the southern side.Its existence is denied by the Americans as of today.We have the opportunity to see the wall through some military binoculars, but because of  the foggy weather, things are not very clear..!There was much less confusion about the existence of the Berlin Wall, but as that example shows, walls that divide a nation, are not made for the eternity..!
Visit to the burial site of King Kongmin and his wife, 13th century;
Good sleep, on the floor, korean style, in the native Kaesong Folklore Hotel, no hot water, but good food, and lots of  Gingseng liquor, Kaesong is famous for that!
On day three, we visit the Provincial Museum of Kaesong, and then it goes to Panmunjon, the infamous border line between the two Koreas.We change to a special bus, and visit the building where the peace negotiations were held, there were exactly 158 meetings before the two sides could agree on the border line.1953 a final peace treaty was signed between the DPRK and the UN, and a 2km wide demilitarized zone was created along the 38th parallel.We also visit the blue painted UN barracks
where the 2 sides are regularly meeting, and walk around the table to the "southern side".When I visited Panmunjon, during a previous trip to South Korea, I remember entering from the other door, just in front of me now, but I guess  it is locked at the moment..!
Back on the Reunification Highway to Pyongyang, I dont see any  private cars around on this wide highway where even a Jumbo jet could easily land..!
Visit to the Pyongyang Film Studios, the Universal studios of  North Korea   The  Dear Leader, Kim Chong Il, has been here over 600 times, he is a strong supporter of the movie industry  in the DPRK, and a huge painting of him giving instructions to the film directors, is displayed in the entrance hall.
On day four, and it is not an ordinary Tuesday (!), today is the 96th anniversary of President Kim Il Sung!and our group is invited to visit his mausoleum in Kumsusan Palace; but  we are not the only visitors this morning,  everybody in Pyongyang who holds a certain position comes here  today. There are many black limousines around.In the DPRK accredited diplomats, ministers, army commanders, and officers by their thousands..and our small group, we are all dressed up in necktie and suits, especially brought to the country for this occasion! In front of the body of  President Kim Il Sung,there is a strict protocol: we walk in a group of 4 people, and have to bow our head, on each side of the coffin, but not on his back.An unforgetable moment indeed.
Next stop is the Revolutionary Cementary of North Korean martyrs
who died in the war against the Japanese invaders.Its an impressive site as well, and quite astonishing how many young Koreans would still come here to pay their respects to Korean heroes who died so long time ago.
From the cementary it goes straight to the Fun Park, and because its a public holiday today, there are thousands of locals in the Park, all amused to see how we westerners enjoy the " wheel of death", and other funny games like the socalled "Yankee Nagara" (Yankee go home!) game where American soldiers are the target!The entrance price to the park is a little controversial as we foreigners pay 60 times more than the locals..!They just pay 50 Wong. Delicious lunch on Pyongyang's excursion boat No. 1, it's an old steamer, similar to the ones running on the Lake of Lucerne in Switzerland (!), but this one moves very slowly, and just inbetween the two bridges on the Taedong river, in front of the Juche tower.
Continuation to the Moran Hills where virtually thousands of Koreans are celebrating this holiday with dancing, singing and cooking fine BBQ's, its smells very tasty up here.Calvin, our youngest fellow, from Britain is invited by an old Korean grandma to dance, and everyone cheers and laughs to see them among the dancing crowd!! we have a lot of fun here in the woods, and if there is really a food shortage in the country, so certainly not today and here on the Moran Hills, all the people here were busy eating, and tons of food with them..!
Later in the afternoon, we visit a performance of the Military Circus of the North Korean Army , very professional acrobats, and I made some short videos.Then we had the opportunity to take the famous Pyongyang metro, but just inbetween two stations; there is much secrecy on how big the network really is, and which parts can be used as a bunker in case of military conflicts with the South, but nevertheless, this subway is one of the most beautiful in the world with is nice marble stones and huge chandeliers, at least in the two stations that everyone visits..! We also visit the birthplace of President Kim Il Sung in Mangyongdae, also here fresh flowers on his 96th birthday today. He was born into a rather poor farmer family, and made his way up in the anti japanese struggle as a guerilla fighter, then, probably handpicked by Stalin, he became the first (and as of now only) President of the DPRK!
But the real highlight (among many highlights today!) was to come in the evening: we participated in the Mass dance on the huge Kim Il Sung square, nicely decorated with thousands of flags, balloons with the North Korean emblem on it in the air, and on both sides of the square huge paintings of Kim Il Sung, Marx and Lenin.Thousands of Korean ladies in their colourful national dresses, just waiting for us to join. Soon everyone is on the "revolutionary dancing floor", right on the spot where usually the Dear Leader Kim Chong Il  inspects the military hardware and huge parades are taking place, but right now thousands of  people from all over the  world, tourists, friendship groups, diplomats, NGO's are all together with the Korean people enjoying some very bright moments with the very best of Korean modern songs and dances!Great fun! Quite exhausted from the huge program we had today, we return to the hotel for our beauty sleep, happy about the fact that we had a extraodinary day, and also quite pleased that we have hot water again in the room tonight!
On day five, we head early morning  straight to the airport for our domestic flight with a chartered Antonov 24 (5000 Euros and the "russian made bird" was ours for 2 days!)
Right aligned photo tag: to Orang near the Chilbo mountains in the NE of the country.We had a very smooth flight, but were all quite happy to land; what follows was a 3 hours bumpy bus ride to the Chilbo mountains, no pictures allowed without permission from the bus, that is standard procedure in the DPRK, and is more strictly enforced on overland trips than in the capital.But to be fair, when we politely asked our two North Korean guides, Mr. Lee or Ms. Kim, permission was usually granted.
Chilbo Mountain is one of the five "sacred mountain peaks" in  Korea.Nice scenery up here. Visit of  the Kaesim Buddhist temple, a relict of the 9th century, and the oldest buddhist temple in the country.
Tonight is homestay, North Korean style, and we get the chance to stay with a North Korean family, sleeping on the floor, but the room is heated at least!But there is no contact with the family members as they dont speak any foreign language,but its just a very short distance to the beach, and so I enjoy a quiet walk along the shore, making some pictures of the local fishing boats.Left aligned photo tag:
On day six, sorry, no bread for breakfast, guys, but all the delicacies from the sea like shrimps, squid and fish..!
Bus ride back to Chongjin, the capital of the North Hamgyong province where we visit the Revolutionary History Museum and its incredibly large collection of tree trunks with antijapanese slogans, found in the forests of the region, and dating from the times of the antijapanese war in the 1930's, thats at least the official version;some historians found out that the trees were only planted after the japanese occupation, and since then they are kept in locked glass cabinets, and photo taking is prohibited.
Visit to the local kindergarten where 4 to 5 years old youngsters, with lots of make-up in their  face (even the boys having red lipstick,) perform on local music instruments, and sing some lovely songs.They are sooo cute, these kids, I could have watched them forever..!Some members of our group did not like it however, they were of the opinion that these kids are being brain washed by the party..!

Back to the hotel, I wanted to call my brother in Switzerland for his birthday, but again sorry, the phone at the reception only goes to the hotel rooms..!Japanese sushis tonight for dinner, together with absolutely delicious korean food.
On day seven, 2 hours flight back to Pyongyang airport where our plane is the only action on the wide tarmac apart from some MIG 15 military planes, but they were discreetly waiting for their take-off  till after we were out of sight.
Lunchtime, and a photo session with some beautifully dressed up sales girls of the nearby tourist shop, then we head for the" 3 Revolutionary Museum", but we only visit the Heavy Industry department, with lots of old equipment on display and a detailed network map of the electricity supply in the DPRK.
Later on we visited the "Military Museum" where a uniformed lady guide explained us the history of the Great Korean Liberation War,
and how the heroic troops of the North Korean Army liberated the country and chased the Americans to the south of the korean peninsula.We were standing on a revolving platform, around us actual war scenes, burning houses, battle scenes and Yankee troops fleeing..quite impressive!But then the performance suddenly stops and we were sent home, no word of the counter attack from the south... and the Chinese volunteers!On my personal wish, we visit the stamp shop besides the Koryo Hotel.They have very special collections of stamps, lots of  the designs are of political nature, celebrating their leaders or the chinese-korean friendship;but also some "anti american slogans"  stamps are for sale.
Now its time for a freshly brewed korean beer, and our brave leader ,Simon , knows of course a Micro Brewery, normally visited by members of the diplomatic community only..Cheers!Dinner is right afterwards  in the No. 1 Duck BBQ restaurant where each table has its own grill to roast the rather fatty duckmeat
On day eight, our group is split up, 4 members go back to Beijing by plane, 4 other members including myself go back to Beijing by train, and 6 people prefer to stop in the Chinese city of Dandong, just across the border river, to have a last glance at the DPRK from the other side of the river, and to visit parts of the Great Wall there.The train itself is also mixed up, there are North Korean wagons which will make it up to Dandong, there are Russian wagons that will continue the trip via Shenyang and Manchuria to Moscow (travelling time 1 week), but we stayed in the Chinese wagons that go up to the final destination, Beijing.
Since it is a daytrip, we can enjoy much of the country side, the villages, and I realize that there is much more activities going on on the fields than in other parts of the country;somebody means that along the train track is a special corridor with more state assistance..!PHOTO_ID_L=our-train-to-the-chinese-border.jpg]

Border controls are easy going on both sides, but the North Korean customs official still wants to see my photos, I guess more out of curiosity, and so he is very happy that I show him the Shanghai photos, something he has never seen before..!We cross the bridge to China..
and are suddenly..in the " free world."., its a feeling like 30 years ago coming from an Eastern bloc country to the west..! although there are some restrictions on travelling as a tourist through the DPRK, I personally enjoyed this trip very much, and I think it was a unique experience.I believe also that we had a very intense program and have seen many interesting places in just a short period of 1 week.I have now a better understanding of this quite controversial country, and do hope that one day I could make it going back, hopefully  for the mass games!