Just got back from the DPRK (North Korea)....

[Rach*]

Great write up! Thanks Chick

[dreamz]

just wannna say excellant thread

i'd love to go see it but alas finances warrant attention elsewhere...

[Jackleman]

Pints said:

This is why I often wonder why the masses put up with such malarky from deluded dictators. I suppose the answer to that question is obvious but it still hard to accept that it continues to happen in the DPRK and other countries (Zimbabwe, Cuba, etc.)
I can't for a moment believe that the greater population are actually happy to live like that.

Edited by Pints on Thursday 21st October 15:16

Seems to suit us quite well though really, China is the worst dictatorship of the lot, worst Genocidal regime since Hitler and we seem quite content with it. Cuba, Zimbabwe and N Korea are nothing but a girl guides picnic in the scheme of things.

[g3org3y]

Superb thread, thanks for sharing photos/prose.

[TuxRacer]

Very interesting.

Think I'll go somewhere else for my next holiday though!

[Alfachick]

Pints said:

Alfachick said:

Something that you have to remember when traveling is that no matter what the politics are people are still just people and generally all want the same thing. Which is just to get on with their lives, and try to build a better future for their children.

This is why I often wonder why the masses put up with such malarky from deluded dictators. I suppose the answer to that question is obvious but it still hard to accept that it continues to happen in the DPRK and other countries (Zimbabwe, Cuba, etc.)
I can't for a moment believe that the greater population are actually happy to live like that.

Edited by Pints on Thursday 21st October 15:16

You also have to realize that the people in North Korea have NO contact with the outside world whatsoever, apart from the tourist guides. They only have one tv channel, which is state run. All the news papers are state run, all the films shown are made by the state. All they know is what the state have told them. The vast majority of the population just don't KNOW what happens in other countries.

They have all gone to school funded by the state and are fed propaganda from a very very young age. As far as the average person is concerned Kim il Sung is the Great leader, and is still the President even though he has been dead for 15 years! And Kim Jong Il is the Dear Leader, and the countries Prime Minister.

It was very strange. Most people that we were allowed to speak to i.e. guides seemed to really believe that Reunification between North and South could happen and they did really want it to happen. Even at the mass games there was an act that was all about the reunification of North and South. And the mass games are not put on for tourists they are for the North Koreans.
The national psyche in the North seems to be regretful of the Korean war after the peninsular had been occupied by the Japs and freedom had been gained from that only for the country to be split in two.

I bought an interestingly titled book when I was over there called "The Distortion of How the USA Impreialists Started the Korean War", which is an 'academic' text. The whole country believes that the USA started the Korean war and that the USA installed a "puppet government" in South Korea to do their bidding [devils advocate] which may not be too far from the truth [/devils advocate].


I am glad that folk appreciate the pics It was a very interesting holiday. In fact the time in the DPRK was relaxing after the trip there! Strange but true.

Below is a mural that greeted us on our entry to a middle school. Just so you can start to get an idea of the kind of propaganda that is constantly fed to children.

[Rach*]

So interesting!

I loved Mongolia too, and the people were so hospitable.


We crossed Russia but haven't seen Moscow or St Petersberg, now you've got me itching to go on a train journey (so long as they are better than the one in Kazakhstan)

[Scho]

cool as fk,Excellent trip!

[jumplead]

Apologies for bringing this up from the depths of the forum,

Alfachick did it look as if any work was going on or had taken place at the huge hotel that dwarfs the rest of Pyongyang. DPRK is a place I'd really like to go and seeing more and more of these type of reviews just drives my curiosity further.

[Kermit power]

It strikes me as odd that they would take your mobiles, as I can't imagine there would be much in the way of a network in DPRK for them to connect to, would there?

[Alfachick]

jumplead said:

Apologies for bringing this up from the depths of the forum,

Alfachick did it look as if any work was going on or had taken place at the huge hotel that dwarfs the rest of Pyongyang. DPRK is a place I'd really like to go and seeing more and more of these type of reviews just drives my curiosity further.

Yeah that hotel was nearly finished on the outside now. Most of the glass was on it, along with the 5 revolving restraunts at the top!
I will find a pic and post it up tomorrow. Offshore at the mo so kinda hard to lay my hand on a pic right away.

[Tyson1980]

Great post Alfachick...

Having travelled to Burma, Vietnam,, LAOS, Cambodia and Kashmir in my early twenties I have always wondered what N.Korea would be like.

I don't think it would appeal to my wife though!

[Kermit power]

Tyson1980 said:

Great post Alfachick...

Having travelled to Burma, Vietnam,, LAOS, Cambodia and Kashmir in my early twenties I have always wondered what N.Korea would be like.

I don't think it would appeal to my wife though!

Outstanding!

Dredging up a thread on North Korea from 12 months ago and then not mentioning the loss of the beloved leader beloved leader deserves applause!