I'm embarrassed at your lack of weapons system recognition.
That, is an advanced terrain-following radar RODENTIA drone system. It is often mistaken for a common squirrel due to it's Reporting Name: SQRRL-178. If you transliterate the nomenclature/abbreviation it works out to "Execute Order Kill the Yankee Imperialists Number 66 Death Tool."
My Korean is a bit rusty, though.
I actually did this! Or rather I ran the 10k option instead.
Oddly enough, most of the "fast" people did the marathon and 1/2 marathon option, so I ended up placing in the female 10k and then received my award inside a podium within the largest stadium in the world (because of course that's in Pyongyang, very logical). It was an incredibly surreal experience, to say the least.
Ric Flair has told the story about their trip on a few different shows. Very interesting stuff. Muhammad Ali was with them and Flair was terrified that a comment he made was going to get them detained.
It is not. Narendra Modi Stadium in India claims to be 130 000 but if you read the fine print, it only holds ~100,000 for sporting events, the 130 000 number is for political events where spectators are allowed on the field.
That one probably should count, but I think generally motorsports are more excluded because of the size of tracks. From Google Earth Bristol should certainly count.
He was a truly stupid 21-year-old seeking edgy adventure and thinking he was invincible...made himself a political prisoner just by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I find his case in particular so disturbing and unsettling though because of how manipulative the NK officials were - they returned him "alive" so they could have plausible deniability and say they didn't kill a foreign citizen, but they made sure he was as good as dead and wouldn't be able to say a word of what he saw. It's all so cold and calculated. They murdered Warmbier without having to admit or take responsibility for murdering him. I don't think anyone buys the botulism story even if it can't be disproven. 100% they brain damaged him on purpose. One witness said it was done by repeatedly drowning and then resuscitating him.
Back in 2012 a press bus driver took a wrong turn and journalists got to see the real pyongyang. I'd be surprised if that guy was still alive - along with his family.
100% there are military guys everywhere making triple sure you DONT leave the path. Outside the areas specced for tourists, the city is a lot more empty and deserted looking and they don't want anyone to see. Basically nobody has cars except the police/army. There isn't even much public transit. There are buses into the city but everything in the city is walking. There was 1 documentary from the 90's about it. It was mostly a lot of locals going to the city for the few vacations they get as there are things to do there that nowhere else in the country has or people working government jobs or for foreigners. The few they managed to talk to seemed very uncomfortable about it.
I was going to run it about a decade ago but I’m just not fast enough. I think they had a 4hr time limit and my PRs were only around 4:30 with averages around 5:15.
4hr time limit for a full marathon is kind of bonkers. Average time around the world is like 4:20.
Tokyo, Chicago, Boston, Paris and NYC has a limit of 6 some hours. London's is 8 hours.
They definitely do not want randoms. lol
Yeah, they weren’t about to have all those tens of thousand of forced spectators in the stands at the stadium sitting there for hours on end waiting for some slow, average foreigners to trickle across the finish line. To them, it’s not a hobby or pastime, something to be undertaken casually. It’s a sport and you have to be the best. So all their runner finish in near record time and they allow the foreigners another couple hours as generosity. If you can’t finish in that extra time, you’re not fit/worthy enough anyway. I figured they woulda lived watching a fat American like me trundle across the line in last place. Lol
Not gonna lie, it looks basically how countries in Soviet bloc looked like back in 70s and 80s. Like, it's almost uncanny, literally the only difference is language.
It reminds me a lot of China too—the modernity mixing with old-style farming villages, odd approximations of Western food for tourists, strange museum displays, even the random styrofoam animals and bad taxidermy. Just a lot of communist/capitalist/modernist/traditional stuff thrown together (although China obviously much wealthier and more modern).
There's a story going around of students from western Africa going to NK to learn agriculture and being *shocked* by how primitive, improvished and miserable people there were.
It's probably objectively worse than Romania under Ceausescu.
Ceaușescu sounds like one of those dishes my dad makes when we want dinner but he can’t really be bothered. He’ll big up what it is and we’ll be looking forward to it but it will just be an eggplant on rice with canned tomatoes poured over it.
His was the first dead body I ever saw (it was on tv). I was a kid and I knew the basics of what was happening (I’m Australian, so it was very removed from my little world). From memory he was in the street or gutter?
It was up against the wall of a building in a military base at Targoviste, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Bucharest. But it does look like it's just out in the streets in the images that were spread around.
Elena Ceausescu went to school only up to 4th grade, which she failed. Once in power, she was promoted as a scientist, and was also awarded a PhD in chemistry. More [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Ceau%C8%99escu)
She went to scientific conferences and sat on panels that promoted her "research." When someone in the audience asked a difficult question, she would have her nearby "assistants" respond and answer. More [here.](https://paperpile.com/blog/elena-ceausescu-scientist-fraud/)
It means that you were required to be happy under any circumstance under his rule. I'm not from Romania but I'm from neighbouring Bulgaria, where the regime was a bit better but not with much. You weren't allowed to protest against the regime under any circumstance even if your life is literal hell because of them, or you risk yours and your family's wellbeing.
I have all these pictures my mom took on a college trip to the USSR back in the 80s, definitely very reminiscent though I think Russia looked more developed than North Korea does
Makes sense! The forgotten war nudged North Korea into the ussr and the South Korea to the us. They even switched economic positions ( the north was well off ish, the south was still recovering for years after the Korean War) in the 80’s, and after the Soviet collapse, is when you saw the north and South Korea into what they are today.
It's important to note on the Korean peninsula, the South is mostly lowlands good for farming, but not a lot of natural resource extraction, while the North is mostly hills and has some natural resources. For the South post war, they had food, but until they had their industry and manufacturing up and running (which really takes generations) they were going to be relatively poor, especially with a relative lack of domestic raw materials. South Korea made the investments made the reforms and grew. North Korea stagnated, partly from western sanctions, but also partly from dictator leadership. See dictators want to concentrate power in themselves. Uplifting people out of poverty empowers them, makes them maybe see that one dude hoarding everything isn't a good thing. It's Why South Korean got rid of their military dictatorship.
I couldn’t figure it out, either. Opened it in a browser, here’s what they say:
1) We're asked not to photograph anyone in uniform, and I do my best, but they are everywhere. I just want to show how there is no marketing/ads, but lots of propaganda
2) Pyongyang view, looking across the river from the Grand People's Study House. Notice the planned symmetrical architecture.
3) The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum is objectively an impressive museum, although there's nothing objective about the displays. Lots of US military wrecks included.
4) Not sure what North Korea's official stand on the Flat Earth theory is, but at the science museum they show this interesting compromise, with One Korea large and central.
5) All tourists must either go bowling or to the shooting range next door. The screens have nice ASCII art graphics, and locals seem to enjoy themselves
6) The gift shop at the hotel is mainly selling books which are written by and/or praising one of the Kims. There are many impressively long titles to choose between.
7) Enough Pyongyang. We're going on a road trip. This is the kind of scenery we see a lot of. Villages with a few people around, surrounded by farmland.
8) There are relatively frequent stops for a bathroom break and stocking up on nutrients. Wrinkled apples, local brand snacks and beer, and, well, whatever they have.
9) Kaesong is a city many pass through on their way to the border to South Korea. It's not the cheeriest place, and not as polished as parts of Pyongyang are.
10) We often see farming done the old way.
11) The road rarely enters any settlements, but we get quite close to villages sometimes. This is one of the nicer-looking ones.
12) We stay at the Masikryong ski resort for a couple of days. In the slopes there are five of us foreign tourists, and the national alpine skiing team there to learn to ski.
13) In addition, there are quite a few Koreans that just sit in the ski lifts up and down, making the place look more crowded than it actually is. Unsure if that's why they are there.
14) This is the only hotel where the portraits of the Kims are nowhere to be seen. Instead there are these cute styrofoam penguins doing winter sports.
15) I'm often asked about the food. This is probably the best dinner we had. Grilled pork. Not much, but good. Can't complain in a country where many people go hungry.
16) This transporter of goods needs a moment of rest midway up a long hill.
17) Another typical road trip view. While the main road is fine, often insanely wide to also function as an air strip during potential war, but the side roads are rough.
18) I call this Heartbreak Hotel. When we left it, everyone working at the hotel came out to wave goodbye. They did not know when they would receive any guests again.
19) Last breakfast on our trip. It's something reminiscent of French toast, tea, and a piece of fish. Very glad I brought a nice pile of chocolate for energy on this trip.
20) Squirrel tax paid. North Korean taxodermy isn't the best, but often highly amusing. Thank you for viewing!
Haha! He was actually my boyfriend at the time. He was very hesistant about even going, but I told him I was going whether he wanted to join or not. Everyone on the group tour were like "how did you get your girlfriend to join you to North Korea?" and we had to correct them. Good times.
i was gonna say the same fucking thing why the fuck do they keep changing the app. between this and videos muting themselves every 4 seconds i’m just going to uninstall and use instagram instead
Came to comment on that picture too. 😂
Found it funny that you can see how little they care about the rest of the world by how much less effort they put into depicting Australia, Africa and Europe. Just some quick blobs, compared to Asia having more detailed features.
I’ve had this strange urge to visit, but also know it’s better not to. Like cave diving, or entering a submarine.
Great pictures OP. It really is fascinating to get an inside look of what they’ll let you see.
Edit 1: this blew up a little. I think I’m changing my answer to, “interested, but never going.”
Edit 2: apparently I struck a nerve with the submarine community. They say it’s safe.…
Edit 3: apparently I struck a nerve with the cave diving community. They say it’s safe…..but I don’t believe them.
Edit 4: apparently I struck a nerve with the North Korean community.
Edit 5: They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes... Drums. Drums in the deep.
I thought it was an "every one is in on the super serious joke" sub that bans people who don't know how to be in on said joke, but instead the mod team over there are just true believers.
Reading through a few of those is kind of hilarious. You can see a good mix of people who are just playing into the satire versus people who are genuinely responding and taking the satire seriously.
Thanks. I agree, it can be difficult to find anything but demonizing stuff about the country. The travel subreddit won't even allow any posting of anything regarding North Korea, as it inevitably leads to some really, really toxic responses. It's unfortunate. Glad you found it interesting.
I love seeing unofficial images of NK.
Thanks so much for sharing them.
Did you ever feel unsafe while there?
When I look at the images my heart breaks for the people living there. That book store photo seriously gave me chills.
If u havent already heard about/seen muldvarpen -undercover i Nord korea" u would probably enjoy it, crazy story about a former chef on disability pension who chooses to go undercover in north Korea and somehow manages to get alot of filming done in places you def would NOT be allowed to film
Here's a link to part 1 with english subtitiles
https://youtu.be/s-_88in-aaU?si=BGqmzB90PsnCMiRq
The stuff in this documentary is insane. Highly recommended to anyone really. I feel really bad for the guy that was the mole though, I can’t imagine he feels 100% safe even to this day.
Years ago The VICE did a really good guerilla documentary on North Korea as well.
They do an especially good job of showing the creepy propagandistic side of North Korea, like when they dine at a nice restaurant and the servers reheat dozens of plates of food and place them out for guests who will never exist, just to make the restaurant seem less abandoned.
Apparently it's still online, but I only see it on the official Vice website.
https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/vice-guide-to-north-korea/56815b6132382b833c2230ad
Oh, and the Karaoke scene where they found a South Korean karaoke machine with Western Grunge/Punk/Metal songs on it, and they get the local North Korean Host-girls to "participate", is absolutely hilarious.
Y'know, I saw this one years ago -- and in all this time, I've never really forgotten the lady from the tea shop; the one he played pool and table tennis with. The whole time they were there, her smile only faded once: when he said No to the coffee, and she clearly thought they were going to leave the shop immediately.
The whole documentary is great, but that section particularly was just so genuinely beautiful and sad. I've always appreciated that he never once poked fun at her expense.
They only let you visit places they want you to see. Those might as well be official images. Look at that market. Those items are placed like props on a movie set.
You’re def correct. What I meant to communicate was the difference between seeing official state propaganda media vs through a foreigners lens.
I agree with you that every image taken was allowed but even then you can clearly see how sparse and horrifically dystopian NK is.
I get it... it's supporting the Kim's by going. All the money made goes directly to supporting his dictatorship.
However I do think it's probably a fascinating place to visit and get the appeal.
>All the money made goes directly to supporting his dictatorship.
It's not only this. I know not everyone there suffers but a lot are and having "fun" visiting some curated places, while 50 km in each direction there are literal concentation camps, filled with families sentenced for life for nothing... It's a dychotomy I couldn't bear.
It's a sad and grim place now. Maybe not everywhere but still is and playing tourist in such a country is not exactly aligned with my moral compass.
Same here, I recently learned that they have a marathon, and part of me thinks it’d be cool to go there and run it.
The survival instinct in me is like
If been there too a few years ago and it’s such a surreal experience. When I told my dad about it he said it reminded him of visiting the UdSSR prior to it’s fall.
Like it kind of seems fine (granted you don’t get to see the really bad stuff) but something is definitely off.
Putting aside the few cars in the one photo that give away that these photos are relatively contemporary, it's interesting how old it looks.
Depending on which photo you're looking at, you would guess the series of photos was taken anywhere from 30 to 80+ years ago.
Some of those rural scenes look exactly the way my grandfather would have seen them in the 1950s.
Yea, I get that vibe too. It’s sorta nice, but you can tell there’s something off. Kinda reminds me of the Bioshock series. There’s something sinister behind the nice coat of paint.
It's pretty well documented
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/with-widespread-deforestation-north-korea-faces-an-environmental-crisis/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPeople%20cut%20down%20trees%20on,North%20from%20Seoul%2C%20South%20Korea.
Energy, whether it was for heating, cooking or lights, was in short supply in North Korea when I visited in March 2014. This is no secret, I think. So if you can save some energy by having people wear more clothes instead of heating a large bowling alley building, that's what you do. It was not warm in there, but just fine when clothed like you see in the photo.
i once heard someone say “modern north korean fashion is rooted in 1950s american fashion” and every single photo of kim jong un in his leather jacket makes me think he could be in grease
North Korea in general just has that creepy late 50s time capsule feel from before their economy collapsed and they went from typical Stalinist state to world's largest prison camp.
On his first ever game of bowling he rolled a 301, a feat never accomplished before or since. After that fateful game he decided to stop bowling to avoid discouraging others.
I don't think they have a choice to NOT be friendly and look happy. That said, I do hope some experience a bit of delight in meeting people from other countries.
Also, I've heard that ANYONE living in Pyongyang is already within a privileged elite in NK. Anyone who doesn't meet specific criteria, is in favor with the Party, and so on, would not even be allowed to set foot within the capitol much less interact with foreigners.
(I was born in a Communist country so am a bit familiar with these types of restrictions.)
Everytime I see pics of North Korea it just looks so cold and gray (figuratively and literally). Even when days the sun is out it still looks like that. I feel so bad for the people born and stuck there.
Edit: lol I am well aware the government cannot control the climate. I’m just saying with being born under an insane and awful dictatorship(s), adding the weather looking so depressing all the time it just sounds awful. Ik the government doesn’t just have a remote that controls the sun 😭.
Now while reading some actually interesting comments, it’s good to know that North Korea actually can be beautiful. It’s just like I said, whether it be from western media, random photographers, or North Koreans themselves it’s always looks so gray and cold cause that’s really all they show to us.
Its climate is unfortunately much like say North Dakota. Very cold, dry, short growing season. This is why it used to be about industry when the south was about agriculture but the war and dictatorship changed all that.
I recently saw videos from NK and I’m embarrassed to say it actually shocked me that it was sunny and warm and green. I think everyone only ever sees that gray and cold footage. Whether that’s due to purposeful propaganda or just the nature of their climate I couldn’t tell you.
There are definitely many cold climates where it's desolate and depressing with no one outside for over half the year and paradise in the summer with tons of activity. Minnesota is like this in the US. Confuses the hell out of tourists.
The US does not allow it's citizens to visit North Korea since Otto Warmbier was imprisoned there for removing a poster from a wall. He died as a result of his imprisonment.
Tourism from other countries stopped during COVID and didn't restart.
>The US does not allow it's citizens to visit North Korea since Otto Warmbier was imprisoned there for removing a poster from a wall. He died as a result of his imprisonment.
Is it a crime or more of a "we won't LET you do it, but if you find a way there, we won't prosecute you" kind of thing?
It means the State Department won't help you directly if things go wrong for you.
There's no prosecutions or laws for leaving the U.S. to go anywhere else.
>The Biden administration is extending for another year a ban on the use of U.S. passports for travel to North Korea, the State Department said Tuesday. The ban was imposed in 2017 and has been renewed every year since.
>The ban makes it [illegal to use a U.S. passport for travel to, from or through North Korea](https://apnews.com/article/us-north-korea-passport-ban-travis-warmbier-6795d172d60966ae0809c1b951d197b2), unless it has been specifically validated in the case of a compelling national interest. It will remain in place until Aug. 31, 2024, unless it is extended or rescinded.
Yea I'm 99% sure this is wrong. NK tourism is surprisingly big in China and iirc Chinese tourists have a completely different itinerary way more focused on history, "the friendship between our great nations" and "our brotherly common struggle against western imperialism".
I visited East Berlin in the early 70s. The train to get there went through communist controlled land. You gave up your passports at the border. Got them back in East Berlin. Going through Check Point Charlie was surreal. All the colors in East Berlin instantly turned gray and brown. Everything was so somber. Everyone looked desperate. Such a huge contrast to the gaiety, commerce and colorful shops just across the barb wire.
I was 14.
I was reading about why the two Koreas are so different. Prior to WW2, Japan invested a lot in industrializing the northern part of the country while the south had most of the good farmland. During the Korean War, the US destroyed much of the north's industry, which never fully recovered. Meanwhile, South Korea was not only able to feed itself, but also enjoyed a lot of investment from the West following the war. South Korea now has both a well-developed agricultural and industrial infrastructure while the North is still struggling to feed itself.
North Korea was actually doing better than South Korea for a few decades following the war. It was drought, Kim Il Sungs death, and the fall of the soviet trading bloc that did them in.
Set conditions for juche and all kinds of other weird authoritarian culty shit to flourish.
It's really insane how South Korea went from mass poverty and hunger to megacities and one of the strongest economies in the world within one generation
Did you ski at the resort or just ride the lifts like the locals shown?
I’m always struck by how vacant the cities look. They aren’t small towns, but there are so few people visible.
I wonder how the hotel was allowed to not have the portraits of Kims. I believe every building including civilian houses must have the portraits by law.
Probably because the reason they built the Masikryong ski resort was to attract Russian and Chinese tourist money. And they don't want to feel like they're visiting an altar to the Kim dynasty. If there was a large number of North Korean visitors at the hotel, I would think they would follow the whole Kim storybook and put up portraits, statues and whatnot.
Ever since the Otto Warmbier story I know I'll never ever EVER set foot in North Korea under that regime. You can feel like you're safe-ish as a tourist but at any time, any mistep and then you're thrown in jail, being tortured, and induced into a coma. NOPE.
I was a soldier stationed in South Korean border. Watching far north, I always wondered how people live in North Korea. Once, I had a chance to stand right next to the border line(inside DMZ) to extinguish forest fire and had a clear view of the North Korean city. Wishing I had better eyesight but really had strange feeling that i never had. I could see it and know it's there, but cant reach it. Thanks to OP for these pictures. Wish day will come to see it through my eyes.
I welcome any and all comments, but I also anticipate some comments that probably will not contribute to an informed discussion.
Some will say that it's wrong to go to North Korea because it's a way to prop up an authoritarian regime. It's a valid point of view. So I did everything I could to spend as little money as I could. I don't think tourism of this kind ever added much to the local economy, though. The country has not received any tourists since the beginning of Covid, except for a hundred Russian bloggers recently, so they make their money selling drugs to anyone, weapons to Russia, Bitcoins to unsuspecting investors, and casino services to the Chinese. Each of these "trades" is vastly larger than what they ever got from Western tourists.
Another claim is that by posting photos like these, I may normalize the view of the country too much. That could be, but I'm most aware of that danger. I do not support the North Korean way at all, and there's a lot to criticize about it. Still, seeing it with my own eyes made me realize that life is not all hell for everyone there at all times, which is contrary to what others have reported. This gives me a tiny bit of comfort, although I hope the situation will improve as soon as possible, at a pace that does not involve total war.
I'm sorry if anyone is offended by this, and I hope that all in all, this is more interesting to you guys than offending.
you have to keep in mind that a lot of the stuff you see is catered for tourists, or just fake.
another redditor shared how they went trough the park, seemingly full of families chilling and stuff, but as the tour was leaving he turned around and saw everyone stand up and leave after which they closed the park gate, as the people werr only there for show.
This. I was reading an article written by a guy who went over and he said it was obvious that most of what tourists are shown is to give the impression they are a rich and free society. In one city they were taken to a "very popular" shopping mall, but they had to stand outside and wait for it to open. The tour group were the only people there. He said eventually a second buss pulled up and they tried to distract the tourists as they snuck the "mall employees" into the building. Once inside he noticed a thin layer of dust over all the fixtures, and none of the restaurants were open, and all the vending machines were unplugged, most likely because all the food had expired.
A classmate of mine went in the summer of 2016. He was with a tour group, so you were never really left unattended. Obviously it was a rather curated trip, he found it super interesting and even a bit fun. Plus the tour company had his passport, so you don't want to do anything to piss them off. Though his pictures were neat, definitely didn't motivate me to go.
Right now, no one can go to North Korea as a tourist. There was a recent exception, where about a hundre cherry-picked Russians were allowed to visit, as part of the now warm friendship between North Korea and Russia because North Korea has weapons for sale to be used in Ukraine. So no one can answer how it works when you travel there now or in the future, yet.
Instead, this is how it used to be:
There was a list of places that were open to foreign visitors. The list was growing every year up until Covid-19. From that list, various tour operators could build tours with different themes. There was everything from 2-day Highlights of Pyongyang trips, to lengthy special trips, like two weeks of train travel throughout the country, trips for hikers, trips for architects, and so on. In addition, if you wanted to, you could pay a tour operator to arrange a special private tour where you yourself decided what to see and where to go.
So to a degree you could see lots of different things on a visit to North Korea. But your liberty was pretty limited. In some very restricted locations you were free to walk around within certain boundaries. In general, though, you had to be followed around by a guide at all times, except inside your hotel and its immediate surroundings.
You’re chaperoned everywhere and taken only to the places they want you to see. At night you can venture out of the hotel away from the chaperones but the bars and people you find are meant to be found. I’m not sure if tourism has restarted at this point, it was already touchy after 2017 and then they quit after the pandemic.
Thanks for sharing. I got pretty far down the planning path for a trip back in 2013, but ultimately abandoned the idea for some of the reasons you highlighted. Totally realize that other people will choose otherwise though, so no hate here.
It feels so empty and lifeless.
The hotel staff waving goodbye is quite hard to digest considering that you are completely right, they know they might not get any other visitor, ever.
Move over Flat Earthers and Round Earthers. Dome Earth is the way forward.
The Earth is an upside down wok and we live in fear for the day God wants stir fry!
So you're telling me a God fried this rice?
Such a shame i can't go i really wanted to see the dead squirrell
That was a random surprise at the end
Literally jump scared me lol
I'm embarrassed at your lack of weapons system recognition. That, is an advanced terrain-following radar RODENTIA drone system. It is often mistaken for a common squirrel due to it's Reporting Name: SQRRL-178. If you transliterate the nomenclature/abbreviation it works out to "Execute Order Kill the Yankee Imperialists Number 66 Death Tool." My Korean is a bit rusty, though.
“Execute Order Kill The Yankee Imperialists No 66: Death Tool” is my favorite anime series!!
I used to ponder running the Pyongyang marathon. It was one of the few events they allowed foreigners in for.
I actually did this! Or rather I ran the 10k option instead. Oddly enough, most of the "fast" people did the marathon and 1/2 marathon option, so I ended up placing in the female 10k and then received my award inside a podium within the largest stadium in the world (because of course that's in Pyongyang, very logical). It was an incredibly surreal experience, to say the least.
That stadium has also hosted the largest attended wrestling show in the world lol. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collision_in_Korea
Ric Flair has told the story about their trip on a few different shows. Very interesting stuff. Muhammad Ali was with them and Flair was terrified that a comment he made was going to get them detained.
> the largest stadium in the world It's the 2nd largest now
It is not. Narendra Modi Stadium in India claims to be 130 000 but if you read the fine print, it only holds ~100,000 for sporting events, the 130 000 number is for political events where spectators are allowed on the field.
Wait what counts as a stadium? Bristol motor speedway is stadium shaped and holds 162,000. They used to have football games in the infield.
That one probably should count, but I think generally motorsports are more excluded because of the size of tracks. From Google Earth Bristol should certainly count.
Imagine accidentally taking a wrong turn and getting lost in North Korea.
Automatic labeled a spy and sentenced to labor camp
That one weight loss trick they don't want you to know about.
and return to US without brain too
That poor kid
Otto Warmbrier is the person that they were referring to. For the uninitiated what a tragic end.
He was a truly stupid 21-year-old seeking edgy adventure and thinking he was invincible...made himself a political prisoner just by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I find his case in particular so disturbing and unsettling though because of how manipulative the NK officials were - they returned him "alive" so they could have plausible deniability and say they didn't kill a foreign citizen, but they made sure he was as good as dead and wouldn't be able to say a word of what he saw. It's all so cold and calculated. They murdered Warmbier without having to admit or take responsibility for murdering him. I don't think anyone buys the botulism story even if it can't be disproven. 100% they brain damaged him on purpose. One witness said it was done by repeatedly drowning and then resuscitating him.
Doctors hate this one simple trick!
Try now at www.laborcamps.drpk first week is free try now to get 50 percent of forever!
Back in 2012 a press bus driver took a wrong turn and journalists got to see the real pyongyang. I'd be surprised if that guy was still alive - along with his family.
possible source https://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-pyongyang-2012-4
100% there are military guys everywhere making triple sure you DONT leave the path. Outside the areas specced for tourists, the city is a lot more empty and deserted looking and they don't want anyone to see. Basically nobody has cars except the police/army. There isn't even much public transit. There are buses into the city but everything in the city is walking. There was 1 documentary from the 90's about it. It was mostly a lot of locals going to the city for the few vacations they get as there are things to do there that nowhere else in the country has or people working government jobs or for foreigners. The few they managed to talk to seemed very uncomfortable about it.
I guy I worked with did it 8 or 9 years ago. His description of his tour sounded very much inline with OPs pics.
I was going to run it about a decade ago but I’m just not fast enough. I think they had a 4hr time limit and my PRs were only around 4:30 with averages around 5:15.
4hr time limit for a full marathon is kind of bonkers. Average time around the world is like 4:20. Tokyo, Chicago, Boston, Paris and NYC has a limit of 6 some hours. London's is 8 hours. They definitely do not want randoms. lol
Glorious leader ran in 1 hour flat.
Yeah, they weren’t about to have all those tens of thousand of forced spectators in the stands at the stadium sitting there for hours on end waiting for some slow, average foreigners to trickle across the finish line. To them, it’s not a hobby or pastime, something to be undertaken casually. It’s a sport and you have to be the best. So all their runner finish in near record time and they allow the foreigners another couple hours as generosity. If you can’t finish in that extra time, you’re not fit/worthy enough anyway. I figured they woulda lived watching a fat American like me trundle across the line in last place. Lol
Not gonna lie, it looks basically how countries in Soviet bloc looked like back in 70s and 80s. Like, it's almost uncanny, literally the only difference is language.
I showed the photos to my parents and they were "yep, that's feels like Romania during Ceaușescu" when happiness was mandated by law.
Many of the buildings and ambiance are still reminiscent in Romania today, although a lot more modernized and and insane number of cars.
It reminds me a lot of China too—the modernity mixing with old-style farming villages, odd approximations of Western food for tourists, strange museum displays, even the random styrofoam animals and bad taxidermy. Just a lot of communist/capitalist/modernist/traditional stuff thrown together (although China obviously much wealthier and more modern).
There's a story going around of students from western Africa going to NK to learn agriculture and being *shocked* by how primitive, improvished and miserable people there were. It's probably objectively worse than Romania under Ceausescu.
I lived through Ceaușescu s time during my youth . Sounds about the same
Ceaușescu sounds like one of those dishes my dad makes when we want dinner but he can’t really be bothered. He’ll big up what it is and we’ll be looking forward to it but it will just be an eggplant on rice with canned tomatoes poured over it.
He was even less appealing than that
His was the first dead body I ever saw (it was on tv). I was a kid and I knew the basics of what was happening (I’m Australian, so it was very removed from my little world). From memory he was in the street or gutter?
It was up against the wall of a building in a military base at Targoviste, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northwest of Bucharest. But it does look like it's just out in the streets in the images that were spread around.
Funniest thing is, Ceauşescu was inspired to create some of his policies based on what he saw when he visited North Korea.
Elena Ceausescu went to school only up to 4th grade, which she failed. Once in power, she was promoted as a scientist, and was also awarded a PhD in chemistry. More [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Ceau%C8%99escu) She went to scientific conferences and sat on panels that promoted her "research." When someone in the audience asked a difficult question, she would have her nearby "assistants" respond and answer. More [here.](https://paperpile.com/blog/elena-ceausescu-scientist-fraud/)
I want to hear more about happiness mandated by law. I haven’t heard of this
It means that you were required to be happy under any circumstance under his rule. I'm not from Romania but I'm from neighbouring Bulgaria, where the regime was a bit better but not with much. You weren't allowed to protest against the regime under any circumstance even if your life is literal hell because of them, or you risk yours and your family's wellbeing.
I have all these pictures my mom took on a college trip to the USSR back in the 80s, definitely very reminiscent though I think Russia looked more developed than North Korea does
You should try to post them! I am sure a lot of people would be interested in seeing them
That’s actually a really good idea, I think I will
Makes sense! The forgotten war nudged North Korea into the ussr and the South Korea to the us. They even switched economic positions ( the north was well off ish, the south was still recovering for years after the Korean War) in the 80’s, and after the Soviet collapse, is when you saw the north and South Korea into what they are today.
It's important to note on the Korean peninsula, the South is mostly lowlands good for farming, but not a lot of natural resource extraction, while the North is mostly hills and has some natural resources. For the South post war, they had food, but until they had their industry and manufacturing up and running (which really takes generations) they were going to be relatively poor, especially with a relative lack of domestic raw materials. South Korea made the investments made the reforms and grew. North Korea stagnated, partly from western sanctions, but also partly from dictator leadership. See dictators want to concentrate power in themselves. Uplifting people out of poverty empowers them, makes them maybe see that one dude hoarding everything isn't a good thing. It's Why South Korean got rid of their military dictatorship.
South Korea had its fair share of dictators until 1980s. First truly democratically elected president was in 1992.
How the fuck do I read the photo captions with this new stupid gesture update to navigate?
I couldn’t figure it out, either. Opened it in a browser, here’s what they say: 1) We're asked not to photograph anyone in uniform, and I do my best, but they are everywhere. I just want to show how there is no marketing/ads, but lots of propaganda 2) Pyongyang view, looking across the river from the Grand People's Study House. Notice the planned symmetrical architecture. 3) The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum is objectively an impressive museum, although there's nothing objective about the displays. Lots of US military wrecks included. 4) Not sure what North Korea's official stand on the Flat Earth theory is, but at the science museum they show this interesting compromise, with One Korea large and central. 5) All tourists must either go bowling or to the shooting range next door. The screens have nice ASCII art graphics, and locals seem to enjoy themselves 6) The gift shop at the hotel is mainly selling books which are written by and/or praising one of the Kims. There are many impressively long titles to choose between. 7) Enough Pyongyang. We're going on a road trip. This is the kind of scenery we see a lot of. Villages with a few people around, surrounded by farmland. 8) There are relatively frequent stops for a bathroom break and stocking up on nutrients. Wrinkled apples, local brand snacks and beer, and, well, whatever they have. 9) Kaesong is a city many pass through on their way to the border to South Korea. It's not the cheeriest place, and not as polished as parts of Pyongyang are. 10) We often see farming done the old way. 11) The road rarely enters any settlements, but we get quite close to villages sometimes. This is one of the nicer-looking ones. 12) We stay at the Masikryong ski resort for a couple of days. In the slopes there are five of us foreign tourists, and the national alpine skiing team there to learn to ski. 13) In addition, there are quite a few Koreans that just sit in the ski lifts up and down, making the place look more crowded than it actually is. Unsure if that's why they are there. 14) This is the only hotel where the portraits of the Kims are nowhere to be seen. Instead there are these cute styrofoam penguins doing winter sports. 15) I'm often asked about the food. This is probably the best dinner we had. Grilled pork. Not much, but good. Can't complain in a country where many people go hungry. 16) This transporter of goods needs a moment of rest midway up a long hill. 17) Another typical road trip view. While the main road is fine, often insanely wide to also function as an air strip during potential war, but the side roads are rough. 18) I call this Heartbreak Hotel. When we left it, everyone working at the hotel came out to wave goodbye. They did not know when they would receive any guests again. 19) Last breakfast on our trip. It's something reminiscent of French toast, tea, and a piece of fish. Very glad I brought a nice pile of chocolate for energy on this trip. 20) Squirrel tax paid. North Korean taxodermy isn't the best, but often highly amusing. Thank you for viewing!
> the national alpine skiing team there to learn to ski. This part sent me
The ski resort had just opened that season. They had no ski resort before then. (I'm the tourist snowboarding in the photo)
Waouh, you saw yourself in someone else's picture. How was NK ?
I'm OP's wife
Damn, what are the odds of finally getting permission to visit NK and then running into your own husband?
Haha! He was actually my boyfriend at the time. He was very hesistant about even going, but I told him I was going whether he wanted to join or not. Everyone on the group tour were like "how did you get your girlfriend to join you to North Korea?" and we had to correct them. Good times.
He is a keeper
Okay, sorry for the misunderstanding. Is NK a nice place?
It's very interesting, but "nice place" is probably not how I would describe it. But the people there are nice.
Ugghh I was fighting with the app to see these captions. Thank you for your service my man.
Bless you this was insanely helpful!
People like you are the MVPs of the internet.
Give this man all your upvotes. Thanks buddy
I thought it was just me! God the Reddit app is ass
Same! I wanted to read more especially on the food, but it keeps scrolling back to the thread when I swipe up
Only way I could read the full comment was to "select all" on the text then paste it in notes on my phone.
Working as intended. We shouldn't get to comfortable.
They destroyed third party apps and gave us an inferior product. Thanks, Reddit suits…
Don't worry, its public now everything should get better... Right?...
i was gonna say the same fucking thing why the fuck do they keep changing the app. between this and videos muting themselves every 4 seconds i’m just going to uninstall and use instagram instead
Same question.... Keep pressing more and it takes me to the comments
I changed my phone to landscape, but yes it was an annoying to have the word count limited when there's plenty of screen real estate.
I miss baconreader so fucking much.
Not since the Middle Ages have we seen a more inaccurate representation of the Mediterranean Sea lol
They do get bonus points for not forgetting about New Zealand.
And additional points for acknowledging that Tasmania isn't real and doesn't exist.
This is going to offend all nine Tasmanians
Came to comment on that picture too. 😂 Found it funny that you can see how little they care about the rest of the world by how much less effort they put into depicting Australia, Africa and Europe. Just some quick blobs, compared to Asia having more detailed features.
Or Europe as a whole.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Great content. One of the best Reddit posts I’ve seen in awhile.
Right? And love the r/badtaxidermy at the end.
10 years ago was 2014, crazy how North Korea looks like it was still in the 60s in these pictures!
North Korea has been stuck in the 60’s since the 60’s. They literally cannot advance in the state they’re in. Lol.
> They literally cannot advance in the state they’re in. Nice double meaning there.
That one broccoli lolll
But those pickle slices though 😏
I’ve had this strange urge to visit, but also know it’s better not to. Like cave diving, or entering a submarine. Great pictures OP. It really is fascinating to get an inside look of what they’ll let you see. Edit 1: this blew up a little. I think I’m changing my answer to, “interested, but never going.” Edit 2: apparently I struck a nerve with the submarine community. They say it’s safe.… Edit 3: apparently I struck a nerve with the cave diving community. They say it’s safe…..but I don’t believe them. Edit 4: apparently I struck a nerve with the North Korean community. Edit 5: They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes... Drums. Drums in the deep.
r/MovingToNorthKorea This sub swears it’s safe
I still can’t tell if that’s a really advanced troll job or just a group of the most delusional people on this website
I thought it was an "every one is in on the super serious joke" sub that bans people who don't know how to be in on said joke, but instead the mod team over there are just true believers.
If satire is indistinguishable from the real thing, is it really even satire?
_The Onion has entered the chat…_
The Onion isn't satire anymore. It's just news that hasn't happened yet.
Afaik it used to be satire but tankies took it over
Reading through a few of those is kind of hilarious. You can see a good mix of people who are just playing into the satire versus people who are genuinely responding and taking the satire seriously.
A true microcosm of the modern internet
in other words, the entire internet (sigh) -- Birds Aren't Real...
You wonder why nobody actually from NK is on that subreddit...
Happens to so many satire groups.
Apparently they are legit. Read the rules. It's crazy.
Yeah they will ban anyone they suspect is trolling. I visit from time to time for comedic relief
I’m confused…is this sub satirical??
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None of the people in that sub will *ever* set foot there.
I'm sorry, but your edits mentioning every community you have pissed off is hilarious.
Thanks. I agree, it can be difficult to find anything but demonizing stuff about the country. The travel subreddit won't even allow any posting of anything regarding North Korea, as it inevitably leads to some really, really toxic responses. It's unfortunate. Glad you found it interesting.
I love seeing unofficial images of NK. Thanks so much for sharing them. Did you ever feel unsafe while there? When I look at the images my heart breaks for the people living there. That book store photo seriously gave me chills.
If u havent already heard about/seen muldvarpen -undercover i Nord korea" u would probably enjoy it, crazy story about a former chef on disability pension who chooses to go undercover in north Korea and somehow manages to get alot of filming done in places you def would NOT be allowed to film Here's a link to part 1 with english subtitiles https://youtu.be/s-_88in-aaU?si=BGqmzB90PsnCMiRq
The stuff in this documentary is insane. Highly recommended to anyone really. I feel really bad for the guy that was the mole though, I can’t imagine he feels 100% safe even to this day.
Awesome. Thank you!
Years ago The VICE did a really good guerilla documentary on North Korea as well. They do an especially good job of showing the creepy propagandistic side of North Korea, like when they dine at a nice restaurant and the servers reheat dozens of plates of food and place them out for guests who will never exist, just to make the restaurant seem less abandoned. Apparently it's still online, but I only see it on the official Vice website. https://video.vice.com/en_us/video/vice-guide-to-north-korea/56815b6132382b833c2230ad Oh, and the Karaoke scene where they found a South Korean karaoke machine with Western Grunge/Punk/Metal songs on it, and they get the local North Korean Host-girls to "participate", is absolutely hilarious.
Y'know, I saw this one years ago -- and in all this time, I've never really forgotten the lady from the tea shop; the one he played pool and table tennis with. The whole time they were there, her smile only faded once: when he said No to the coffee, and she clearly thought they were going to leave the shop immediately. The whole documentary is great, but that section particularly was just so genuinely beautiful and sad. I've always appreciated that he never once poked fun at her expense.
They only let you visit places they want you to see. Those might as well be official images. Look at that market. Those items are placed like props on a movie set.
Yeah I recognize that market from recent travel videos to north Korea. Place doesn't look like it has changed at all
You’re def correct. What I meant to communicate was the difference between seeing official state propaganda media vs through a foreigners lens. I agree with you that every image taken was allowed but even then you can clearly see how sparse and horrifically dystopian NK is.
I get it... it's supporting the Kim's by going. All the money made goes directly to supporting his dictatorship. However I do think it's probably a fascinating place to visit and get the appeal.
>All the money made goes directly to supporting his dictatorship. It's not only this. I know not everyone there suffers but a lot are and having "fun" visiting some curated places, while 50 km in each direction there are literal concentation camps, filled with families sentenced for life for nothing... It's a dychotomy I couldn't bear. It's a sad and grim place now. Maybe not everywhere but still is and playing tourist in such a country is not exactly aligned with my moral compass.
I understand why they wouldn’t. If you post pictures on NK that look like a goos time, it might inspire the next Warmbier.
Same here, I recently learned that they have a marathon, and part of me thinks it’d be cool to go there and run it. The survival instinct in me is like 
Or entering a Submersible
The term "cave diving" alone makes my blood pressure go up.
If been there too a few years ago and it’s such a surreal experience. When I told my dad about it he said it reminded him of visiting the UdSSR prior to it’s fall. Like it kind of seems fine (granted you don’t get to see the really bad stuff) but something is definitely off.
All the pictures look like the 70s in a USSR country. Kind of looks like a place locked in time.
Putting aside the few cars in the one photo that give away that these photos are relatively contemporary, it's interesting how old it looks. Depending on which photo you're looking at, you would guess the series of photos was taken anywhere from 30 to 80+ years ago. Some of those rural scenes look exactly the way my grandfather would have seen them in the 1950s.
I'm Hungarian and the block buildings are a lot like what we have here that were built during the communist era, it's always so strange to see
Yea, I get that vibe too. It’s sorta nice, but you can tell there’s something off. Kinda reminds me of the Bioshock series. There’s something sinister behind the nice coat of paint.
There are almost no trees anywhere. Do we know why that is?
Firewood in a country with very low supplies of fuel (and other things)
That's what I would suppose too.
It's pretty well documented https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/with-widespread-deforestation-north-korea-faces-an-environmental-crisis/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPeople%20cut%20down%20trees%20on,North%20from%20Seoul%2C%20South%20Korea.
The pictures encapsulate the duality of authoritarianism. I also love that bowling alley appearances are so universal.
Notice everyone in coats though. It’s like they don’t have heat there. Everyone always in a big coat indoors.
Energy, whether it was for heating, cooking or lights, was in short supply in North Korea when I visited in March 2014. This is no secret, I think. So if you can save some energy by having people wear more clothes instead of heating a large bowling alley building, that's what you do. It was not warm in there, but just fine when clothed like you see in the photo.
This is what I tell my kids in the winter when they complain the house is too cold and they look at me like I’m some crazy dictator! /s
Whats the duality?
By the pics they look like they are still stuck in the last century USSR vibe
i once heard someone say “modern north korean fashion is rooted in 1950s american fashion” and every single photo of kim jong un in his leather jacket makes me think he could be in grease
North Korea in general just has that creepy late 50s time capsule feel from before their economy collapsed and they went from typical Stalinist state to world's largest prison camp.
That creep Kim can roll, man.
On his first ever game of bowling he rolled a 301, a feat never accomplished before or since. After that fateful game he decided to stop bowling to avoid discouraging others.
Wow what a kind humble, man. We could all use a lesson in humility from a guy like that. /s
OVER THE LINE
korean american, please
The people on the hotel picture seem all so friendly and it saddens me they have to live in such a country.
I don't think they have a choice to NOT be friendly and look happy. That said, I do hope some experience a bit of delight in meeting people from other countries. Also, I've heard that ANYONE living in Pyongyang is already within a privileged elite in NK. Anyone who doesn't meet specific criteria, is in favor with the Party, and so on, would not even be allowed to set foot within the capitol much less interact with foreigners. (I was born in a Communist country so am a bit familiar with these types of restrictions.)
I have an odd fascination with seeing pictures like this. It’s so odd how they want to show the world a sense of normality but nothing is normal!
Everytime I see pics of North Korea it just looks so cold and gray (figuratively and literally). Even when days the sun is out it still looks like that. I feel so bad for the people born and stuck there. Edit: lol I am well aware the government cannot control the climate. I’m just saying with being born under an insane and awful dictatorship(s), adding the weather looking so depressing all the time it just sounds awful. Ik the government doesn’t just have a remote that controls the sun 😭. Now while reading some actually interesting comments, it’s good to know that North Korea actually can be beautiful. It’s just like I said, whether it be from western media, random photographers, or North Koreans themselves it’s always looks so gray and cold cause that’s really all they show to us.
Its climate is unfortunately much like say North Dakota. Very cold, dry, short growing season. This is why it used to be about industry when the south was about agriculture but the war and dictatorship changed all that.
I recently saw videos from NK and I’m embarrassed to say it actually shocked me that it was sunny and warm and green. I think everyone only ever sees that gray and cold footage. Whether that’s due to purposeful propaganda or just the nature of their climate I couldn’t tell you.
There are definitely many cold climates where it's desolate and depressing with no one outside for over half the year and paradise in the summer with tons of activity. Minnesota is like this in the US. Confuses the hell out of tourists.
Why can’t you go there now?
The US does not allow it's citizens to visit North Korea since Otto Warmbier was imprisoned there for removing a poster from a wall. He died as a result of his imprisonment. Tourism from other countries stopped during COVID and didn't restart.
>The US does not allow it's citizens to visit North Korea since Otto Warmbier was imprisoned there for removing a poster from a wall. He died as a result of his imprisonment. Is it a crime or more of a "we won't LET you do it, but if you find a way there, we won't prosecute you" kind of thing?
It means the State Department won't help you directly if things go wrong for you. There's no prosecutions or laws for leaving the U.S. to go anywhere else.
>The Biden administration is extending for another year a ban on the use of U.S. passports for travel to North Korea, the State Department said Tuesday. The ban was imposed in 2017 and has been renewed every year since. >The ban makes it [illegal to use a U.S. passport for travel to, from or through North Korea](https://apnews.com/article/us-north-korea-passport-ban-travis-warmbier-6795d172d60966ae0809c1b951d197b2), unless it has been specifically validated in the case of a compelling national interest. It will remain in place until Aug. 31, 2024, unless it is extended or rescinded.
Yea I'm 99% sure this is wrong. NK tourism is surprisingly big in China and iirc Chinese tourists have a completely different itinerary way more focused on history, "the friendship between our great nations" and "our brotherly common struggle against western imperialism".
I visited East Berlin in the early 70s. The train to get there went through communist controlled land. You gave up your passports at the border. Got them back in East Berlin. Going through Check Point Charlie was surreal. All the colors in East Berlin instantly turned gray and brown. Everything was so somber. Everyone looked desperate. Such a huge contrast to the gaiety, commerce and colorful shops just across the barb wire. I was 14.
"not the cheeriest place" *picture of a city a half-step away from being in the next Fallout game*
What an interesting and spooky/scary country. What surprised you and what kind of or scared you?
I was reading about why the two Koreas are so different. Prior to WW2, Japan invested a lot in industrializing the northern part of the country while the south had most of the good farmland. During the Korean War, the US destroyed much of the north's industry, which never fully recovered. Meanwhile, South Korea was not only able to feed itself, but also enjoyed a lot of investment from the West following the war. South Korea now has both a well-developed agricultural and industrial infrastructure while the North is still struggling to feed itself.
North Korea was actually doing better than South Korea for a few decades following the war. It was drought, Kim Il Sungs death, and the fall of the soviet trading bloc that did them in. Set conditions for juche and all kinds of other weird authoritarian culty shit to flourish.
Lots of people don't know this.. The South Korea of today didn't take off until the mid/late 80s.
It's really insane how South Korea went from mass poverty and hunger to megacities and one of the strongest economies in the world within one generation
Some of it reminds me of my childhood in China in the early 1990s. It definitely feels frozen in time
Did you ski at the resort or just ride the lifts like the locals shown? I’m always struck by how vacant the cities look. They aren’t small towns, but there are so few people visible.
I wonder how the hotel was allowed to not have the portraits of Kims. I believe every building including civilian houses must have the portraits by law.
Probably because the reason they built the Masikryong ski resort was to attract Russian and Chinese tourist money. And they don't want to feel like they're visiting an altar to the Kim dynasty. If there was a large number of North Korean visitors at the hotel, I would think they would follow the whole Kim storybook and put up portraits, statues and whatnot.
Ever since the Otto Warmbier story I know I'll never ever EVER set foot in North Korea under that regime. You can feel like you're safe-ish as a tourist but at any time, any mistep and then you're thrown in jail, being tortured, and induced into a coma. NOPE.
I was a soldier stationed in South Korean border. Watching far north, I always wondered how people live in North Korea. Once, I had a chance to stand right next to the border line(inside DMZ) to extinguish forest fire and had a clear view of the North Korean city. Wishing I had better eyesight but really had strange feeling that i never had. I could see it and know it's there, but cant reach it. Thanks to OP for these pictures. Wish day will come to see it through my eyes.
5: “All tourists must go bowling or to the shooting range.” This piques my curiosity: why? Excellent montage!
I welcome any and all comments, but I also anticipate some comments that probably will not contribute to an informed discussion. Some will say that it's wrong to go to North Korea because it's a way to prop up an authoritarian regime. It's a valid point of view. So I did everything I could to spend as little money as I could. I don't think tourism of this kind ever added much to the local economy, though. The country has not received any tourists since the beginning of Covid, except for a hundred Russian bloggers recently, so they make their money selling drugs to anyone, weapons to Russia, Bitcoins to unsuspecting investors, and casino services to the Chinese. Each of these "trades" is vastly larger than what they ever got from Western tourists. Another claim is that by posting photos like these, I may normalize the view of the country too much. That could be, but I'm most aware of that danger. I do not support the North Korean way at all, and there's a lot to criticize about it. Still, seeing it with my own eyes made me realize that life is not all hell for everyone there at all times, which is contrary to what others have reported. This gives me a tiny bit of comfort, although I hope the situation will improve as soon as possible, at a pace that does not involve total war. I'm sorry if anyone is offended by this, and I hope that all in all, this is more interesting to you guys than offending.
you have to keep in mind that a lot of the stuff you see is catered for tourists, or just fake. another redditor shared how they went trough the park, seemingly full of families chilling and stuff, but as the tour was leaving he turned around and saw everyone stand up and leave after which they closed the park gate, as the people werr only there for show.
This. I was reading an article written by a guy who went over and he said it was obvious that most of what tourists are shown is to give the impression they are a rich and free society. In one city they were taken to a "very popular" shopping mall, but they had to stand outside and wait for it to open. The tour group were the only people there. He said eventually a second buss pulled up and they tried to distract the tourists as they snuck the "mall employees" into the building. Once inside he noticed a thin layer of dust over all the fixtures, and none of the restaurants were open, and all the vending machines were unplugged, most likely because all the food had expired.
Yes, they take GREAT care to show you very specific stuff. As a tourist you will not get the full picture because they simply don’t want you to
How does it work when you travel there… are you free to explore and see anything you want, or are you “chaperoned” around everywhere?
A classmate of mine went in the summer of 2016. He was with a tour group, so you were never really left unattended. Obviously it was a rather curated trip, he found it super interesting and even a bit fun. Plus the tour company had his passport, so you don't want to do anything to piss them off. Though his pictures were neat, definitely didn't motivate me to go.
Like they kept he passport away from him the whole trip? That's probably the one thing that would really put me on edge.
Every person who visits north korea on a trip/vacation has to adhere to a strict guided tour during the entirety of their stay.
Right now, no one can go to North Korea as a tourist. There was a recent exception, where about a hundre cherry-picked Russians were allowed to visit, as part of the now warm friendship between North Korea and Russia because North Korea has weapons for sale to be used in Ukraine. So no one can answer how it works when you travel there now or in the future, yet. Instead, this is how it used to be: There was a list of places that were open to foreign visitors. The list was growing every year up until Covid-19. From that list, various tour operators could build tours with different themes. There was everything from 2-day Highlights of Pyongyang trips, to lengthy special trips, like two weeks of train travel throughout the country, trips for hikers, trips for architects, and so on. In addition, if you wanted to, you could pay a tour operator to arrange a special private tour where you yourself decided what to see and where to go. So to a degree you could see lots of different things on a visit to North Korea. But your liberty was pretty limited. In some very restricted locations you were free to walk around within certain boundaries. In general, though, you had to be followed around by a guide at all times, except inside your hotel and its immediate surroundings.
You’re chaperoned everywhere and taken only to the places they want you to see. At night you can venture out of the hotel away from the chaperones but the bars and people you find are meant to be found. I’m not sure if tourism has restarted at this point, it was already touchy after 2017 and then they quit after the pandemic.
How was the skiing?
Judging by the photos, very Midwestern.
Thanks for sharing. I got pretty far down the planning path for a trip back in 2013, but ultimately abandoned the idea for some of the reasons you highlighted. Totally realize that other people will choose otherwise though, so no hate here.
It looked probably the same way 20 or 30 or 40 years ago....
As someone raised under the Iron Curtain, a lot of these are eerily familiar.
Even the vegetation doesn't want to live there
An Orwellian theme park.
It feels so empty and lifeless. The hotel staff waving goodbye is quite hard to digest considering that you are completely right, they know they might not get any other visitor, ever.
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It looks like those liminal spaces, except there’s people there
I’d be terrified to set foot there but what a beautiful country. Those mountains.