Democratic People's Republic of Korea / DPRK / Korea (north)

[Chicken]

Time for a late lunch.

You know how we were saying that this region is famous for ginseng? We are having ginseng stuffed chicken soup for lunch.

So this is a Korean meal. This would look very familiar if you live in Sydney or Melbourne. Not that common yet in UK so could be new if you are from UK.

Kimchi, pickled cucumber, fermented radish, mushrooms. Oh yes, that on the top left, just like a reduced salt version of plain Lays / Walkers / Smiths!

That big pot was the ginseng chicken soup. I shared that with the British guy. That was enough for us two. Most people ordered their own instead of sharing and most of them ended up sleeping on the bus in the afternoon LOL

The thing in my bowl in the last photo is the chicken.

And beer.

 

[kermatu]

There was also slavery back in those days. Koreans would be brought to this region, then sold as slaves. Here is the price list. How much are YOU worth?

Proof that women are more valuable than men.

 

[Chicken]

Right outside the restaurant is this bridge, called Sonjuk Bridge. You can look up the long story on Wikipedia, but to cut a long story very short, a wise man did not protect the king, king got kaput, the son of the king saw the wise man X number of years later, so he did what a good son would do:

He picked up one of the stones from this bridge, then went for the wise man's head.

Look at the last photo, you would see a dark bit (looks black on my computer screen but it was dark red in person). The folk story is, that's the blood from his head.

Nice work son.





Pic below in Chinese translate directly to 'nice / positive charitable bridge'.



Pic below in Chinese translates directly to 'alight horse monument'.

 

[Chicken]

Proof that women are more valuable than men.

20%. Isn't that what they call gender pay gap?

 

[JohnM]

Proof that women are more valuable than men.

Well, cost more... (but we knew that ) .

 

[kermatu]

20%. Isn't that what they call gender pay gap?

Wonder if there was a #MeToo for men back then?

In all seriousness, don't wish to make light of abhorrent issues. My understanding is male slaves were more valuable than women in the US for purely physical strength reasons. Not sure I want to know why females cost more in Korea. Hopefully it was something innocuous.

 

[Chicken]

Let's drive back to Pyongyang.





OK people, photo stop. We built this for the day when Korea is reunited again. So you can see, they are holding Korea together. How much time do we need? 10 minutes.















This is the Ryugyong Hotel, the Guinness World Records holder for "Tallest building unoccupied".

Construction started 1987 but only the outside of the building is finished so far. It has LED / neon lights outside, so it puts on a light show every night after sunset, rotate between fireworks style of light effects, a flying Korean flag, and other random colors.

This building was also the subject of our bull sh!tting at the pub on our final night. Well, between our Korean tour guide and our Australian tour organiser. Our Australian tour organiser teased our Korea guide on how long it is taking to finish this building, and how many times the Workers' Party saying that it would be completed and yet there is nothing to show for. Our Korean tour guide replied saying there is work happening, and it would be ready by 2020. Australian organiser replied back saying the Party repeated this line countless time and it is all BS, he would not believe anything until he sees it. Korean guide replied saying he is putting this money that it would be done very soon, and it would be ready for 2020, maybe not the whole building, but it would ready to have tourists staying inside. Our Australian organiser called him BS and said that it would probably take another 20 years.

All these responses were done on good spirit, it wasn't malicious / picking on a fight. We had quite a bit of beer / bourbon / etc, and it was the typical sarcastic conversations you hear men say to each other at a pub.

It was also this occasion in the pub, where our Australian tour organizer said in front of our Korean tour guide (which I mentioned earlier): "some of them (gifts to the President / Chairman / Leader) look like $20 knock-offs from eBay"

The key point for me, is that, this conversation is just one of many small things I observed during this trip, which indicates to me, that many Koreans are not as naive as we think they are. Sure, I am pretty sure that the people stuck in a village and blocked by army road blocks would be beyond naive; but people who has a job, or work for the party, know a lot more about the world than we think they do.

 

[Melburnian1]

...It was also this occasion in the pub, where our Australian tour organizer said in front of our Korean tour guide (which I mentioned earlier): "some of them (gifts to the President / Chairman / Leader) look like $20 knock-offs from eBay"

The key point for me, is that, this conversation is just one of many small things I observed during this trip, which indicates to me, that many Koreans are not as naive as we think they are. Sure, I am pretty sure that the people stuck in a village and blocked by army road blocks would be less than naive; but people who has a job, or work for the party, know a lot more about the world than we think they do.

You say above 'less than naive.' You mean 'more than naive' as in 'more naive.' Just one of the quirks of the English language.

The one question after this terrific tour report is 'should we, on balance, give foreign currency to a despotic regime that has gulags where many North Koreans allegedly die and/or are tortured' with the alternative view being (perhaps naively) that by travelling we assist in opening the country up. I have been very close to the border from two sides (South Korea and mainland China) but have yet to visit NK.

Reports that the North Koreans have continued with development of nuclear war capability despite the USA President's Singapore meeting are concerning.

 

[Chicken]

You say above 'less than naive.' You mean 'more than naive' as in 'more naive.' Just one of the quirks of the English language.

Thanks for catching.

The one question after this terrific tour report is 'should we, on balance, give foreign currency to a despotic regime that has gulags where many North Koreans allegedly die and/or are tortured' with the alternative view being (perhaps naively) that by travelling we assist in opening the country up. I have been very close to the border from two sides (South Korea and mainland China) but have yet to visit NK.

You can counter arguments from both sides: If you don't punish, the bad regime would do bad things and never get the message e.g. Saudi, China; if you punish too far, the it is the poor people who would end up suffering e.g. Korea (north), Somalia

So the question is, how do we strike a balance, between punishing, and allowing the poor jo blow to live? Remember that it is always the innocent being punished.

From my trip, people are so poor to the extreme, that nobody could offer a choice, even if our Leader Kim suddenly turn into a saint. They need to sweep streets and highways with brooms, and I also saw a lady worker on the highway on our way back from DMZ that she was painting lane markings on the highway with a tin of paint and a paint brush.

Reports that the North Koreans have continued with development of nuclear war capability despite the USA President's Singapore meeting are concerning.

Korea has "Songun" policy which means military first.

I remember ABC got an analyst on TV, who said that, the Kim family knew they needed nuclear weapons, or they would have ended up like Iraq or Afghanistan long time ago. Think about this for a moment.

Quite a lot of analysts also said that, there is nothing to see here, it is Kim's tactic to turn up the temperature, so people would have meetings with him, he can get some reliefs, then turn down the temperature, until he needs something again. It has been like this since beginning of time.

There is also the question of, if we really want to be such moral high horse, then why are we allowing China to get away with ethnic cleansing right now?

Korea should be punished for bad things they do to people, there is no question on this. The question is, how far do we want to punish? Also, is hard core using a hammer the best method for every situation? Or is diplomacy a more appropriate method in the case of Korea?

I don't know, I am not qualified.

 

[Chicken]

This is the war museum, about the Korean war 1950 - 1953.
The last picture is the USS Pueblo captured by Korea.
Inside the museum are set up of what it was like on the field e.g. fake mud, creations of tents, using coal to boil water and cooking army tinned food, maps of the war.
Actually, this is getting really boring, can we go somewhere else?

 

[Chicken]

 

[Chicken]

Last thing before dinner, is to pay respect to our leaders.

Before bowing, we need flowers, and the quickest way to get flowers is to go to 7-11!

 

[Chicken]

We are going to a model farming community this morning, with glasshouse for 12 months of food supply.





First task is to see someone's home.

 

[Chicken]

First check out the bedroom.





Under floor boards are hot water pipes from the coal used for cooking. You could feel the heat from under the floor.

Now let's check out the living room.









Let's go into kitchen.





Have a look at the bathroom behind the kitchen.



Time to leave and see the suburb.



This is right outside the front door - home of Mr Hankey and his family. The gas from Mr Hankey's home is collected and also used for heating.

 

[Chicken]

Now it's the school.



To first thing before going into school is having to take our shoes off, right at the front door. Unlike the Australian and the poms, where shoes are placed on the seats, on public transport and inside the house, disgusting!

First stop was the sick bay. We could not go in, cos we were dirty?!









Back out the corridor between class rooms, you have music, cute



then guns and gunfire



then back to educational rabbit and turtle

 

[Chicken]

This whiteboard was inside a community shop, which sold from toys to dishes to food stuffs. Here is what families have taken against their quota. We asked why were there 'holes' on the whiteboard and the tour guide said "looks like some people got lazy".

 

[Chicken]

We are now going into community hall.











So which cut would you like?

Sorry ladies, the women cut is closed for today.

 

[Chicken]

Last stop is the most important stop - greenhouse. Koreans eat a lot of cabbage, cucumbers, radish. This is for cucumbers.

 

[Chicken]

We are going back into Pyongyang, to see the monument for the 50th anniversary of the Workers' Party.

The whole structure is built with marble stones. Not only everything was engraved, but the black color was not just painted over, but it was processed in some specific way which I don't understand. The whole structure took 1 year to complete. Unlike the trams in Edinburgh taking 8 years. In Korea, if there is a will, there is a way!

 

[love_the_life]

Chicken, while many of us will have seen some photos of NK before, your in depth coverage is extremely good and interesting.

As with other communist or despotic regimes, I'm always in two minds as to whether one ought visit and give them the hard currency the leadership so badly wants. That, however, is a question for elsewhere.

I am finding the TR very interesting, though I am sure that the sights allowed for Western tourists have been carefully chosen to show the country in a good light. It is a country I don't think I would want to visit (at present anyway) as I suspect that the currency generated from tourism would not assist the ordinary citizens. There are other countries I choose not to visit as well.
Back on topic. the photos are great. Schools and homes in South Korea have the same thing with leaving the shoes at the door. There are slippers to wear inside and separate ones for the bathroom as well, similar to Japan.