As many of you know, yesterday North Korea attacked South Korea, causing greatly increased tensions and a renewed worldwide focus on the DPRK-ROK conflict. Given that there's not much out there (relatively speaking) about North Korea, I thought it would be useful for those of you who are interested in the country to check out this Vice documentary from 2008 where the founder of Vice, Shane, actually went inside North Korea and recorded his time there as a state-guided tourist. The documentary footage is interspersed with clips from North Korean propaganda videos and retrospective notes by Shane.
Shane does a really good job of being kind of the American Everyman who gets thrown into one of the weirdest travel experiences of his life. I was enthralled by this series and couldn't stop watching, even with the commercials every 5 min or so, which you can skip after a few seconds in (it's almost like actual TV!).
Note that this documentary is not going to tell you about the diplomatic situation between NK and SK, or go into a ton of history, or even tell you much about the life of an average NK citizen - it's about what NK chooses to show to the outside world, and what that might say about the country/regime.
The things I've personally heard about North Korea have ranged from sterile military facts to vague family tales to incredibly emotional Hollywood-style tearjerkers. My mother has alluded briefly to her experiences growing up in a Seoul that was basically under martial law under president Park Chung Hee in the 1960s and 70s, when the schools she attended had frequent North Korean air raid drills which required her to crawl very quickly under her desk. When I was in Seoul myself in 2008, there was an event at the summer program I attended at Ewha University where we were shown the movie Crossing, which, well ... here's the trailer:
In the end, I'm not sure what to make of all of this. When I was in Seoul and asked Korean friends what they thought about the North, they generally thought that unification would happen at some point, but it actually wouldn't be good economically for the country. This is a very pragmatic response - South Korea has one of the best economies in the world, but it wouldn't be able to technologically, economically, and socially "lift up" North Korea's population unscathed.
I remember one of my teachers at Ewha telling us a story about a trip she and a couple of her friends took to Germany back in the late 70s or early 80s. She said they were on the subway when they saw three North Koreans in uniform come sit down in the same car - there were a fair number of North Koreans in East Germany at that time, apparently. My teacher and her friends could tell they were Korean from the way they looked and from overhearing bits of what they said to each other. Since the North Koreans of course couldn't talk to any imperialists, they just stared at each other, fascinated. Here were two groups of young people, coming from what was until very recently one country, speaking the same language in the midst of a foreign land, but who were prevented from communicating by accident of history. It's an image that I can't shake whenever I consider the prospects of the Korean peninsula.
I read this blog a while ago, it's about 2 europeans who go into north korea by train. They didn't take the normal tourist route, they took a train from russia. Lots of pictures of rural north korea etc.
Man shane got balls. This was very interesting. But i cringe when i see how fake everyone is there. Especially the tea girl that sees 1 guy every 6 months.
On November 25 2010 04:45 101TFP wrote: I read this blog a while ago, it's about 2 europeans who go into north korea by train. They didn't take the normal tourist route, they took a train from russia. Lots of pictures of rural north korea etc.
Damn awesome experience. A trip to NK is one of the most exotic trips i can think of heheh.
Got to say it looks clean, kind of like Romania 25 years ago. Also, myth busted, those korean students are studying on probably decent computers with LCD monitors, so there may be computers (even if old/weak) spread around pyongyang.
I still don't understand, how did they get a pass? Isn't entrance to NK forbidden for foreigners or non-chinese/russian working in NK?
Thank you for sharing this! Must have been really creepy to actually go there, knowing that you will go to jail if they are too pissed off by your filming... After seeing all three parts: I think "crazyland" was a fitting describtion!
A State of Mind (look at related videos for other parts)
it is a documentary about 2 NK girls preparing for the Arirang Mass Games. It's very revealing and, if u can see through the facade that the state is trying to present, very frightening.
On November 25 2010 04:45 101TFP wrote: I read this blog a while ago, it's about 2 europeans who go into north korea by train. They didn't take the normal tourist route, they took a train from russia. Lots of pictures of rural north korea etc.
Damn awesome experience. A trip to NK is one of the most exotic trips i can think of heheh.
Got to say it looks clean, kind of like Romania 25 years ago. Also, myth busted, those korean students are studying on probably decent computers with LCD monitors, so there may be computers (even if old/weak) spread around pyongyang.
I still don't understand, how did they get a pass? Isn't entrance to NK forbidden for foreigners or non-chinese/russian working in NK?
AFAIK that ban is restricted to Americans, although it might have been lifted earlier this year. People from other western countries are allowed in and out, although there are limitations as to where you can go. From what I've heard its very restricted.
Seems like there are some organized trips and a kind of separation between us-citizens and the rest of the world.
.A visitor joining the KFA Delegation is not treated as a tourist but as a friend of the DPRK, having access to places, information, insights and events not allowed for regular visitors
Who wouldn't like to be treated as a friend of NK? :D We really should join this awesome club and visit their country, they seem like nice people! Oh wait there was something with communism and a crazy leader...
it is a documentary about 2 NK girls preparing for the Arirang Mass Games. It's very revealing and, if u can see through the facade that the state is trying to present, very frightening.
I just finished watching it, and took a few minutes to gather my thoughts, before replying to this.
What I saw was that they seemed generally happy, or at least content, with their lives, even in conditions that people in other countries would never dream of living through willingly. They work hard as a group to accomplish things that an individual could never achieve. They take pride in the things they do. They are also disciplined, while still being able to retain individuality (something that a lot of people seem to fear about communism). Their system seems to be very efficient (however, the excess production they generate goes to things they really, really don't need, instead of going towards increasing production capabilities further to grow at an exponential rate rather than stagnate). For the most part, these seem to be things that other societies could actually learn from, rather than shun them from fear of communism.....
I don't see a problem with their system (not that I prefer it over democracy, however). There are definitely several faults with the country, however. They have a leader that is more concerned with preserving his interests than bettering the individual and becoming more powerful as a group. Their devotion is centered around a hatred of the US (which is reasonable, since they were on the recieving end of US tech during their attempt at reunifying the country, and the leaders capitalized on that to unify the people's resolve in the tough times that followed). Everyone being cutoff from information from the rest of the world also hurts, since they will never know what is going on internationally, nor what has happened since the war, unless the leaders let them know about it (do they even know that the US put men on the moon, as an example of what I mean). While limiting public information is definitely a useful thing in some cases (lets face it, not many people are in the need to know about many things that happen, for security and safety reasons), NK seems to have taken it far too far. Being self-sufficient is definitely a desireable quality that any country should strive for, however, every country (for geographical, social, or other reasons) is better at some things than other, and trade between countries can help both involved, and being in a situation where there is next to no outside contact or trade definitely hurts the country. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement of NK. Then again, the same can be said for every country on earth, don't forget that.
it is a documentary about 2 NK girls preparing for the Arirang Mass Games. It's very revealing and, if u can see through the facade that the state is trying to present, very frightening.
I just finished watching it, and took a few minutes to gather my thoughts, before replying to this.
What I saw was that they seemed generally happy, or at least content, with their lives, even in conditions that people in other countries would never dream of living through willingly. They work hard as a group to accomplish things that an individual could never achieve. They take pride in the things they do. They are also disciplined, while still being able to retain individuality (something that a lot of people seem to fear about communism). Their system seems to be very efficient (however, the excess production they generate goes to things they really, really don't need, instead of going towards increasing production capabilities further to grow at an exponential rate rather than stagnate). For the most part, these seem to be things that other societies could actually learn from, rather than shun them from fear of communism.....
I don't see a problem with their system (not that I prefer it over democracy, however). There are definitely several faults with the country, however. They have a leader that is more concerned with preserving his interests than bettering the individual and becoming more powerful as a group. Their devotion is centered around a hatred of the US (which is reasonable, since they were on the recieving end of US tech during their attempt at reunifying the country, and the leaders capitalized on that to unify the people's resolve in the tough times that followed). Everyone being cutoff from information from the rest of the world also hurts, since they will never know what is going on internationally, nor what has happened since the war, unless the leaders let them know about it (do they even know that the US put men on the moon, as an example of what I mean). While limiting public information is definitely a useful thing in some cases (lets face it, not many people are in the need to know about many things that happen, for security and safety reasons), NK seems to have taken it far too far. Being self-sufficient is definitely a desireable quality that any country should strive for, however, every country (for geographical, social, or other reasons) is better at some things than other, and trade between countries can help both involved, and being in a situation where there is next to no outside contact or trade definitely hurts the country. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement of NK. Then again, the same can be said for every country on earth, don't forget that.
It's not an ignorance is bliss issue. Although it's easy to romanticize someone's life. Remember, they have no autonomy at all.
If the government decides it wants you to do gymnastics, you do gymnastics. There's no such thing as "the first amendment" in authoritative governments. Freedom is unknown.
Btw, starving your citizens is not the same as self-sufficiency.
Children of the Secret State is a documentary about what North Korea does not show the rest of the world. It's a very eye opening and amazing documentary. A must watch for anyone interested in how the country really is.
EPT
thanks for sharing
