My Trip to North Korea

North Korea has been in the news frequently lately. Barack Obama has said that he is willing to meet with Kim Jong Il, possibly for a summit in Pyongyang. I find that kind of talk refreshing when compared with the last 8 years of the “good guys and bad guys” mentality peddaled by GWB and spouted by Palin and McCain.

While I don’t consider myself a North Korea expert, this past weekend I was able to get a rare first-hand look at this former “axis of evil” member, when I took a bus tour from my home in Seoul, Korea, to Kaesong City, North Korea. I think my trip summary can provide you with a taste of what visiting a communist country is like.

Before the trip I was given my badge, which had my picture, occupation, passport number, as well as some kind of bar code. The “trip rules for a more convenient and pleasant Kaesong tour” suggested that if my badge was crumpled or got wet I would be fined. I would also be fined for taking any photos while in the bus or for bringing any printed materials into the country that pertained to politics or religion. The following actions would also be subject to fines:

- criticizing North Korean government or leadership

- touching the inscriptions on rocks or Kim Il-Sung (KJIL’s father) / KJIL monuments

- Pointing at or leaning on KIS or KJIL monuments

- Attempting to speak with North Korean soldiers

- Attempting to speak with any North Koreans (waving was apparently okay)

After having been briefed, and donning our badges, we left for the North. In approximately one hour we reached the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the South Side. After giving up our cellphones, and waiting another hour, we received the go-ahead, and the bus drove around the barrier and into the “civilian controlled zone”. The CCZ is a spooky pergatory that very few people outside of soldiers will ever see. After 15 minutes driving on what may as well have been the moon, we reached the North Side border office. At this point 3 bus-loads of South Korean tourists had joined our convoy. Within the office, we went through metal detectors, and had our reading materials checked for proper content. Our digital cameras were also examined to ensure that they had 10x zoom capacity or less.

We all successfully appeased the scariest customs officers in the world.

And so the caravan rolled into North Korea. No turning back now. We headed straight back into the 1960’s (so said our guide).

I will never forget my first mental image of the country – within the North’s version of the DMZ. On the right-hand side of the road a cobble stone path led up to a single man standing tall and staring straight ahead. The striking posture of a North Korean soldier. Although his head remained fixed, I imagined his eyes carefully following the bus convoy as it moved along by.

The North Korean military had really prepared for our tour. They had placed soldiers with red flags all over our trip route, some seemingly placed strategically, and some oddly placed in the middle of random, empty fields. The red flags were to be waved to indicate to one of the three North Korean “tour guides” on board that an illicit photo had been taken. These supervisory “tour guides” did no guiding per se, but one did grace us with a song whose title was roughly translated into “Our People are the Best”. Although I could not understand the song’s lyrics, it was a pleasant ditty, worthy of our resounding ovation.

The second striking image that I will remember was a large red Korean slogan painted on a wall beside the highway. While I could only make out the exclamation point at the end, indicating that the sign meant business, it was loosely translated by our guide as “Death to The Enemy”. He quickly added that relations with America were presently improving.

And, ironically, that the “enemy’s” money would be the only form of currency accepted by the North Korean shops we were to visit…

End of Part 1.