My visit to Kaesong City, North Korea last weekend was timely. This week, relations between North and South Korea took a turn for the worse, and the North responded by canceling any cross-border movement. The unfortunate aspect of this decision is that the overpriced tours made a great deal of revenue for the people of the North. Canceling them is really just a further punishment on North Koreans themselves, who are already struggling to combat a debilitating food shortage. I was fortunate to be able to take one of the last tours of the North for potentially a long time.

I left off as our bus convoy was lumbering into Kaesong City, population 400,000. By this time we had picked up our escort: two North Korean military cars drove in front of us, and two drove behind at all times. There were to be no sudden, unforeseen left or right-hand turns.

Our first destination was Pagyeon waterfall. The scenery in the area was gorgeous, we were surrounded by mountains, and the air was crisp and clean. I met a South Korean man at the falls who told me that he was visiting the North to honour his dead mother. She had been born in the North, but was forced to flee to the South when she was 18. She had asked him to visit the country of her birthplace before she died, but he had not made it in time. He was finally making good on his promise, and seemed close to tears (He was also a GM employee in Korea, and he suggested that he could be heading toward the loss of his job. That probably didn’t help his psyche).

The convoy then made its way to our lunch destination. The waitresses that served us were to be the only North Koreans that we could interact with all day. In traditional North Korean style, our meal consisted of 12 side dishes, served in small golden bowls, as well as rice and chicken soup. We ordered a few large bottles of North Korean honey-flavoured beer, a steal at only one American dollar per bottle. Because of the price, we bought a little more than we needed, so I raced to down a few glasses before heading outside to take pictures. Yes, I got a bit of a buzz in North Korea. I guess that’s an accomplishment.

The restaurant sat at the foot of a hill that lay at the end of a long street running straight through Kaesong City. At the top of this hill was a large golden statue of Kim Jong Il’s father, Kim Il Sung. We were not permitted to make our way up the hill to see the statue, because we had not brought flowers or money to properly pay our respects to it. We were forced to photograph the golden idol from afar. I was fine with not getting any closer to Golden Sung – he was creeping me out.

After lunch we were off to Seonjukyo Bridge in the heart of Kaesong. This is the most famous bridge in Korea – in the late 1300’s the last surviving member of a dynasty was assassinated there by someone from the Chosun Dynasty which would rule Korea after that. There is a slight red stain on the bridge, and this is thought to be the blood of the man that was assassinated, still visible after 600 or so years. Again, a bit creepy.

Our trip concluded with a visit to a museum and gift shop. I sent some propaganda-inspired post cards to friends back in Canada. I hope they make it.

Back at the border office, all of our cameras were inspected to ensure that we had not taken any illicit photos. Many people had photos deleted, and one guy in particular got a stern warning for improper photos of military men, but all of mine remained in tact. At last, we crossed back into South Korea, and I could feel a sense of relief wash over the bus. It was as if we were all home, despite the fact that we were all thousands of miles from our true places of origin.

Noticeable things about North Korea:

- absence of colour: all of the buildings are very drab, and the people were clothed in primarily dull brown and black jackets. Only some of the children were dressed brightly – usually bright red jackets

- very, very few cars. For a city of 400,000, I probably saw 10 cars the entire time. There are no stop lights

- At the museum we were able to look out over the city and into backyards. I watched a man walk into his yard and begin to relieve himself out in the open. I’d seen enough of the city at that point

- Our bus convoy was a parade of sorts. Hundreds of people stopped to watch the spectacle

scenery

For either Kim-Jong Il's mom or grandmom