North Korea
This page collects together my amateurish scribblings regarding a trip to North Korea in October 2005, as well as linking to the experiences of some other visitors and a tossing in a few useful sites.
My stuff
Day One – Pyongyang airport, Grand Monument, Arirang Games
Day Two – Morning – Mausoleum of Kim Il-sung
Day Two – Afternoon – DMZ, Korean Wall, Kaesong Folk Hotel
Day Three – Mt Janam, Koryo Museum, King Kongmin’s tomb, Reunification monument, Kim Il-sung’s birthplace, Pyongyang subway, flower exhibition, State Circus, War Memorial
Day Four – USS Pueblo, War Museum, Arch of Triumph, TV Tower, Chollima Statue, Juche Tower, Kim Il-sung Square, Yanggakdo Hotel.
Day Five – exit
Other traveller’s tales from 2005
Mike from Omaha 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Austin Arensburg 1, 2
John Goodman
Dan Schorr 1, 2, 3, 4
Staypuff
Yeohaeng Ilgi 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Chanuchan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Ari on The Web 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Adam Malis on NKZone
Paul & Rick Bakker
The Long Haul
Zmrzlina
Stephen Codrington (Visit One)
Stephen Codrington (Visit Two)
Nicolas Jansen
Carol Rueckert
J. Scott Burgeson
Andrei Lankov – Korea Times
Andrei Lankov – Asia Times
LA Times report
Flickr Sets
Blogjam – North Korea 2005
John Goodman – DRRK 2005
John Goodman – Arirang 2005
Puma – DPRK 2005
Mark Wang – DPRK Tour 2005
Veji – North Korea
Soda Zurich – North Korea 2005
HKP – North Korea
Austin Arensberg – North Korea
Prime8z – DPRK, April 2005
courier888 – Pyongyang 2005
scarycurlgirl – Pyongyang August 2005
Staypuff 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Other photos
Amazing Mass Games pictures from Werner Kranwetvogel
Lars Bech
Time magazine
Der Spiegel
BBC News
Travel info
Koryo Group – excellent organisation, lovely folk, tell ‘em Fraser sent you.
Further online reading
A Year In Pyongyang
NKZone
Read these
Bradley K. Martin – Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty: the Motherlode. Ferociously detailed, lengthy account of the World’s only communist dynasty.
Guy Delisle – Pyongyang: graphic novel that captures the atmosphere and absurdity of the capital city better than anything else I’ve read. Truly lovely.
Bruce Cummings – Another Country: essential reading if you want to understand why the DPRK behaves as it does. Generally well balanced, occasionally let down by the author’s obvious determination to show the North in the best possible light wherever possible, dwelling on the positive without ever properly addressing the negative.
Robert Willoughby – North Korea (Bradt Country Guides): all the places you’ll never get to see.
Michael Harrold – Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea: somewhat sad story of an Englishman’s seven-year stint in Pyongyang working for the Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Paul French – North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula – A Modern History: a decent modern history of the country. Not a bad place to start.
Official DPRK Literature
www.north-korea-books.com. Your best bet for officially sanctioned DPRK literature online: from military history to recipe books to subscriptions to the Pyongyang Times. Purchase such eternal favourites as The U.S. Imperialists Started The Korean War and Let Us Advance Under The Banner Of Marxism-Leninism And The Juche Idea.
Watch these
The Game Of Their Lives
A State Of Mind
Crossing The Line
North Korea: A Day In The Life
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Hello. Are there any restrictions about entering North Korea if one has been to the South or vice versa?
interesting i am going soon to Pyongyang as a tourist,i hope i will engoy,.
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Thanks
Rafael
Taking a jovial tour of North Korea is akin to happily strolling through concentration camps in World War 2 on a laugh filled tourist jaunt.
Work until your death in slave labor detention camps, public executions, corpses of children in the streets from people starving to death. You should have mentioned the North Korea your Communist minder would not let you see in your cute little ‘travel blog’.
this is one country that I would LOVE to vist. There would be so much to learn.
korea political situation will be covered at the intl studies steven sears cpa attorney guest lecture.
hello, everybody!
My name is Jambaa and 25 years old.I am specialist for nuclear technology and energy but, i like become Diplomata then i really interesting international relationships espcially, North Korea’s issues! So, i want to take helo from someone who help and contact me for my dream.
I forgetten leave contacts. email:asia_jambaa@yahoo.com
We dont hear about North Korea firing any missles recently. Our American government must have given them more of the taxpayers money to shut them up! At least for 4 more political years anyway or until Kim dies.
Pls i would like 2 play 4 u sir
This psychopathic regime will continue to do what it takes to either stare down the west and get what it wants, scare the Chinese, or self destruct under the wrath of the U.N. contingent.
I have felt for years that if the people of PRK ever decide that they are tired of starving that tey might do somethig about this themselves. Now we have a leadership in N. Korea than thinks they can buy respect and food with a few nukes.
If these bitches dane to use even ono these against the western allies, then I will know of a place where glass is goig to supreme, because that is all that will be left of the landscape. I don’t understand why the people in that country have not risen up to stop from starving. The North Korean threats of late need to be put back in the stone age as the US and its allies haven’t got time to deal with these primitive, and useless regime supporters. The last thing that the UN needs is to engage this country either by negotiaitons,.or a quick and definite nuclear response. The Current Mood In Washington is not one that is consistant with dealing with them. China has no appitite for seeing the society going down the tubes and resulting in a big taxation on thier ability to take in refugees.
P.S Don’t expect countries like Canada to take your refugees as things have not worked out to well in that regard int he past.
Try somewhere else’