This story is a continuation of the previous blog post “In the Middle of the Dictatorship, part 2“…
In every building, metro and train car etc. there are two pictures of him in the same line with golden frames. Kim Il-sung on the left side and his son Kim Jong-il on the right side. Next year (2012) will be so called “year of prosperity” because the year marks Kim Il-sung’s birth centenary. The purposeful change has already begun and the line of pictures is likely to grow with one picture when Kim Jong-un will take country’s leader position.
“From the European point of view words as normal and North Korea are like night and day among themselves. This place is totally different than any other place on earth. However tourists are freer to explore the country these days than couple of years ago when we were not allowed to go to see the countryside. And if we were, they closed bus’ curtains while we drove through countryside. Nowadays tourists are getting chances to visit little bit outside the capital although still not given any chance to get the contact with locals”, Harris said.
So travellers are like in a cage there but in a gage with the golden frames. Tours in the capital and around starts when the rooster sings and ends in late night when it’s already dark outside. And damn it’s dark. Almost no lights at all. The rest of the evening before it’s time to go to sleep tourists have to spend inside a 5-star hotel, by name Yanggakdo, located in an island with one guarded bridge. Needless to say you are not allowed to explore Pyongyang independently.
... This story will continue... Stay Tuned!
- Olli
@OlliLehtonen in Twitter
