Comments on: Pyongyang Travelogue

By: OneFreeKorea » Experts predict Lee Myung Bak’s behavior; Still no comment from Miss Cleo, Nostradamus, or KCNA

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:31:27 +0000

[...] Personally, however, I’m most interested in what KCNA thinks about Lee and his latest statements promising more scrutiny of North Korea on human rights. Unfortunately, KCNA is now on its fifth day of official silence. Odd. [U/D: As I’d noted previously, KCNA found time to congratulate the President-Elect of Switzerland and to get in one last dig against Lee Hoi Chang, but not a word on Lee Myung Bakâ€™s victory yet. I am no longer the only one to have noticed this. Yet we know that the North Korean press has been full of anti-Lee Hoi Chang fulminations, and an OFK reader and recent visitor to Pyongyang tells us that North Koreans were keenly curious about the election. So either North Koreans have wisely suspended their curiosity or the gossip is spreading like projectile chlamydia aboard the Charles De Gaulle. That, or the regime is broadcasting the news over the cable radio.] [...]

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:33:28 +0000

Funny, I’ve always thought the surest sign of neurotic automaton was the inability to recognize irony.

By: Tristan

Tristan — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:49:05 +0000

“I was baiting him that the US is free and beautiful and the whole world envies it” ) ….. i LOVE when americans sound like brainwashed North koreans …. oh the irony !

By: Whitey

Whitey — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:23:41 +0000

Describing Chung Dong-young to North Koreans as “their guy” in the presidential election is hilarious. Well done.

By: The writer of this piece.

The writer of this piece. — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:52:59 +0000

Another thing, he asked me about the South Korean Army. I said I won’t vouch for them!

By: The writer of this piece.

The writer of this piece. — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:45:59 +0000

Darin,
I knew my limits in what to goad him about and what not to touch. I didn’t even mention the Kims (although he did) and I never actually criticized the North directly. Instead I posed questions such as ‘why if North Korea is so strong, doesn’t it attack South Korea?’ ‘The US.’, ‘why if the US is so weak is it so respected and envied around the world?’, and ‘why is strong North Korea taking aid from a weak country like the US?’ I told him I assume the US generals don’t underestimate the North Koreans and the North would be foolish to underestimate the US. The closest I got to possibly provoking him was when I said ‘Believe me, don’t assume that something is true just because it’s in the Rodong Sinmun or a North Korean book. Although you’ve lived in NK all your life, I know for a fact that I have more knowledge more about the REAL North Korea than you do. Things that I’m not going to tell you because you don’t want to hear them’.
Also remember the train was no longer in North Korea but in China.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 23:47:58 +0000

nkecon, this gent is a regular reader and has probably seen your comment. Because he asked me to protect his identity, I think I should leave it up to him to contact you by clicking the link to your site.

By: TellTell

TellTell — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:20:28 +0000

Very interesting stuff. Since we always like to talk about change in NK on this forum, I recently found out that some NK tour operators now get permits to visit more unusual places notably Chongjin and Hamhung. Interestingly enough I spoke to one of these persons who went to Chongjin. His bottom line was essentially that you travel for 4-5 hours on extremely bad roads (with fascinating scenery and scores of people walking in agony – presumably going somewhere) and then upon arrival in the target destination you visit one or two highly uninteresting spots (ie another Kim monument and a book shop) and then go straight to the hotel where you sing the night away in the noraebang.

By: Darin

Darin — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:03:17 +0000

Wow.

But if I were him, I wouldn’t have said anything to the guard like that. They’re under no obligation not to shoot you on the spot if you don’t praise them. The truth is of no matter in societies such as North Korea.

By: nkeconwatch

nkeconwatch — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:14:13 +0000

Hey Joshua,

Would you mind putting me in touch with this gentleman. I would like to determine the locations of the kindergarten and market on Google Earth.

Thanks, and happy holidays…