Wall Street Journal Video on the N.Y. Phil Visit

The reporter, Evan Ramstad, covers Korea regularly and does a good, balanced report in his narration.

Bonus points for anyone who can identify the background music.

Update: Keep pedalling! Their plane hasn’t taken off yet!

We were feted with multi-course dinners of salmon, crab gratin, lamb and pheasant. Our breakfast buffet was decorated with ice sculptures and included foods meant to cater to American palates.

OK, some of it was a little weird, like the banana and tomato sandwich. But the overall impression was that the North Koreans were trying hard to please and had the means to do so. Even if you were a cynical journalist, it was hard not to be impressed.

Wrong.

Within hours after our plane left, the lights went out. The cellphone kiosk closed down and the broadband was disconnected.

Pyongyang looked again like what it really is: the capital of the one of the world’s most desperately poor and dysfunctional countries. As is often the case, the best show was the city itself, which had been displayed to create an illusion of prosperity.

“As soon as you guys left, it was pitch dark again,” said Jean-Pierre de Margerie, country director of the United Nations World Food Program here and a resident of Pyongyang for the last 18 months. [L.A. Times, Barbara Demick]