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Anonymous
Has anyone here ever traveled to North Korea? Anyone have any experience with North Korea?

TALK ABOUT NORTH KOREA IN THIS THREAD
>> Anonymous
http://www.vbs.tv/shows/north-korea/
>> Anonymous
North Korea's discipline and militarism is kickass! I do however think KJI could be doing a better job :/
>> Anonymous
I went there on business

It was wonderful
>> Anonymous
>>82346

srsly?
>> Anonymous
>>82349

Ya, rly

The media would have you believe that North Korea have no dealings with the outside world whatsoever which is total bullshit. I was there with my old company who manufacture heavy machinery for use in mining, road construction and other shit like that. I was there for 5 days. We were accompanied everywhere by officials and didn't get to go off on our own anywhere but the people I met were actually pretty decent people (for Communists anyway) and looked after us very well.
>> Alborz
I definitely want to go someday; I've heard though that all of your money goes to the gov't (OK, obv) and that this goes to help the regime, is this true?
>> Anonymous
>>82357

Well its a Communist dictatorship so...

Theres nothing really appealing about the place. You can't go there and explore. You will only get in there with official clearance and you will be accompanied everywhere. You eat where they tell you, sleep where they tell you and never get to see the real country (by that I mean desperately poor, enslaved people) Everything foreigners see is fake propoganda
>> Anonymous
>>82358
Sounds darkly mysterious.
>> Anonymous
Read the book Pyonyang. It's written in a comic form but it's all about a Canadian animator who goes there to work on a project with the North Koreans. It's pretty accurate of what a stay there is like.
>> Anonymous
>>82358

That's not a communist dictatorship. You say people are enslaved : as the most basic principle of communism is the abolition of economic exploitation, that can't be communism.
>> Anonymous
>>82342
What's with the crane on top of the building?
>> Anonymous
wow this thread is just a mount of bullshit

God why do you think they took care of you?
It´s common fpr north korea. They give you an official an they'll only show you the nice things.
>> Anonymous
>>82365
They had to give up on building this epic hotel, very much symbolic of the DPRK - a lot of effort goes into trying to make it look nice, but the reality is that it's very poor and doesn't come anywhere near the idealistic goals.
>> Anonymous
It's the Ryugyong Hotel; aka The Hotel of Doom. It was supposed to be the world's biggest hotel, but at the stage of construction pictured, it was discovered that the concrete used was so shoddy, the whole thing would fall down if it were occupied.

This was so embarrassing, the building officially ceased to exist. As pictured, they not only didn't tear it down, but simply abandoned the construction equipment in place. My understanding is that if visitors point to it and ask, what is that? the locals will look totally mystified, as if there were nothing there at all, and the capitalist pig foreign devil were simply hallucinating.
>> Anonymous
Can you go in there?
>> Anonymous
>>82377
Thanks for the info.
>> Anonymous
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http://www.tema.ru/travel/north-korea-1/

This guy didn't seem to have much trouble exploring on his own..
>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
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Check out the dude pissing
>> Anonymous
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>> Anonymous
Copy pasted from some forum:

The author of these photos is Artemii Lebedev, one of the leading web-designers in Russia. He recently went on a trip to DPRK. I'll translate his comments briefly.

On your arrival at the airport you need to leave your cellphone, no roaming service is avaliable but if you select an operator manually you get PRK 03 although he never saw a single person with a cell-phone. Laptops are allowed it seems that north koreans are not aware of cards that can make your laptop to work like a cellphone.

The only house where a foreigner will be ever allowed on his visit. It's a model-house of a model-farmworker of a model-collective farm. There is even something that looks like a computer made of components that are not even plugged together. Internet does not exist, only intranet is avalaible.

On your arrival you will be assigned to a guide and a driver. That will constantly follow you. You can't leave the hotel on your own. The daily program consists of 2-3 visits to a landmark. In the hotel you can watch BBC,NTV (russian chan),and a couple of chinese channels, so you can't really complain about freedom of speech. The food is good, and you can't complain about that either. In a park he saw elder women picking up herbs, the guide said that it was for the rabbits, although it was clear that it was the kind of herb that the "owners of the rabbits" could eat.

Kiosk that sells foreign product to tourists, as in snickers chinese sprite and lays from 2001. You have to chose your product pay at a sepate booth get a checkstub and give it to the merchant to get your purchase.

Kiosk for locals, most of the time they sell lemonade, forigers are given a plastic cup, locals get porcelain mugs, that are washed in a bucket of water after use.
Sometimes you see people selling some kind of a vegetable, that was taken next to a fruits and veggies store, they immediatly closed the door as they saw a tourist.
>> Anonymous
North Koreans are always amazed when they see a white man.

The plaster statues are clean and not broken apart. North Korea is a perfect reproduction of the year 1950.
They still havent figured out how to make flat glass withtout bubbles, the only exception are the windows in the hotel or large vitrines.

Oil is almost inexistant, so most of the labor is manual.


Water seems not to be avaliable everywhere when you leave the capital. A woman is washing her clothes in the river.

Life in a village

When building in a city they tend to block the old houses with tall bulidings , if that is not possible they put a concrete fence so you would only see the roof.
As soon as you try to take a picture different from the magazine "Korea" the guide will say: "why are you taking a picture" "it's forbidden here"

Koreans are not shy when it comes to basic needs, the guide forbid to take pictures of men taking a piss on the middle of the road, but there was no problem when it happened in the capital next to to a monument (look at the guy on the steps)

The big monument, (they cut off the electricity at 11)

The city at night is scary, there is no light on the streets and people use white lights and no curtains.

during the day the elevator didn't work for 15 mins

View from the monument, besides the pretty view you can also see the dead birds.

Reality of the NK, a forigner will not see this generally.

The whole Pyongyang is like this, when he asked the guide about the old houses the guide said that old people didn't want to move out in the new ones and like it that way
>> Anonymous
The mausoleum

You have to button up your shirt and look serious, and leave eveything except your sunglasses at the entrance, you will have to go trough an x-ray scanner (which no one tells you about), and for some reason there is a wi-fi router. The statue is white, and the light on top is blue and on the bottom is red. And its called a "visit" because the Great Leader is still "alive"

Next to the statue wearing an ironic t-shirt ( Hysteria of the USSR), the guide didn't know russian well, and when was asked an unplesant question didn't know russian at all. End of part 1 , next part "the defence".

About 10% of the population serves in the military, its impossible not to cross soldiers.

They do everything, taking care of the cattle, picking up wood, and ride 40 persons in a truck

As a form of entertainement both Koreas will take you to a visit to the border. One mystery remains, how comme under capitalism the roads are good and under communism sh*tty.
Sand is where NK is.

The road is prepared for an invasion, the big cubes can be pushed on the road to trap the enemy tanks.

Just in case they put those things up on every road in the radius of 50km from the border, they are often decorated.

They also have those in the mountains.
>> Anonymous
About 10% of the population serves in the military, its impossible not to cross soldiers.

They do everything, taking care of the cattle, picking up wood, and ride 40 persons in a truck


As a form of entertainement both Koreas will take you to a visit to the border. One mystery remains, how comme under capitalism the roads are good and under communism sh*tty.
Sand is where NK is.

The road is prepared for an invasion, the big cubes can be pushed on the road to trap the enemy tanks.

Just in case they put those things up on every road in the radius of 50km from the border, they are often decorated.

They also have those in the mountains.

A NK beach, electrified barbed-wire so the NK citiziens wouln't swim away, of couse you're not allowed to take that picture.

NK love to show off military trophees, like the american spy ship Pueblo.

Pieces of US aicraft in a museum, that are gathered up with a lot of love.

NK defends itself not only from imperialist agressors, every neiborhood is defended. Once by a coincidence, he took a picture of that buliding with AC on every window. Of couse he was told that he's not allowd to take the picture. Apperently this is not an ordinary house, maybe scientists live there.
On may 1st, the tourists got to see a concert and taekwondo students so everyone would know that the new replacement is growing up.
Next , visual culture.
>> Anonymous
Hello ( PREVED)
NK like to customize their number ,as you can see with the 40

Every citizen has a pin of Kim Il Song, except for little children, waiters (the pin is probably hidden by work clothes), and Kim Il Song himself
You cannot by this pin.

This means, shoe repairs upstairs.

That means that a food joint is near, by the way even in China they draw a fork.

You can see this on the doors, the X means entrance forbidden, and the thingy taht looks like a target means enter here.

In a model pioneer palace, a concert is shown, at the end a picture of Kim Jong Il is shown, the forigners are in extasy.
Next up we have roads and transporation.
>> Anonymous
Ok, so we carry on.

Entrances to the subways look somewhat shabby.

Inside you have the tourniquets that arrive you to the knee, contrary to chinese Koreans are of short stature. The sign reads: Kim Jong IL - the Sun of 21st century!

The escalator is very long, and the lighting is original.

Trains are made of 4 wagons, the doors are opened by hand and closed automatically.

It seems that the goal of the NK architects was to make stations more impressive that Moscow's metro.

The particularity of the cities is the lack of cars. Everyone is walking, sometimes they take packed public transportatins made of tramways, trolleys and even 2 storie buses. The bicycles are rare and expensive.
The pedestrian zebra is original.

In Pyongyang there is a lot of underground passages for crossing the street, everyone respects the rules, if you cross the street where you're not supposed to you get a fine, even if the road usually looks like this.

Traffic signs warn you of other traffic signs.
>> Anonymous
The drivers never stop in front of pedestrians, they constantly honk. The guide coulnt not explain the lack of reflex of the pedetrians when they hear a car. In the countryside people walk wherever they want, like there is no cars at all.
The drivers on the other hand never chek their mirrors or look back. For some reason the gas stations are covered up and passangers must exit the car before the driver goes to the gas station.

Drive safe!

Line at the bus stop, people who take the bus are those who have to walk more than 30 mins toget home
You can't move freely in NK, you need authorisations, and you have check-points everywhere. When the car crossed teh check point, the driver flashed the lights, perhaps its a meaning that a forigner is on board.

Traffic lights exist but they dont work.
How cars in NK look like.
The sign is not lying

A common sight, broken down gas-fueled truck, they drive slow and make a lot of smoke. You're not supposed to take that picture.

Sometimes you see japanese or german cars. Koreans love Mercedes Benz, which they only know as Benz. Benz - is the favorite car of NK leaders. In Kim Il song mausoleum , his SEL 500 is parked forever on some porcelain supports. Maybe the love for benz will explain the following pictures
>> Anonymous
Bad photoshop in Korea magazine.

The other side

Fresh news.

Portait of Father and Son (to be found in every home) Kim Il Song really loved girls. He build them playgrounds. And put a room full of old consoles in the model pioneer palace (in which the escalator was turned on when the forigners arrived)

Village where Kim Il Song, spend a night during his youth.

And thats another village, but those houses don't exist in NK, the driver took a wrong turn.

Sometimes you get to see a martian landscape

Beaches of NK

Sign of service

Culture house of a model collective farm

Another culture house

Somewhere

The hotel, construction was abandoned in 1991, its not recomended to take pictures of it when you're close.

That's ok we'll admire it from far.

Koreans have the habit to walk with their hands behind their back, men rarely wear light and flashy colors. Thats an excusion to the cemetary of the revolutionaries
Apartment buildings are modest too.

A rare view of Pyongyang.

5.1 means May 1st, they don't do big celebrations.

All the forigners got to visit the main park, locals were denied admission

Those who were smarter didn't go to the park and instead relaxed by the river.

End of the story I hope you all liked it.
>> Anonymous
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National Geographic made a pretty good documentary undercover in N.Korea

Visitors get taken on the propaganda tour around the empty citiwhile the population lives on extreme poverty on the backstage.
>> Anonymous
This is a good thread about North Korea.
I requested archive.
>> Anonymous
>>82377
They've resumed contruction of Ryugyong Hotel.
I think they still want to convert that symbol of shame into a worth landmark.

I don't want to be there when they open this hotel, imagine if it crumbles with a lot of people inside.
>> Anonymous
The Koreans, both North and South, are a people entirely without scruples
>> Anonymous
I'd love to visit there, my qualms however revolve around getting there in the first place... As far as
I'm aware most tourists arrive by plane via Beijing. My father works for Cathay Pacific, so I'm familiar with the asian airline industry. I can tell you one thing and that is there is no fucking way that I would hop on to ANY of the Korean/Chinese/Russian airlines that service Pyongyang.

Also, if any of you know Skytrax (www.airlinequality.com), it is the largest airline/airport review outfit which accords airlines a star-based ranking - Air Koryo (the north korean airline) is the ONLY airline with a 1-star ranking lol...
Some things people said:

"no cabin crew jump seats are provided - they hang on to assist handles in the galley, curtains are drawn for take-off and landing, exits blocked with service carts, no cabin baggage storage checks and the safety demo is a seat belt only."

"I think one of the engines may have been inoperative, but otherwise the flight was fine."

"however I was amused when BOTH pilots came around to say hello to the dignataries with me, presumably leaving the aircraft on autopilot anyway!"
>> Anonymous
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>>82575
They sould paint it the same greyish blue the sky has so it gets more hilarious when they pretend it's not there.

And let's not forget the awesomeness of the great propaganda village Kijong-Dong.
>> Geigue !!KgpOPtX57BM
>>82342

Ah Ryugyong, so desolate even Sauron himself couldn't afford a night-light big enough to stay in there.
>> Anonymous
>>82592
Sounds like my kind of people!
>>82609
:D
Is that a big fucking cannon on the top of it?
>> Anonymous
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Looks like fun.
>> Anonymous
Why do you want to go to a totalitarian country? Dumbass asking for trouble if you ask me.

What is the source of OP's pic, I've never seen a building like that.
>> Anonymous
not op, but fire up google earth and look aroung Pyongyang. it's some crazy ass hotel they started in the 80s, then ran out of money, now I think they'r'e starting again? it's a good read, wiki probably has it too
>> Anonymous
>>82628

you're an idiot
>> Anonymous
>>82620
keeps the millions of starving people focused on an external threat rather than thinking about who is responsible for their brutal way of life.
>> Anonymous
???? ???? ???? ?

??? ??
??? ????!

u know what, im korean and its not that koreafags hate amerifags,

its the media that makes this

guess what they hate more than USAfags now,

just guess, u guys woudlnt have a clue...

well it the the curent president they fuckin hate now

ppl of anon world of internet even nick named him, "rat"
>> Anonymous
>>82644

>just guess, u guys woudlnt have a clue...

>well it the the curent president they fuckin hate now

I hope there was some sarcasm in there that got lost in the translation...
>> Anonymous
I taught a dude English in Japan who was a big leftie and had travelled to North Korea upon invitation in the 1970's to Pyongyang. He said that now with Kim Jong Il everything is more tightly regulated, as Kim Jong was a big film fan, and used this knowledge to create effective propaganda.

His lefty ass was more effectionate of Kim Il Sung, who actually would let people come in and walk around and even talk to people. The funny thing, he said, is a lot of them are like members of Plato's cave metaphor: If they ever emerged from North Korea, they would be blinded by reality to the point of it almost killing them. They are all force-fed a lie from birth until death.

It always amazes me when asshats go around chanting "Bush lied, people died" when there fags are killing people daily, and the U.N., China, and South Korea could literally give a cold, hard shit about it.
>> Anonymous
If its not that bad, why do north koreans risk their lives trying to get out and to China, which they see as a haven?
>> Anonymous
>>82705

It IS bad, but they believe that lil Kim is doing everything he can to make their situation better, and it's evil American pig sanctions that are making them starve.

They know that Kim is working tirelessly, day and night, to make the glorious socialist paradise even better. He's not sitting there drinking cognac and watching Arnie movies. No way. The fat fuck.

Incidentally, if the rumours and leaks about the prison camps are true, when NK finally falls apart, the world will see that large-scale concentration camps didn't end in 1945. It'll shock the fuck out of a lot of people.
>> Anonymous
You know, it's interesting what American bullshit can achieve with a country that actually fails. Think of the idiotic shit people think of Cuba, or OMG CHAVEZ IS A DICTATOR just because he's not another fascist puppet, disregard the whole fucking election thing, and that the American president has much more 'dictatorial' powers in comparison. Now, multiply that with the shit coming out of a country made of fail like DPRK, and you get the degree of ignorant retardation in, say,>>82780or>>82704.
>> Anonymous
>>82618

10000/10

>>82628

Well, it is basically only country on earth thats built upon lies and insanity. Who wouldn't want to go there? Sure, no goddamn way I would want to live there, and if you don't like a freak-show, well, in that case its better not to go.
>> Anonymous
>>82704
>If they ever emerged from North Korea, they would be blinded by reality to the point of it almost killing them.

rly? some of them leave their country sometimes. there were some nk students in my university. though they were pretty strange guys. they always went by group with leader, didn't speak with us and there was a rumor than they beated an invited american professor who offended nk during lecture.
also, people aren't dumb anywhere, you know, and i am sure most of them hate their government

>It always amazes me when asshats go around chanting "Bush lied, people died" when there fags are killing people daily

lier. whom do they kills daily? americans kill men in iraq etc daily (it's not a matter of this thread whether usa do right thing or not, it's just a fact) but whom do nk kills? yes, it's a poor country, probably some of its citizens are starving to death but it's a hypocrisy to say they were killed. especially if you think about that somebody even do not want to give them humanitarian aid cuz it supports the regime. and i have not heard anything about mass repressions there. there are no clues

>>82705

i know, some of them worked (work?) in russia as farm workers etc but they had their families in nk so they had to returned. also, read the thread - even their beaches are fenced by spiked wire. every fucken beach in country! it's pretty hard to escape and anyhow it demand a big courage, i guess more than most of people anywhere have. and remember about their families
>> Anonymous
The Koreans, both North and South, are a people entirely without scruples
>> Anonymous
About the electric fence thing, I find it amazing that no one has figured out how to beat these things. I mean, I imagine work gloves would work pretty well. I know they did for my cousins (their neighbors have an electric fence on their property). Even still, you could always cut the wire. As long as you don't touch both wires at a time.
>> Anonymous
>>82342
Goddamn that thing is ugly.
>> Anonymous
seven part documentary by a westerner who travelled and filmed in north korea. its pretty interesting and not strongly biased to either side imo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E46KntXAqOM

thats part 1 of 7, find the others in the related videos sidebar
>> Anonymous
north korea has had lots of problems since the fall of the USSR (which gave it a lot of economic aid)

i would like to go there someday though. if only because its mysterious and im a communist
>> Anonymous
>>82818
Thanks.

Best part of that documentary was part 5 at 3:15 when they're talking about bi-sexuals. The look on the guides face is priceless.
>> Anonymous
>>82593

Im pretty sure you can get a train from Beijing to Pyongyang, i hear the ride is great too, going through beautiful North Korean countryside unspoilt by pollution from mass industralisation.