© Nova Fisher novatravels.net
North Korea and Beijing, China

General

My observations of North Korea

Entirely rebuilt from the devastation of the bombs in the Korean war, Pyongyang is a city of wide boulevards, many large imposing buildings and monuments (many were built to compete with the rest of the world), futuristic buildings and pastel coloured apartment blocks that look rather ‘tired’. There are many large poster sites with pictures of the Eternal President, Kim Il Sung and his son, the Eternal Chairman and General Secretary of the People’s Working Party, Kim Jong Il. The streets are exceptionally clean which may be a result of disipline and the number of police and military around. The pavements had very few people, but those that were there seemed to be striding along purposefully. The photo of the pavement below was taken at 9am. The roads are wide with little traffic and on my trip to the mountains the road was three lanes in each direction and, standing still for a few moments, I saw only 4 cars. All North Korean’s have free living accommodation, free education and free health care. They don’t pay any taxes. They can ask to live in an area where they work. I asked where all the money came from for the government to pay for this but my guides didn’t know or wouldn’t give an opinion. I asked several times about the average salary of a worker but never got an answer. I was told that, if a sportsperson wins a gold medal, he is given a house and car. Whether he/she can afford to maintain it and pay for petrol is a different matter! I asked where Kim Jong Un lives – the reply was “in all of our houses and in our hearts. He has given many houses and things to people.” I asked where he actually resides himself – the reply was “I don’t know. No-one knows”. Tourists are not allowed to possess the local Won currency. They can use EUR, CNY or US$. The preferred is the Euro. I asked to see some of the local money and was discretely shown a single note. I asked to see more notes but was not shown – either the guide was reluctant to show me or he didn’t have any. At the time of my visit the exchange rates were: 1 CNY = 130 KPW (Korean People’s Won) / 1 EUR = 1007 KPW / 1 GBP = 1142 KPW I asked to go to a local supermarket to buy some large bottles of water as I don’t like to buy the small single-use 500ml bottles, which are bad for the environment. The request was denied and I was told to buy small bottles in the restaurants or hotel. I asked how the citizens felt about the money being spent on the missiles and the reply was – “We don’t have any missiles, only guns - and all testing is now complete”. I said no more on the subject but wondered if they saw TV coverage of the parades in Kim Il Sung Square. During Kim Jong Un’s seven years of rule, he has conducted six big parades, introducing a series of ballistic missiles that he eventually test-launched in defiance of United Nations resolutions. There are 2 types of Farms – State and Co-operative. State farmers are paid a small salary whilst co-operative farmers are paid in rice that they can eat or sell. The rice payment is according to the number of accumulated hours worked. Every province has 10 co-operative farms. State farms have more machines. The main crops are rice – planted in May/June, barley – planted in March, cotton and potatoes that are grown in the mountain areas.

Relations with the Americans

The North Koreans are very anti the Japanese (due to 40 years of occupation) but also have a great hatred of the Americans. My guides told me that the Americans had invaded North Korea and that’s what started the Korean war, which is a different version to that known worldwide. The government has actively portrayed the United States as an aggressive invader, willing to brutally murder every man, woman, and child in North Korea. Research says “After North Korea invaded South Korea, the Americans dropped tons of explosives on North Korea. The leader Kim Il-sung realized that fear of this barrage of American firepower had quickly become a major factor in his citizen's lives and decided to use it as a propaganda tool against the United States and to support his regime. His government concocted a vision of the Americans as blood-thirsty murderers hell bent on carrying out the genocide of the North Korean people. To extend and exacerbate this fear, the North Korean government created the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities to commemorate a ‘claimed’ massacre of North Korean citizens by American troops. Though there is no evidence to support their assertion of American war crimes in the area, the North Korean propaganda in the museum depicts Americans torturing and killing thousands of Korean civilians.” Ironically, it was the US and Japan who contributed most of the imported food to North Korea after the famine. In 2001 the US contribution was close to 300,000 tons. Japan was the largest donor through the World Food Programme with 500,000 tons of rice and the Republic of Korea donated 100,000 tons. Currently Americans are banned by President Trump for visiting North Korea, which is, perhaps, to their benefit.
The streets are empty of traffic 9am in the morning - empty streets One of many lady traffic cops A captured American tank

The Juche Idea

Juche meaning "self-reliance" is the official state ideology of North Korea, described by the government as "Kim Il-sung's original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought". The Juche idea means that man is the master of his own destiny and encourages the Korean masses to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction" and that by becoming self-reliant and strong, a nation can achieve true socialism. It became the state ideology and sole guiding principle of the government following the rise of a one-party communist state in the country following World War II. According to the Juche ideology, it is through subordination to a great leader that the masses can achieve self-reliance. The Kim family stands at the center of this.

Geography

Officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), it shares land borders with China, Russia and South Korea (along the DMZ). UN figures estimate over 25 million people and I was told that 3 million live in Pyongyang. and that there are 9 provinces and 200 counties. 80% of the land is mountainous with the highest peak, Mount Paektu, the most sacred mountain, at 2750m I was told that North Kores was rich in gold and silver. However, I have since researched that: • It has the 22nd largest coal reserves in the world and is the leading exporter of anthracite. • It’s the 18th largest producer of iron in the world. • They produce about 80 million tons of limestone per year almost completely from local production. About 75% of the limestone produced is locally consumed in cement production and 14% in the manufacturing of steel products and the rest is used in the milling industry. • It’s one of the leading producers of zinc in the world. The country has a capacity to produce 400,000 metric tons of nonferrous metals. Of that amount, 77% is accounted for by zinc and the rest by lead. • There is a significant amount of magnesite resource. Daeheung Mine is thought to be the largest magnesite mine in the world. • North Korea is estimated to hold 2,000 metric tons of gold reserves, valued at $87 billion. The Daebong Mine produces over 150 kilograms of gold annually.
Two books that I boiught in the Foreign Language bookshop
Click on any photo to see a slideshow of larger versions
© Nova Fisher novatravels.net

General

My observations of North Korea

Entirely rebuilt from the devastation of the bombs in the Korean war, Pyongyang is a city of wide boulevards, many large imposing buildings and monuments (many were built to compete with the rest of the world), futuristic buildings and pastel coloured apartment blocks that look rather ‘tired’. There are many large poster sites with pictures of the Eternal President, Kim Il Sung and his son, the Eternal Chairman and General Secretary of the People’s Working Party, Kim Jong Il. The streets are exceptionally clean which may be a result of disipline and the number of police and military around. The pavements had very few people, but those that were there seemed to be striding along purposefully. The photo of the pavement below was taken at 9am. The roads are wide with little traffic and on my trip to the mountains the road was three lanes in each direction and, standing still for a few moments, I saw only 4 cars. All North Korean’s have free living accommodation, free education and free health care. They don’t pay any taxes. They can ask to live in an area where they work. I asked where all the money came from for the government to pay for this but my guides didn’t know or wouldn’t give an opinion. I asked several times about the average salary of a worker but never got an answer. I was told that, if a sportsperson wins a gold medal, he is given a house and car. Whether he/she can afford to maintain it and pay for petrol is a different matter! I asked where Kim Jong Un lives – the reply was “in all of our houses and in our hearts. He has given many houses and things to people.” I asked where he actually resides himself – the reply was “I don’t know. No-one knows”. Tourists are not allowed to possess the local Won currency. They can use EUR, CNY or US$. The preferred is the Euro. I asked to see some of the local money and was discretely shown a single note. I asked to see more notes but was not shown – either the guide was reluctant to show me or he didn’t have any. At the time of my visit the exchange rates were: 1 CNY = 130 KPW (Korean People’s Won) / 1 EUR = 1007 KPW / 1 GBP = 1142 KPW I asked to go to a local supermarket to buy some large bottles of water as I don’t like to buy the small single-use 500ml bottles, which are bad for the environment. The request was denied and I was told to buy small bottles in the restaurants or hotel. I asked how the citizens felt about the money being spent on the missiles and the reply was – “We don’t have any missiles, only guns - and all testing is now complete”. I said no more on the subject but wondered if they saw TV coverage of the parades in Kim Il Sung Square. During Kim Jong Un’s seven years of rule, he has conducted six big parades, introducing a series of ballistic missiles that he eventually test-launched in defiance of United Nations resolutions. There are 2 types of Farms – State and Co-operative. State farmers are paid a small salary whilst co- operative farmers are paid in rice that they can eat or sell. The rice payment is according to the number of accumulated hours worked. Every province has 10 co-operative farms. State farms have more machines. The main crops are rice – planted in May/June, barley – planted in March, cotton and potatoes that are grown in the mountain areas.

Relations with the

Americans

The North Koreans are very anti the Japanese (due to 40 years of occupation) but also have a great hatred of the Americans. My guides told me that the Americans had invaded North Korea and that’s what started the Korean war, which is a different version to that known worldwide. The government has actively portrayed the United States as an aggressive invader, willing to brutally murder every man, woman, and child in North Korea. Research says “After North Korea invaded South Korea, the Americans dropped tons of explosives on North Korea. The leader Kim Il-sung realized that fear of this barrage of American firepower had quickly become a major factor in his citizen's lives and decided to use it as a propaganda tool against the United States and to support his regime. His government concocted a vision of the Americans as blood-thirsty murderers hell bent on carrying out the genocide of the North Korean people. To extend and exacerbate this fear, the North Korean government created the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities to commemorate a ‘claimed’ massacre of North Korean citizens by American troops. Though there is no evidence to support their assertion of American war crimes in the area, the North Korean propaganda in the museum depicts Americans torturing and killing thousands of Korean civilians.” Ironically, it was the US and Japan who contributed most of the imported food to North Korea after the famine. In 2001 the US contribution was close to 300,000 tons. Japan was the largest donor through the World Food Programme with 500,000 tons of rice and the Republic of Korea donated 100,000 tons. Currently Americans are banned by President Trump for visiting North Korea, which is, perhaps, to their benefit.
North Korea and Beijing, China