Editor's note: Travel Weekly editor at large Arnie Weissmann
visited North Korea in the early '90s. In light of recent
developments, his destination report offers timely insights.
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- The recent New York Times photo of
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il holding raised hands with South
Korea's President Kim Dae Jung, promising to work together toward
peace and unity, was something I thought I'd never see.
A companion news report that the U.S. plans to lift sanctions
imposed on North Korea -- including those in the areas of travel
and tourism -- was more surprising still.
What is travel in North Korea like? Unable to find a
correspondent to handle this assignment for Weissmann Travel
Reports, I spent a little more than a week there in the early '90s.
This was before "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung died and was replaced by
his son, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
A trip there is not so much about sightseeing as it is about
experiencing a unique culture. And from what I've read since my
visit, that culture has not changed very dramatically, despite
recent political movement between the Koreas.
From the start of my trip, I felt as if I had walked into an
Asian version of the novel "1984."
A large mural in the Pyongyang train station, my point of
arrival, showed Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il painted in brilliant
reds, yellows and oranges in front of a vista with the setting sun
behind them.
Everyone in the station -- make that the nation -- wore a little
Kim Il Sung button over his or her heart. Large portraits of the
Great Leader smiled down from buildings and billboards along the
route to the hotel.
In the gift shop at my hotel, I found a phrase book. It told me
how to say, "I wish the Dear Leader Comrade Kim Jong Il long life
in good health," but I couldn't find "Where is the toilet?" or
"What's your name?"
My guide from the official North Korean tourist bureau, also
named Kim, and I went over the itinerary he had planned for me. It
included stops at Kim Il Sung Stadium, Kim Il Sung Square, the
birthplace of Kim Il Sung, Kim Il Sung University, the Grand
Monument (featuring a three-story bronze statue of Kim Il Sung),
the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery (where Kim Il Sung's first wife
is buried) and an amusement park. In other words, a nice balance of
history and fun.
Kim (the guide Kim) relentlessly preached the virtues of the
"Juche Idea," North Korea's guiding philosophy. Political slogans
-- always punctuated with an exclamation point! -- hung from every
building.
Signs with slogans were brought in for construction sites, and I
had even seen the signs in rice fields.
The radio in our car played an endless stream of light pop
music. I'd asked the name of these songs. One was "We'll Gladly
Live With Mother," he said. Others were "A Picturesque Place, Good
to Live In" and "Two Comrades Are Criticized."
I asked him to translate one cheery tune. "I am a construction
worker, happy in my job. I hate for my work to end, but I know that
in the morning, I will rise happy again, like the sun, for another
full day."
This depressing/uplifting spirit was rendered in three
dimensions at the Grand Monument. Schoolchildren approached the
three-story statue of Kim Il Sung in groups, bowed and placed
flowers at his feet.
Two bas-reliefs flanked the statue, one portraying the armed
struggle to "liberation," the other, progress since liberation. The
detail was extraordinary: Each soldier in the struggle is a study
in determination.
The "progress" of the nation was humanized through individuals,
as well -- an old farmer carrying produce, a young woman with a
small TV tucked under her arm.
It was an inspiring cross between Chinese Cultural
Revolution-era art and Norman Rockwell -- great attention is paid
to each face, and hope, determination and joy shine through.
The art contrasts so sharply with the reality of North Korea
that the entire capital city of Pyongyang becomes a giant gallery
of surrealism.
The city, as seen from a window atop the 600-foot-high Tower of
the Juche Idea, looks like an architectural model, in part because
it was completely rebuilt after the Korean War and in part because
so few people are on the streets. ("Everyone's at work," guide Kim
explained.)
I was based in the capital for my entire visit, but took day
trips.
The first was to Myoyangsan, a beautiful, mountainous nature
area and home of the International Friendship Exhibition, a
six-story museum of gifts given to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il by
people from other countries.
And what a collection of gifts. The Kims have amassed hundreds
of rooms of presents. Practical presents (a handheld calculator for
young son Kim Jong Il), thoughtful presents (framed, inscribed
photographic portraits from the Great Leader's pals, Mao, Khomeini
and Khadafi) and presents both practical and thoughtful (a
bullet-proof sedan from Stalin).
Some gifts, such as plastic souvenir place mats from Mauritius,
seemed to be an afterthought, picked up at the airport on the way
to a summit.
My favorite was a portrait of Kim Il Sung rendered in lines of
Arabic script (the text of which is "...the undying classic, 'The
Non-Alignment Movement Is a Mighty Anti-Imperialist Revolutionary
Force of Our Times'").
The other memorable excursion was to Panmunjom, on the border
with South Korea. This is quite a different tour from a tour taken
from the South.
The tour from the South is a tightly controlled affair (you're
given explicit instructions on how to dress and behave, and your
time at the border is brief). I supposed this was because the U.S.
and South Korean forces don't want to provoke a North Korean
response to a perceived infraction.
The tour from the North, on the other hand, had an almost
laconic feel. I surmised this was because North Koreans didn't want
to ruin their reputation for behaving unpredictably.
I was put with a group visiting from Taiwan, and we wandered
around the border area, took photos of one another and watched
several tour groups from the South come and go.
We were taken into the room where talks still take place, and
our guide, an Army major, invited us to sit at the table and
pretend to negotiate (on the tour from the South, Marines give
strict instructions not to touch the table or even circle it
completely).
As a visitor, my biggest frustration was that I had very little
contact with North Koreans other than my guides.
I tried various ploys to get closer to the citizenry. I told my
guide Kim I wanted to go to a restaurant to eat instead of the
hotel. He said he'd arrange it, then brought me to a private room
in a restaurant.
I told him I wanted to go see a movie. He told me I could watch
movies on the TV in my hotel room. (Not true. All I could ever get
were political speeches and soap operas.)
I told him I wanted to visit a typical house to see how people
lived, and he resisted, but on my last day surprised me by saying
he would take me to see his apartment.
We drove into a quiet neighborhood of apartment buildings; he
led me up several flights of stairs, opened a door and invited me
in.
I had regarded my guide as a bit of a robot up to that point;
his boasts and diatribes revealed little humanity. I reckoned that
he was an intelligence officer, and I wasn't surprised to learn he
had been an army officer, working in embassies abroad.
He worshiped Kim Il Sung, often referring to him as "our
father," and sure enough, there was a portrait of the Great Leader
in every room.
But when we sat down on his sofa, his demeanor changed
dramatically: He was suddenly a humble, nervous, eager-to-please
host. We went through three family photo albums.
He was very proud of his son -- whose name means "Faithful to
the State" -- and he translated a poem he had written on the day
his daughter was born. In it he wrote that he would build for her a
room whose roof was a rainbow, and whose walls would be made from
flowers.
I saw photos of his revered grandmother, children's birthday
parties, funerals, him in uniform. He talked about his wife, who
had a weak heart, and their daughter, who was prone to high fevers.
He talked about wanting to impart a legacy of his good life to his
son.
He served biscuits and tea, and surprised me by apologizing for
offering only Korean-made products, "not of high quality." He gave
me a guidebook to a history museum, and inscribed it, "From your
friendly, frankly guide."
Should you send clients to North Korea once it opens up?
Absolutely.
Emphasize that it takes a bit of effort to reach the heart
behind the rhetoric, but advise your clients that it's worth that
effort.