Postcard from Pyongyang

Flying from Beijing to Pyongyang is an unsettling journey. Not because you have to fly on Air Koryo – the world’s only one star airline – but because of the reputation that precedes this socialist dictatorship run country. Prior to departing, friends only half-jokingly said their goodbyes anticipating I would never return.

In spite of the Australian Government travel warning asking tourists to ‘reconsider’ travelling to North Korea, there is little to fear once here. It is arguably a much safer travel destination than many African, Latin American and Middle Eastern states. The relative safety stems largely from the fact that travel takes place on a state sanctioned tour – making it a highly staged experience.

Tourism North Korean style makes you feel like a member of the royal family. Every move you make is followed by minders; you have entire floors of hotels to yourself; you skip to the front of any queue and the tour bus is always waiting to whisk you off to the next location.

The ground rules were established on the bus ride from the airport. Photos of military personnel were forbidden and more bizarrely when photographing monuments of the Great Leader the entire statue must be within frame. These rules were tightly enforced on the first day. However, the occasional sneaky military photo was allowed as the guides began to trust us later in the week.

Architectural copy-cats: Just two of the many monuments in Pyongyang – the Arch of Triumph (left) and the Tower of Juche Idea (right).

For a country which outwardly shuns the rest of the Western world the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has garnered considerable inspiration from Western architecture. Forget the Arc de Triomphe in Paris – Pyongyang has the Arch of Triumph which just happens to be 10 metres taller than its French counterpart. But it doesn’t stop there; the Tower of Juche Idea has remarkable similarity to the Washington Monument and as you can guess just happens to be 1 metre taller.

It may be hard to prove but North Korea would surely have the highest number of bronze statues per capita of any country. The Kim regime has obviously funnelled a lot of money into the construction of audacious monuments to the party and leadership. Our guides were quick to point out that these statues were at the request of the people and that the Great Leaders only reluctantly agreed. They are almost always laden with symbolic value –the height, length and ratio often representing the Great Leaders birthday or some other auspicious date.

The DPRK sure knows how to do a bronze statue. The most sacred statue of Great Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansudae Hill in central Pyongyang.

Visiting the Demilitarized Zone from the DPRK side is a lesson in the subjectivity of history. The tour is conducted by North Korean soldiers and it is a rare opportunity to hear their perspective on the continuing conflict with the ‘American Imperialists’. One moment sticks out from this when the guard described his disgust at the US placing the United Nations flag at the table during the Armistice talks in 1953. The guard bizarrely arguing that it was an act of ‘cowardice’ that the US left it behind.

Simply looking at the itinerary would give you the wrong impression of what there is to see in the DPRK. A scheduled visit of a cooperative farm involves a tour of a 24-room museum dedicated to the numerous visits of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the divine wisdom they imparted on each occasion. We were told in all seriousness that the Great Leader solved all the problems.

This sort of experience was replicated daily and having been raised in a democratic political culture this level of leader worship feels false.  Political leaders in Australia are seen to be fallible and irrespective of their achievements would never be lauded in the ways the DPRK can get away with. Without wishing to sound disrespectful, it is hard not to question the misallocation of resources to these monuments and as such the regimes skewed priorities.

As a travel destination, the DPRK at times feels like the real-life embodiment of the Truman Show. It does not take much to question reality and speculate that everything is somehow staged to make the country look better. The best example was the Pyongyang metro. Prior to arriving in the DPRK I had heard that the metro was just a gimmick for tourists. However, after riding the metro and seeing the crowds of people it seems unlikely that this could have been a fake experience – but the thing with the DPRK is you will never know!

Set-up or not, the absolute highlight of the trip was attending the Arirang Mass Games. It put all Olympics opening ceremonies to shame and is the main reason why the DPRK regime allows Western tour groups in the country. The one-and-a-half hour performance takes place three times a week and involves over 100,000 performers. It leaves you feeling overwhelmed by the incredible talents of the Korean people and you cannot help but wonder what else the North Korean people would be capable of if they had the resources.

Feast for the eyes: Opening scenes at the Arirang Mass Games.

Traveling to North Korea surpassed all my expectations. If I’m truthful that’s because my expectations were low to begin with. It would be remiss of me to end without mentioning the elephant in the room – nuclear weapons. Despite attending an infamous military parade, there were no nukes in sight. But this is rather fitting because there is so much more to North Korea than just their nuclear weapons.