The Definitive Guide To North Korea

As North Korea grabs the headlines again for all the wrong reasons, we take time to look beyond the saber rattling and consider life inside the hermit kingdom. Few tourists or businessmen have ever been. But what is North Korea really like? Two partners of Dezan Shira & Associates visited recently: Chris Devonshire-Ellis, the firms principal, and Olaf Griese, the Shanghai regional partner, who just returned from Pyongyang. In this article, they provide a snapshot of life inside the worlds most reclusive, difficult to enter, and potentially dangerous country.

The first sight many visitors will see is the Sunan International Airport the main airport serving Pyongyang. Air China has service from Sunan to Beijing three days per week and there is a weekly service from Dalian. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines also provide chartered flight services to Incheon, the international airport serving Seoul, and Yangyang on the east coast of South Korea from Pyongyang. The airport is also the main hub of North Koreas national airline Air Koryo.

Air Koryo mainly flies Russian-built Tupolev and Ilyushin aircraft, and has regular daily service to Beijing. Flights to Dalian have been added to the Air Koryo schedule with a twice-weekly Tu-134 flight from Pyongyang. Direct services from Pyongyang to Shanghai Pudong have also been inaugurated with a twice-weekly service. On March 30, 2010 Air Koryo had two Tu-204 aircraft lifted from the European blacklist allowing the airline to recommence flights to Europe. Flights are also undertaken between Moscow and Berlin.

Upon arrival at Sunan International Airport, mobile phones are routinely collected from those who had them. Foreigners are not allowed to possess either these or computers in North Korea. However, North Korean travel guides do have mobile phones, use them frequently and often, and decorate them in the typical bling fashion as everywhere else in Asia. Immigration and customs clearance is tedious and thorough, with all luggage being x-rayed and then hand inspected.

The drive to Pyongyang, along the main highway to the city, is a 24 kilometer motor, typically in a large Mercedes coach. The main highway is deserted with maybe the exception of one or two vehicles. The surrounding countryside looks green and fertile, and occasional glimpses of farmers and agriculture can be seen. It certainly doesnt appear poor.

The traffic police in Pyongyang are smart young women who stand astride platforms, yet can only see a handful of vehicles a day, even in the city center. These girls have become a cultural phenomenon in their own right, and even have a web site dedicated to their beauty.

When driving into the city center, one passes through the Arch of Triumph (inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but even larger). It was erected in 1982 to celebrate the Korean resistance to Japanese occupation from 1925 to 1945 and, specifically, then-President Kim Il-sungs role in the resistance against Japanese rule. Inaugurated on the occasion of his 70th birthday, each of its 25,500 blocks of finely-dressed white granite represents a day of his life up to that point. It is the worlds tallest triumphal arch, standing 60 meters high and 50 meters wide, and has dozens of rooms, balustrades, observation platforms and elevators. It also has four vaulted gateways, each 27 meters high, decorated with azalea carved in their girth. Inscribed in the arch is the Song of General Kim Il-sung, a revolutionary hymn; the year 1925, when North Korean history states that Kim set out on the journey for national liberation; and the year 1945, the end of World War II, which ended the Japanese occupation.

Pyongyang has an abundance of memorials, and early in the morning and in the late afternoon one will see schoolchildren sweep the steps and clean the podiums of fallen leaves and dust. North Korean children are taught from a young age to respect and honor their leaders and memorials to them.

One monument all visitors are taken to see to pay respects to is the Statue of Kim Il-sung, in the heart of the city. Standing some seven stories tall and flanked by a museum dedicated to his life, visitors are taken here to bow before the Great Leader before being taken to their hotel. A small ceremony, including the laying of a wreath of flowers at the base is also conducted to demonstrate the role he had in both freeing North Korea from Japanese occupation but also leading the country through the Korean War with the United States.