Adventures in Asia: Kaesong and the Demilitarized Zone, DPRK

Yesterday started even earlier than Saturday, and began with the same just-okay breakfast in "Restaurant #1."  This was the view from our restaurant window (you can just see the Juche tower in the distance in the top photo):

Today we headed south of Pyongyang, along the city's brand-new "Future Scientist" Street.

Literally this street was designed to be a neighborhood of science and technology elites, and the regime is very proud of it, because it was featured in more than one piece of propaganda literature we read.

Another new building the regime is very proud of is the sci-tech centre, on another Taedong River island.  Viewed from above it is shaped like an atom; the view from the bus is much less impressive:

But, to be honest, Andrea and I were half-surprised to actually see it, because we each had read about it in a magazine on the airplane and wondered to ourselves if it actually existed!

Across the Taedong River we continued on our way out of Pyongyang.

We passed under this beautiful archway known as Reunification Arch.  The two women are supposed to be twins, separated by the division of Korea.

We were on our way to Kaesong and the Demilitarized Zone, which is the border with South Korea.  Like our trip north of Pyongyang, the highway was awful, and it passed mostly agricultural countryside.

This time, however, we had a rest stop:

Just outside the DMZ there is a checkpoint, which also has a souvenir shop.

There's also a bit of an "interpretive centre," where a soldier used a pointer and explained the layout of the DMZ to us.

After this orientation, a soldier loaded up in the bus with us and we headed through the gate and along a well defended road for about a kilometre or so.

On the North Korean side of the border, farmers are growing rice, just like everywhere else in the DPRK countryside.

We stopped to see the old negotiation room, where the original armistice was negotiated.

And the building and tables where the armistice was signed.

Next it was down to a monument commemorating Kim Il Sung, with a reproduction of the final signature he ever signed.

And then into the joint security area, the only place along the peninsula that visitors can legally cross the border (the tall building in the background is in South Korea, and the three blue buildings straddle the border).

In the blue building was also one of the spots we could photograph DPRK soldiers, standing in South Korea, no less (the building is half in North Korea and half in South Korea, so the soldiers on that side of the room are on "the other side").

Heading back north out of the DMZ, you can just see the soldier sitting up and to the right in the bus.

We dropped the soldier back at the interpretive centre, and carried on out of the DMZ north to Kaesong.

Kaesong is the only city that changed hands after the Korean War (otherwise the borders were drawn identically to where they had been previously).  It was the only city other than Pyongyang we visited during our time in DPRK, so was interesting to compare.  Kaesong seemed to lack the monuments and large public buildings of Pyongyang, but it was still very clean, and its streets were also largely deserted.

For nearly five hundred years Kaesong was Korea's capital city, but that ended in 1394.  Back in those days there was a Confucian university in Kaesong, and the site of the university is now the Koryo Museum.  While none of the original buildings remain, some of the existing buildings are from the early 1600s, so still very old.

Actually the museum was a bit disappointing, and we were rushed through it (I think the Chinese tourists were even less interested in it than we were; they literally spent more time shopping for souvenirs than looking at exhibits).  There were some relics from back when Kaesong was the capital, and generally the compound was very lovely--well maintained, clean, and nicely manicured, as with most tourist sites in DPRK.

From the museum we drove to what for me was the most interesting meal we had to in DPRK.  This is supposed to be a traditional Kaesong style of eating, with food served in small little bowls. 

Not only was this a tremendously novel way to have food served, but the food was also incredibly delicious!  I tried to empty all my bowls, but I just couldn't eat all the kimchi . . . 

Unlike at other meals, we were not served beer here, but instead there was a shooter glass of vodka for each of us.  One of the Chinese tourists raised theirs and then we all did and I shot mine back, only to realize after putting the glass down that everyone else had merely sipped it!

After lunch it was back to Pyongyang.  We passed back through the Reunification Arch and across the Taedong around 16:00.

In Pyongyang our first stop was an elementary school.

I feel like this particular stop might have been a "time permitting" one, because it came as a surprise, and a very pleasant one!  The school is near Kim Il Sung square, and although Eun Mee said it's a "normal one," we got the impression this school is pretty special.  For example, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il both visited, and there was paintings and photographs commemorating the visits.

There were other propaganda posters and pictures of the Kims, but I assume these are standard at all DPRK schools.  

It was interesting to see that there are pictures of ballistic missiles on the walls of elementary schools!

Of course there were also posters that appeared more standard for elementary schools.

Since it was afternoon, school itself was over, and now students were engaging in their extracurricular activities.  Presumably many of them were off at a children's palace somewhere, but some students were still at the school.  Evidently some if not all extracurricular activities are segregated by gender.  Boys, for example, were playing ping pong.

The intensity with which they were playing was incredible.  I did not sense there was much enjoyment being derived, but their skill was remarkable.

From the boys' badminton, we went upstairs to watch girls' dancing.

My perception was that some of the girls enjoyed dancing more than the boys enjoyed ping pong, but nonetheless they were taking it very, very seriously.  I left with mixed emotions: on the one hand I was floored at how disciplined these kids were and how good they were despite their young age; on the other hand I found it a bit uncomfortable to see such intensity in little children.  

We left the school to go on to something that was a totally unexpected part of our tour.  After dinner a day earlier, Eun Mee had told us that there would be a show tonight that would cost us each an extra roughly $40 to attend.  This caught us off guard, and we were a bit confused.

I think this type of experience is what you risk by joining up with a Chinese tour as we were doing.  Explore North Korea gave us something resembling an itinerary, but our actual tour differed slightly in terms of what we saw, and significantly in terms of when we saw it.  Later we found a mention in some of the Explore North Korea material that shows can be attended for extra, but we had never been told that it was an option on our tour.

Anyway, given that our only alternative was to stay on the bus, we opted to go.  This was my ticket:

Despite our misgivings, the show ended up being one of the absolute highlights of the trip.  I worried it would be some tacky "cultural" show that would be put on just for tourists and lack any authenticity whatsoever.  Instead, it was a show open to the public held at this gorgeous concert hall:

There were families, school groups, and what-looked-to-be corporate outings all in attendance.  It was the best opportunity we had in DPRK to interact with locals.  Once again, it was the children who were most interested in us.  I offered one boy a high five, but he slunk away shyly; another reached towards me and tried shaking my hand.  Andrea thinks he was unfamiliar with the concept of a high five.

In any case we took our seats with this view of the stage:

The Workers' Party's logo hung above it, and the entire concert was inspired by the recently concluded Workers' Party Congress.  Eun Mee said the show was going on night after night, but that this was the first time she was seeing it.  All the music was in Korean (as were the subtitles above the stage), so we had no idea what was being said, but there was plenty of video and anyway the vibe was easy enough to understand: something to the effect of "DPRK and the Workers' Party are the greatest."

The show's quality was superb (Eun Mee told us that performance standards have risen dramatically), and the show incorporated singing, orchestral music, video, lighting, and dancing.  It was only an hour long, and at the end I wished it had gone on longer.

One thing that was fascinating to watch is that whenever one of the Kims would be shown (which was not as often as I would have thought) everyone immediately applauded.  I happened to be watching Eun Mee at one point when this happened, and I swear she had an unconscious physiological reaction to seeing the picture.  It was as if her entire body, and especially her clapping hands, reacted without her thinking about it.  I honestly found it a bit creepy.

From the concert we went for our final DPRK dinner, which was Korean BBQ.  While not quite as interesting as Kaesong little bowls, this meal was the most delicious one we ate in DPRK.  There were actually all sorts of tasty dishes, but the best part was BBQing our own steak on the grill in the middle of the table in front of us.  I must say, given that DPRK is said to suffer from terrible food shortages, our tour really managed to feed us well.  Pretty much every meal was memorable in a good way, and the hot pot dinner, Kaesong lunch, and BBQ dinner are among the most interesting meals I had during our whole time in Asia.

Today we were up early again to get to the airport for our 8:20 flight.  Eun Mee shepherded us through as much of the check-in and security process as she could, and then watched us through passport control before waving good-bye.  So ended our remarkable North Korean tour.  As incredible and amazing and eye-opening as it was, I must admit: I felt a bit more relaxed once the flight landed--in China, of all places.