Through the Looking-Glass: A Weekend in North Korea

I spent this last weekend in possibly the most isolated country on Earth, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (a.k.a. North Korea). I left Seoul at 11:50pm Saturday night. The bus trip was a rather giddy one; beer, anticipation, and world cup quarter-finals on satellite t.v. were the order of the day. We stopped at 4:30am for a very, very early breakfast (mine consisted of pastry and beef jerky). The next stop was the South Korean side of the DMZ, a very modern building in which everyone was processed in a relatively fast and orderly manner. Following that we boarded a different bus for the trip through the DMZ to Geumgangsan, DPRK.

I''ve never been more intimidated entering a country as I was entering North Korea. After seeing NK soldiers and rocket launcher jeeps from the road we reached the NK immingration "office", which was in reality a big white tent. We had to line up in for different lines, in a set order. Some people were asked multiple questions (mostly Americans I think) but I was allowed entry without a single question. I guess I either look trustworthy or scared out of my mind. After making it through the border we proceeded to board the bus again, we were instructed to never, NEVER take pictures from the bus. There were soldiers about every 50m along the road, if they saw a camera they would raise their red flag... and all hell would presumably break loose.

The hotel we stayed in was a five-star joint (built by Kim Il-Sung's wife), complete with listening devices, as an Irish member of our tour found in his room. Directly after arriving we went for a hike to a waterfall, it was beautiful in a rainy way. That night many people went for a tour-sponsored dinner; but when the guides declined so did I, and from everything I heard the dinner was awful; pork with hair on it. Me and my friends stayed in the hotel bar and drank fantastic NK beer. After that we celebrated Canada Day in a North Korean Karaoke bar with Americans, Canadians, Englishmen, Dutchwomen, South Africans, and Irishmen. Post singing we were able to watch England lose to Portugal.

After a very short night we headed out on another fog/rain filled hike. Post hike we went for lunch and did a little bit of shopping. The bus back to relative (but that's another entry) freedom left at 3:30 and following a severe interagation of one of my idiotic American tour-mates who decided to take a picture of a soldier we were back in the south, and 6hrs from Seoul.

All in all it was quite the trip. The little things will be the things I remember most. I had a very brief, and quite illegal, conversation with two NK mountain guides who wanted to know all about Canada and Seoul... before their boss arrive. I saw potential for the best photo I ever would have taken, but would be in jail now, of two uniformed NK soliders on the side of the road playing guitar and playing with a dog; Pullitzer stuff if I've ever seen it. The level of control there made me glad to see the M-16 carrying SK soldier for the first time ever when we crossed back into the south. However I don't feel that I saw the real DPRK, I saw a sanitized, controlled tourism experiment. While that's true, at the same time I'll never forget this trip, I went to a place where few go, and as much as Hyundai tried to make it seem like we were still in the south, it was clear to be that this country is as tightly controlled as any on the planet.