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Char brings U to North Korea

Char_Azn

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The thing that sinkie leaders can learn from nkoreakie leaders is not to worry so much about what other countries leaders think about them.

Oh and more chiobu peektures please.

Not a lot of opportunity to take pics of North Koreans. This is the last one
hzILHGf7k0H5D-O0x2Bz_1Vf2KoDZwVTGcpSxOGVyg=w1214-h809-no


bro...based on what i read, they don't allow photography anywhere, esp of the local citizens. Hence i surprised you can take photo of the police woman and the performers. Your 'guide' neber stop you? U can take your camera openly to shoot like this?

Wow nice pics. Hoping to hear how they allowed you to take their pics.

As usual the stuff we read about the North have been grossly exaggerated. We were given a briefing on the China side, the tour agency boss told us not to talk about politics or the economy.

Over at the Korean side the tour guide told us not to take pics of any military personal or location. If we want to take pic of locals we need to ask them for permission coz it's rude not to and not to take pic out from inside the bus.

Other than that everything else is OK. At no point during the tour was I stopped from taking pics and at no point during the tour did they checked my photos. When in doubt just ask. The tour guide I had was quite knowledgeable and most of the locals we met were quite friendly. I learned A LOT from this trip. A lot of things we knew about the North was flat out wrong

As for the "police woman", actually it's army. She was the guide at the war museum. She speak pretty decent English. I was following the Chinese tour and she spoke to me in English after she found out I was not PRC(she doesn't speak Chinese). Obviously I asked her for permission before getting a picture with her(yes I was in that pic but edited myself out)


Thank you Google user. :biggrin: Show us what Hermit Kingdom doesn't want the world to see and not organized tours or photos approved by KNCA. :wink:

I took those photo myself I didn't google them. There wasn't much else to take other than those places they showed us. The condition of the country is not as bad as we think. Even the lesser developed area we passed by isn't THAT bad. India is way way worse than what I've seen in North Korea. Here are some pics of things that U probably won't find elsewhere. Pics are blur coz I took some of them from the bus/train

The local Tram system
IMG_6216.JPG


The unfinished hotel. Very massive can see it from just about everywhere in Pyongyang
IMG_6221.JPG


A street in Kaesong near a restaurant where we had lunch
IMG_6599.JPG


This is what most of the houses in Pyongyang looks like
IMG_6330.JPG


Farm Houses on the way to Pyongyang. Most of their village houses looks like these ones
IMG_6151.JPG
 
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Char_Azn

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If the US General is just a few steps away from North Korea and having a chats and a photo session, the atmosphere at the border must be quite relaxing.

They bring tourist like me there, nuff said.

Funny thing is U dun even get to see the border if U visit from the South side

how's the food in North Korea?

Nice?

It's OK but it's nothing to shout about. U can tell the quality of the ingredients isn't top notch. The kimchi is quite different from the south. U'll be glad to know that since they don't use chemical fertilizer, all their food are "organic"

This meal I had at Kaesong is probably the best one I had there

GZ_LPMDLMnHWvqB2VZszzRjfi1ajsCjzar_1Klq6-w=w1263-h842-no
 
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Char_Azn

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Asset
Some mythbusting from my tour of North Korea

1)It is hard to get inside, getting a visa is almost impossible

This is so wrong. It was very easy for me to join a Chinese tour to North Korea. I communicated with the Chinese tour agency mainly via Email. I sent them my Passport details to them once I confirm my dates. 1 day before the start of the tour, I went to the tour agency in Dandong to make payment. They got the visa ready the next day and I met them at the office which is next to the train station.

2)Having North Korean stamp on your Passport will make it harder to visit other countries

No stamping of passport for my trip. They just checked your passport and the visa that the tour agency will do for you. They did however kept my passport for just about the entire time I was there

3)No Photographs

As evident from all the picture I posted, this is so wrong. When I was there, the guide only told us not to take photographs of military personal and equipment. Locals are ok but we need to get their permission. At no point during the tour was I stopped from taking photos or my camera checked for undesirable photos

4)They do not allow Ang Moh tourist into the country

I saw quite a few Ang Moh tourist there. All from Europe though

5)North Koreans are hostile towards foreigners

Nope, they were pretty friendly. Even the border guards were very friendly was trying to joke with us with his limited Chinese while he was on the train to check documents



As for North Korean being poor

I think we can't really compare our system with their system

If we compare it this way yes they are pathetically poor. The tour guide was telling us his wage was something like RMB$500 a month. Which is about SGD$100. A Doctor probably earns around RMB$1500(SGD$300) a month

The thing about money there is they virtually do not need to use any money, it's not like they have anywhere to spend it to begin with

Everything is provided by the state

Housing, Healthcare, Education is all FREE.

Need a house, get married and apply for one, U get one in less than 2 months if it's available. They don't need to buy one, in fact, buying/selling a house is illegal

They don't need to buy food, everyone gets a ration card to exchange for food. Food allocation depends on job and size of the individual

Even cigarettes and alcohol is provided.

Electronics are given out as a sort of bonus. They basically work as a group. So for example a group of farmers is given a target of x tons of rice they need to produce a year. If they produce above that amount the team will get a reward of either cash or some other products of their choosing e.g. TV or fridge. Of coz if they save enough money they can buy it on their own

There are virtually no shops. There are only a few "shops" that are operated by the government where they can spend on "luxury" items like electronics product. Basically everything there is operated by the government. It's almost illegal to do business. They can barter goods with each other but not using cash

They have 100% employment rate and no tax. Basically no stress, coz if U work 10 hrs or 1 hr everyone gets equal treatment

As for entertainment there are 4 TV channels. We came across a few swimming pools, sport complex and quite a number of pple fishing by the river.

Personally I wouldn't want to live there but someone who crave a simpler life by find it good.

It's kind of ironic actually, everything that the Pro-Opposition camp is demanding from our govt, North Korea already has it.
 

Sideswipe

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As usual the stuff we read about the North have been grossly exaggerated. We were given a briefing on the China side, the tour agency boss told us not to talk about politics or the economy.

I took those photo myself I didn't google them. There wasn't much else to take other than those places they showed us. The condition of the country is not as bad as we think. Even the lesser developed area we passed by isn't THAT bad. India is way way worse than what I've seen in North Korea. Here are some pics of things that U probably won't find elsewhere. Pics are blur coz I took some of them from the bus/train


did you explore around on your own or you did all activities in group only ? you were in Kaesong and Pyongyang. anywhere else ? Kaesong and Pyongyang are the best developed North Korean cities. can't really judge the condition of the country accurately based on these two cities.
 

bushtucker

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bro char_azn, when did you visit? i was on the South Korea DMZ on 12th Sep late morning. And i remembered seeing that american lady photographer (in black jacket) on the right side of the american officials.

from what you said, it feels stricter over at the South side with regards to photo taking and carrying bags during the tour. I felt like i was back in NS again (very regimental) when the south korean tour guide said "cannot do this, cannot do that".
 

Char_Azn

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did you explore around on your own or you did all activities in group only ? you were in Kaesong and Pyongyang. anywhere else ? Kaesong and Pyongyang are the best developed North Korean cities. can't really judge the condition of the country accurately based on these two cities.

We did everything with the group, not much time to move around but I came in from the Northern border in China and traveled all the way to the Southern Korean border. We pass by many towns and villages on the way. There was no way they could hide everything. See the pic I posted of the village on the way. Much of the country looks like that. Village with simple houses, no proper concrete roads. The city themselves are pretty OK. There were parts where they had half constructed buildings but otherwise nothing major. The old birds here should know I go to India, A LOT. Frankly speaking even the villages are WAY better than the ones in India.

Pyongyang itself is VERY well maintain. It's streets are clean and the trees and plants are properly maintained. The roads within cities are OK but the highway between cities are pretty bad. Most of the houses in the city are like the one I posted above. Some are newer some are older. U cannot expect them to be like SG where many things the government done for us like repainting every couple of years, keeping streets clean and upgrading old flats are taken for granted. We are the exception, almost no where else in the world does the government do so much for in terms of maintaining the citizen's property. North Korea is no exception and they are no better or worst than most places I've been to. It's not the greatest city I've been to but it's no where near the worst and I've pretty much been around the world.

Seriously A LOT of things we thought we knew about the country is wrong. Let me put it this way, most of the stuff we know about the country is from defectors who run road to the South. Asking them about the condition of the country is like asking the jokers in here about their opinion of PAP. It's always going to be a gross exaggeration of the negative with little to no positive. Yes the country is poor, Yes the country is under a dictatorship and Yes the country is nowhere near as developed as places like SG but there are still positive aspects to the country and it's no where near as bad as I thought it'd be before I got there
 
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Char_Azn

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bro char_azn, when did you visit? i was on the South Korea DMZ on 12th Sep late morning. And i remembered seeing that american lady photographer (in black jacket) on the right side of the american officials.

from what you said, it feels stricter over at the South side with regards to photo taking and carrying bags during the tour. I felt like i was back in NS again (very regimental) when the south korean tour guide said "cannot do this, cannot do that".

lol!!! I was at the border on the 12th also. My tour to the North was from 9th to 13th Sept. Visit to the border was on the 12th. The only place they told us not to take pic was at the DMZ line where they check the tour group documents. Once we cross that and got to the border itself, they didn't stop us from taking any photos
 
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Char_Azn

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The famous Arirang show that features 10,000 performers. This is the finale. The show runs from Aug to Sept. I used my phone to take that so the quality is not that good.

[video=youtube;5nxG16RoDj0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nxG16RoDj0[/video]
 

Vermin

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
The condition of the country is not as bad as we think. Even the lesser developed area we passed by isn't THAT bad. India is way way worse than what I've seen in North Korea. Here are some pics of things that U probably won't find elsewhere. Pics are blur coz I took some of them from the bus/train

Sure? :rolleyes: Google is a very useful tool and digging up dirt on NK is what i used to do. :biggrin:

Google for

gulags in north korea

life in north korea

Like jw5 said, there will be no Bill Clinton in sg to save your ass if one gets gets detention for espionage or for no reason. :biggrin:


 

ginfreely

Alfrescian
Loyal
Thanks for sharing the interesting photos. The street pavement and roads are so wide and clean. I watched a CNA show that day on North korea got fence to separate the locals from the tourist. Don't have? And they say the locals not enough food to eat and always got electricity blackout. Is it true?

Some mythbusting from my tour of North Korea

1)It is hard to get inside, getting a visa is almost impossible

This is so wrong. It was very easy for me to join a Chinese tour to North Korea. I communicated with the Chinese tour agency mainly via Email. I sent them my Passport details to them once I confirm my dates. 1 day before the start of the tour, I went to the tour agency in Dandong to make payment. They got the visa ready the next day and I met them at the office which is next to the train station.

2)Having North Korean stamp on your Passport will make it harder to visit other countries

No stamping of passport for my trip. They just checked your passport and the visa that the tour agency will do for you. They did however kept my passport for just about the entire time I was there

3)No Photographs

As evident from all the picture I posted, this is so wrong. When I was there, the guide only told us not to take photographs of military personal and equipment. Locals are ok but we need to get their permission. At no point during the tour was I stopped from taking photos or my camera checked for undesirable photos

4)They do not allow Ang Moh tourist into the country

I saw quite a few Ang Moh tourist there. All from Europe though

5)North Koreans are hostile towards foreigners

Nope, they were pretty friendly. Even the border guards were very friendly was trying to joke with us with his limited Chinese while he was on the train to check documents



As for North Korean being poor

I think we can't really compare our system with their system

If we compare it this way yes they are pathetically poor. The tour guide was telling us his wage was something like RMB$500 a month. Which is about SGD$100. A Doctor probably earns around RMB$1500(SGD$300) a month

The thing about money there is they virtually do not need to use any money, it's not like they have anywhere to spend it to begin with

Everything is provided by the state

Housing, Healthcare, Education is all FREE.

Need a house, get married and apply for one, U get one in less than 2 months if it's available. They don't need to buy one, in fact, buying/selling a house is illegal

They don't need to buy food, everyone gets a ration card to exchange for food. Food allocation depends on job and size of the individual

Even cigarettes and alcohol is provided.

Electronics are given out as a sort of bonus. They basically work as a group. So for example a group of farmers is given a target of x tons of rice they need to produce a year. If they produce above that amount the team will get a reward of either cash or some other products of their choosing e.g. TV or fridge. Of coz if they save enough money they can buy it on their own

There are virtually no shops. There are only a few "shops" that are operated by the government where they can spend on "luxury" items like electronics product. Basically everything there is operated by the government. It's almost illegal to do business. They can barter goods with each other but not using cash

They have 100% employment rate and no tax. Basically no stress, coz if U work 10 hrs or 1 hr everyone gets equal treatment

As for entertainment there are 4 TV channels. We came across a few swimming pools, sport complex and quite a number of pple fishing by the river.

Personally I wouldn't want to live there but someone who crave a simpler life by find it good.

It's kind of ironic actually, everything that the Pro-Opposition camp is demanding from our govt, North Korea already has it.
 
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SamSeng

Alfrescian
Loyal
Thanks for sharing the interesting photos. The street pavement and roads are so wide and clean. I watched a CNA show that day on North korea got fence to separate the locals from the tourist. Don't have? And they say the locals not enough food to eat and always got electricity blackout. Is it true?

The Defectors from CNA?
 

sukhoi-30

Alfrescian
Loyal
Thanks Char Azn for the pictures.

Yes, I think all the negative news we got to hear from Nkorea are deliberate misinformation by defectors or missionaries, picked gleefully by Skorea conservative media eg Choson Illbo and Western press to tarnish the Nkorean govt and its leaders.

Recently, there was the "news' of Kim Jong Un executing his ex gf by firing squad in front of the whole performancers which she belong. Even Yahoo news cautions about its authencity and Choson Ilbo which carried the news didn't know where the source were, except some 'defectors inside China".Same news about the "execution" of Nkorean 1962 world cup losing football team only to be given an interview by BBC later. It is quite obvious these news are deliberately planted to tarnish the Nkoreans and change public opinion. There were also wild reports of grieving Nkoreans of the death of elder Kim as being forced by gunpoint while those who didn't cried were "executed on the spot". But the taiwanese charity grp Tzu Chi who was in the countryside and Pyongyang doing charity works then on that period described the grieving as genuine without any forcing, and even affecting them emotionally as well. So we know all these negative news were generally make up deliberately falsified stories.


Yes, they are not angels and are a communist dictatorship. They are following traditional hermit kingdom style of the past. But it dun make sense for the govt to mistreat its ppl like what all the news make it out to be.
 
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