UPFRONT
COVER STORY
Welcome to
Pyongyang Inside The
Hermit Kingdom Nyima Pratten
Last month, we went to compete in the second Pyongyang Marathon to be opened up to foreign, amateur runners. Our tour company, Uri Tours, chartered an Air Koryo flight to take visitors directly from Shanghai to the insular capital of North Korea. We chose a three-day trip, which took in sights from around the city, running a 10k, half marathon or full marathon and a visit to the Demilitarised Zone in Panmunjom.
A
s we gathered at Pudong Airport prior to the departure of our midnight flight, an Uri Tours guide handed out our DPRK Visas as we met the rest of the tour group with whom we would be spending the next few days. Although we had attended a welcome dinner at a North Korean restaurant in Shanghai the night before, this was the first time we had connected as a group, and the atmosphere was electric. Obtaining our DPRK visas had been relatively straightforward and all completed online, through Uri Tours’ website – we were even able to view each step of the process through their online portal. There was a feeling of excitement, and trepidation, as we caught our first glimpse of the Air Koryo flight, a dated Antonov An-148 airplane, from the airport transit bus. Even some of the Pudong Airport ground staff crowded
TalkMagazine
May15
around the airplane to take a closer look, as it was a sight rarely seen on the busy Shanghai runway. The flight ran smoothly, with pleasant, English speaking, welldressed flight attendants, and we were all handed a very weighty food tray during the journey. We also experienced our first taste of North Korean media in the form of the DPRK Magazine, Pyongyang Times, and being blasted with the latest patriotic tunes, sung by attractive looking women, on the flip down television monitors. We arrived in Pyongyang during the early hours of the morning, before the sun had risen. After we exited customs, and were welcomed by our DPRK tour agency, we boarded the bus to Yanggakdo Hotel. The dark roads were devoid of vehicles at this time of day, but as we got closer to the city centre, we could see famous monuments spot lit and the outlines of pedestrians or cyclists who were beginning their daily routines.
After a few hours rest, we began our first day by paying our respects at Mansudae Grand Monuments, 22.5 metre bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il along with depictions of the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Struggle and the Socialist Revolution. The statues were impressive, and the grounds were full of wedding parties, all paying their respect to the “Dear Leaders” straight after their ceremonies. We were expected to show our own admiration by bowing and laying wreaths of flowers, although, even at the tour guide’s insistence, only one member of our group bought the required garland. Our next stop was to Kim Il Sung Square, which was covered in permanent, painted white dots, to mark the positions of mass demonstration participants. The square was filled with unaccompanied young children, running home after their half day of school. Apparently, there is no crime in North Korea, and our tour guide
almost had a breakdown when one of her guest’s bags appeared to have been stolen (in the end, the guest discovered that he had just misplaced his bag after a night on the local beer). As a result, children are free to wander around the city on their own during the six-day school week, consisting of a half day at school and afternoons of extra curricular activities. Our guide told us how she learned to speak English in the isolated state by listening to recordings and movies at her university’s library when she was a student. Her eyes lit up when she talked about Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Shark Tale being her favourite movies. From there, we walked over to the Foreign Languages Bookshop, where we were able to pick up English language North Korean books, the Pyongyang Times and painted propaganda posters, amongst other things. On our way back to the bus, we spotted our first Pyongyang traffic controller, carrying out her duties with impeccable style, flair and attention to detail in her precise and,