Village of Joy

KEY FACTS

Location:

Capital: Pyongyang

Population: 23,301,725 (48th, 2007 est.)

GDP: Per capita: $1,900 (147th, 2007 est.)

14 Interesting Facts about North Korea:

1. You can’t turn off the government radio installed in your home, only reduce the volume.

2. Idolatry in North Korea is such that it is second-nature for ordinary citizens to “rescue” portraits of Kim Il Sung before all else in the case of a house fire (there are even special bunkers for statues in case of war)

3. Many people don’t even know that man has walked on the moon.

4. There is no Internet, cell-phones have been banned.

5. A main cause for all problems are Americans. Mothers teach their children to sing songs about bad Americans, there are many postage stamps showing the death of “U.S imperialists”

6. A six-day work week, and another day of enforced “volunteer” work, ensures that the average citizen has virtually no free time.

7. The very first thing you do when you visit North Korea’s capital Pyongyang is visit and give a flower to a big statue of “Dear Leader”.

8. About 0.85% of the population are held in prison or detention camps.

9. Most traffic control is performed by female traffic directors (reportedly handpicked by Kim Jong-Il for their beauty), as the lights are switched off to save electricity.

10. Dogs are banned in Pyongyang to keep it clean.

11. Avarage wage in 2005 was 6$ (source: www.gluckman.com/NKFEER.html)

12. Visitors of North Korea are given special guides and can’t go anywhere without them.

13. North Koreans are used to often disappearing electricity and have many candles prepared.

14. North Korea has the fourth-largest military in the world, at an estimated 1.21 million armed personnel

Some call it “the Darkest Spot in the World”, “the Ghost City”, or “the Hermit Kingdom”. If you happen to visit North Korea’s capital Pyongyang at first you might think that it’s not as poor as the press writes, everybody is well-dressed and everything is extremely clean, even a bit too much. Only later you would get to learn more about the reality behind that big facade that they are showing to foreigners. Special well-dressed people hired to walk in the underground stations, looking happy and smiling all the time, special shops filled with fruits and other goodies, fake buildings near the wall with South Korea to show off to their southern brothers - this is how they want us to see them.

(This is the “Propaganda Village” seen from the South Korea’s side. It is propaganda, because nobody actualy lives here, it’s only facade buildings to show off to South Korean’s. You can also see there is the biggest flag in the world. The buildings around have huge broadcasting speakers that, every day for 6 to 12 hours pump out propaganda and messages praising how wonderful life is in the North Korea.)

(An article about North Korea can’t be without the picture of Kim Il Sung, the “Dear Leader”. This is a statue for him in all his beauty which stands 20 meters tall)

North Korea is now ruled by Kim Il Sung’s succesor Kim Jong-il a.k.a. the “Dear Leader”. And he’s not just a simple ruler, he is a god here. When a foreign doctor once came to North Korea to heal the blinded people from cataract, he must have been amazed by the fact that when he had healed those blind people, they didn’t come to thank him, but instead, they started praising the Dear leader like insane for getting their sight back. They were extremely happy that they could finally see the picture of their Dear leader. It is hard to tell whether they are so brain-washed or they are acting like that because of fear.

(One of the guides that are given to every North Korea visitor. She’s cute, must be selected from hundreds of candidates)

(A nice view of Pyongyang)

(Wide streets without any traffic is a common thing in North Korea. A road to nowhere?)

(This is how North Korea looks from the space - a dark spot of the world. It also shows what is the difference between communism and capitalism as South Korea is very well lit.“Except for my wife and family, that is my favorite photo,” once said Secretary Rumsfeld. Some people joke, that they must be the greenest, most eco-friendly country on the planet and every nation should follow their example. Oh and by the way, that one and only little white spot in North Korea is Pyongyang.)

(Must be a busy day for a traffic lady.)

(Typical buildings of Pyongyang and a HUGE amount of cars in one place, and almost all of them are old Mercedes. Notice that the streets is still empty.)

(Usual propaganda in North Korea - children killing U.S troops.)

(Just regular children, with their parents at the station. When photographer wanted to make a picture, the children saluted spontaneously. And the boy is dressed in a military uniform, probably ready to fight against U.S imperialists.)

(A game in a funfair - I believe it is shooting and I guess you win a statue of Dear Leader if you shoot right into U.S imperialist’s chest)

(This is how Pyongyang looks like when there is some kind of celebration, there are thousands of people, 99% this is a birthday of “Dear Leader”)

(Mass games or mass gymnastics are regularly performed only in North Korea, where they take place to celebrate national holidays such as the birthdays of rulers Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. There are tens of thousands of performers taking part in this highly regimented performance. The show looks really amazing, and the big picture in the background is not LED, LCD or PLASMA screen - it is made by thousands of schoolchildren changing cards in their hands, and the picture is even animated).

If you want to get a feel of what it’s like to live in North Korea you should definitely watch this movie:

Inside Undercover in North Korea

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_korea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kijong-dong

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/24766-comic-possibilities-of-North-Korea/?rel=inf

Pictures:

[yeogigeogi] [Matthijs Gall] [stephan] [Lex Luthor 1] [hungry_i] [ninjawil]