One of my bucket list items is to visit North Korea. The closest I've been is in the tunnels near the DMZ but I'd love to be able to witness the hermit kingdom first hand.
I just found this Youtube channel that shows off daily life in Pyongyang. Good to see first hand what life is like.
I really hope that the unification can take place so that I and my family can visit!
I managed to go to NK a few years ago…. its def an experience
Free posters AND a free trip home. What's not to like?
Who did you book the tour through?
We did a private tour through Koryo Tours
So cool, I've seen some footage.
What did it cost and how long did it last?
How does it feel to financially support one of the most corrupt and unethical governments in the world?
I'm sure the amount spent really changed things for everyone in NK.
I have been to many countries that have "questionable" history
Russia
China
Japan
The list goes on, i travel to experience other cultures.
so i guess it feels fine is the answer to your question :)
Questionable history vs currently a deadly dictator is different.
Hands down the worst trip I've ever taken. Fascinating and glad to have done it, but 7 days of being treated to mediocre experiences, constant pushing to buy books/souvenirs/trinkets, being unable to have a conversation with your tour buddies without the minder constantly trying to monitor, and generally seeing that the stuff they're really proud of is really not very good at all… It was… Not great
Thats a very different experience to the one i had.
Saying that i concur about the monitoring etc. We did a private tour so it was just us and a minder. My mate did his tour in a larger group and said he wished he had of done the private tour.
I found the experience really good and eye opening in many ways.
It can only be as eye opening as museum or a theatre play as everything you see is just a show.
I suppose if you've never travelled to a socialist/communist country, you get a glimpse of the tension but that tension is not unique to NK. Wrong choice of words, unflattering photograph, stumbled outside the permitted areas and you're in mortal danger.
Yeah I did it in a small group with 4 buddies of mine. We pretty much got exactly the experience we expected and like I said, super interesting and fascinating to see up close.
I suspect it would have been a better experience if we didn't go for 7 days, but all of us found it really draining by the end of it.
I love the sockpuppet comments on these videos.
It's just propaganda. Many of their "daily lives" and boasts of local inventions and developments are verifiably false.
(I imagine they hired someone off Fiverr and supplied some low FPS files cause apart from stylizing, the actual camera work is shite.)
bout time
If you go after the unification - won't it be just Korea then, so your bucket list item might remain unticked
It's been 30 years and the visual and cultural differences between East and West Germany are still stark.
yeah, but you cannot visit "west germany" now
Neither East Germany.
I’m looking forward to the unification of Melbourne with the rest of Australia…
Place looks spotless
They have to clean a lot, killing dissidents makes quite a mess.
I like the grocery store video which shows what basically looks like what would be a very sparse milk bar for us.
One of our normal woolies supermarkets or costco would literally blow their minds.
Hey, don't knock the grocery store. They worked hard gathering the city's supplies for that shot.
Cultural values differ.
Some people live to shop as much as they can and others shop as little as they need to, to live.
Just different.
I'd be interested to know what NK has told their citizens about COVID-19 and the narrative they're using. I can imagine it would be something around showing how superior NK is compared to other flailing nations etc.
It is an attempt by the Imperialists to destabilize the great and prosperous kingdom of the one true Korea. Through the strategic genius of our beloved Supreme Leader, we have thwarted the cunning introduction of this evil virus.
The Supreme Leader devised the most genius plan to catch the Imperialists swine in action. Because of the danger of the barbaric disease, the beloved leader personally handled the inferior infiltrators. It is said that the glorious leader was infected but fought off the virus in as little as three hours thanks to his pure Mt Paektu lineage.
Comrades, through our magnificent victory we must now prepare for further Imperialist attempts at the astounding leader to steal the secrets contained within his superior blood. Our own esteemed scientists have confirmed that with the blood and the medical advise of the wise leader, we will create a vaccine and thus secure our righteous nation forever.
Long live Supreme Leader Kim!
You think the media here and around other countries is any better than what North Korea would be saying. We have fear mongering to the absolute max. Almost everyone has no idea what it's like to live life over there, only what the corrupt media shows us. We have a completely biased point of view because we only see one point of view. If they weren't a threat to the US and the other countries who are behind them, I'm sure you'd see a very different perspective of North Korea.
If you lobby the US ideology in allowing Nations to prosper and grow in a way they feel is conducive to their own particular credo, rather than roaming the world blowing up lands, stealing oil, stealing technology, murdering, usurping, and the rest, then I think you have a chance to one day visit NK
My buddy has a YouTube account where he shortened his name a fair bit. Unfortunately it sounds very much like what you would choose if you wanted to have an 'official' NK channel. Man, he gets some weird offers.
They're so ronery.