Myton Sixth Form student Louis Edwards spent five days in North Korea recently and has been kind enough to share his experience with us here.
“An experience I will never forget for as long as I live. I could travel the world and never have another experience like North Korea. Flying on the national airline, Air Koryo, there was a lot of tension between the tourists, and no one knew what to expect. If you were lucky to sit by the window, as I was, everything you saw was fascinating.
This was my first time in Asia and when I was in China I experienced culture shocks, but not to the same extent as it was in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Everything is different, with few similarities between western culture and the life of the people in North Korea. How many western cities can say they have a city-wide tannoy system which plays music to ensure everyone is up in the morning together with a mausoleum of their dead leaders?
Visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun which is the mausoleum of former North Korean leader Kim il Sung and Kim Jong il was one of the most intense parts of the trip as we were under constant scrutiny and couldn’t even walk on the travellators! This mausoleum shows how highly the leaders are praised by their people and countries around the world and even Derbyshire County Council!
The ideology in North Korea isn’t subtle. As a tourist it is blasted in your face 24/7 on the streets, TV and everywhere you visit. Propaganda is rampant and at first I wasn’t surprised by this as I am a history student and expected it in a country such as North Korea; however then you see the brutality of it. It is clear that there is no censorship in the propaganda department. This didn’t stop me picking up a few hand painted posters when I was at the DMZ which, by the way, would set you back €30 per poster but the quality is amazing. The propaganda was even in schools! Children’s cartoon characters riding around in tanks, and posters in schools displaying a clear hatred of the USA and western culture.
However, the first time we made any sort of connection with the people in North Korea was in a primary school. One stand out moment for me was being demolished by a seven-year-old girl at table tennis, which put me in my place when it comes to my table tennis abilities.
It may seem strange to say but it wasn’t all anti-US propaganda and ALL HAIL THE SUPREME LEADER!! Some of the country is very beautiful, and as a mountainous country some of the views were stunning and can beat some of the amazing views I saw in New Zealand literally weeks before. The people were generally very friendly and the few people we came into contact with seemed pleased to meet us. My guides were very open and kind and would answer any queries or questions and try and make us as comfortable as possible. As a vegetarian, they ensured that I got the right food at every meal which had initially been a big worry but the food itself was amazing. I had noodles which I never knew existed: black noodles or glass noodles that, when not cooked by myself, tasted amazing, and endless Kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage). Each meal was rounded off by the singing of the same song by our waitresses called ‘Pangapsuminda’ which translates into English as ‘Nice to meet you’, an annoyingly catchy song which has been stuck in my head ever since.
Karaoke is a big part of any eastern Asian culture, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when they asked us to do a few songs. The stand out performances would have been Lady in Red and September sang by other members of our tour. I think that, had I got up to sing, Simon Cowell would have been on the first plane to Pyongyang to tell me I sound like dying cats. On the final day, standing on top of the Juche Tower (the tower of ideals) in the centre of Pyongyang and looking out over the city and the surrounding country, it was hard not to feel sadness for the people who live in a country where their lives and thoughts have been dictated by one family for so long. It makes me grateful for the country and society we live in. Things we take for granted such as democracy and free will are looked upon in a new light after a visit to North Korea and I am so pleased that I got to go and see such a fascinating country.”
