An American journalist decided to take a trip to North Korea, the very controversial place you’ve probably seen in the news a lot in recent times. Here’s some things he discovered whilst there…
1) The leaders are a really really really really REALLY big deal there.
To be honest, this isn’t a strong enough statement. They’re absolutely everything over there. The citizens of North Korea basically worship them religiously (whether this is because they want to or because they have to is a controversial topic), and if the leaders, past and present, are shown disrespect, you can be punished very severely.
2) People tell lies A LOT.
This is also an understatement. The government don’t allow western movies and internet access because they don’t want the Korean citizens to have a “unfair critical view” towards the western countries, and they want to protect the west’s reputation.
“We met a soldier at one point we were told was a colonel, and after he left, a retired army major on my tour told me that he had studied North Korean army uniforms and that the soldier was in fact a captain.
Facts are not a key part of the equation in North Korea.
And it can really mess with your mind as a visitor. I’d find myself in these perplexing situations trying to figure out if a lie-spouting North Korean was in on it or not. Was she thinking, “I know this is false, you know this is false, but I live here so I gotta play the game”? Or was she fully brainwashed and thought she was telling me the truth? It was impossible to tell. During interactions, I’d find myself thinking, “Are you an actor in The Truman Show and you think I’m Truman? Or are you Truman and I’m one of the actors?” Are those kids on the street just pretending to be playing for my benefit? Is any of this real? Am I real?”
3) Apparently these tears are real?
The journalist that took the trip had some very interesting words to say about this video.
“I’m not sure if they’re all real, or if some people are crying because if they don’t they’ll be sent to a labor camp for the rest of their lives. But I had assumed they were basically all faking that level of emotion, an assumption that was debunked when I heard this story:
A New Zealander who worked for the tour company that arranged my tour told me that he was meeting with an employee of the North Korean government’s tourism agency outside North Korea (one of the rare times you’ll ever see a North Korean outside the country), when the news of Kim Jong Il’s death came in. He said the man, at the time, was trying to sign something with a pen, and that his hand was shaking so violently that he couldn’t do it. The man then tore away to the other room, and emerged a couple hours later, face swollen and eyes red. This was a man outside of North Korea with no reason to fake emotion.
A brutal, heartless totalitarian dictator has to play quite the mind tricks on his people to be truly be loved.”
North Korea is a perplexing place, and this is based on the things the government WANT you to see.
Photos from the visit are here.
