Travels inside the secret state of North Korea
London photographer Michal Huniewicz risked detention in 2016 when he sneaked images of North Korea leader Kim Jong-Il's secret state back home with him.
Mr Huniewicz had been traveling to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. His work has featured in Outside Magazine, the Telegraph, Stern, Metro, and the Travel Stories.
Through his series, "Road to North Korea," covering his journey from China to Pyongyang and "Ostensibly Ordinary: Pyongyang," Michal shares his pictures and words charting his experiences within North Korea’s closed society.
"China borders North Korea on the Yalu River. That's one way to get a taste of North Korea if you have not obtained a visa (also, the only way if you're South Korean - South Koreans cannot get the visa at all). You take a boat that even takes a detour into a distributary with North Korean soil on both sides."
"The Chinese city where you get to do that is called Dandong. I read somewhere it was the most humane of Chinese cities, most having become a polluted nightmare these days... In Dandong, a statue of Mao stands, helplessly witnessing the transition to capitalism all around him, as he keeps pointing with desperation."
"For it is China now that plays the role of North Korea's master. In Dear Leader, one of the best non-fiction books on North Korea I've read, the author recalls how even the great leader Kim Jong-il was once summoned and humiliated by the Chinese (for saying North Korea might be selling weapons to Taiwan). The difference between the two ｃountries in terms of wealth is staggering, as this photo demonstrates. Update: Many people have pointed out to me that I may have exaggerated the influence China has on North Korea, as North Korean trade partners are more diverse than official records would suggest."
"The Yalu River Broken Bridge — named so after the Americans destroyed it during the Korean War. It no longer reaches the North Korean shore."
"This is where you board your train to North Korea. It then slowly moves across the [new] bridge, into North Korea, where a major customs check occurs."
"At this point, you must already have your North Korean visa issued. Your visit has been approved by the Party, and you have designated guides assigned. And here's a North Korean customs declaration form. We only got one for the whole group, and, outsmarted by the rest of us, I was forced to fill it in. It mentions GPS. My camera doesn't provide geotagging, but it does have a GPS entry in the menu, in case I'd like to attach a GPS unit. When a North Korean customs officer saw that in the camera menu, she grew very suspicious of my camera and wouldn't let go of it, even though every time she left our carriage (the checks on your way in are done inside the train) we tried to hide it in various places. "
"I forgot to mention — you're not allowed to take pictures from the train. There are ordinary North Koreans on the train with you, but they didn't say anything when I took these pictures. There are also uniformed North Koreans, and I avoided taking pictures when they were around. It was very much like a stealth video game. However, if they do catch you, they will probably just get upset and have you ｄelete the photo."
"Pluralism and individualism are regarded as the greatest enemy. I understood the significance of being able to drive a car anywhere you want, when you please, where you please - as our guide told us in North Korea you only travel big distances by bus or train, when you get permission."
"After the Korean War, North Korea was economically a more attractive destination than South Korea, and many people, including 100,000 ethnic Koreans from Japan, were welcomed into North Korea."
"This was one of the strangest moments - when we finally arrived in Pyongyang. Through the curtains of the compartment window, we looked at a surreal scene that appeared like something out of a theater in its perfection and artifice. Elegant men, beautiful women, walking in a simulated hurry, travelers without a reason (ours was the only train that day), all to impress us and so that the station doesn't look empty. We arrived in North Korea."
"A few steps on the platform and we were intercepted by our two guides, who wouldn't leave us until the end of the stay, except sometimes in the hotel. As you leave the train station, Pyongyang seems like an ordinary city, although quite extraordinarily clean and not very loud or busy."
"They didn't let us walk anywhere - within maybe a minute or two from leaving the train we were all squeezed into a minivan that would be our second home for the entire stay. As you can see, it's now OK to take your smartphone with you, although there will be no reception and no wifi anywhere. Your phone will be thoroughly searched on your way out."
"You have to be fast. Soon we noticed that while Pyongyang is meant to be a utopian showcase for foreign visitors like ourselves, there are more glamorous bits, and there are less glamorous bits. What's more, our mute driver was perfectly aware of this, so he would conveniently slow down whenever the surroundings were impressive, and speed up whenever they were less pleasant, to make them more difficult to photograph. One of us said that taking photos in North Korea was therefore like Olympic archery."
"The Koryo hotel, which was supposedly on fire quite recently, is where you will stay if you are Chinese - the Chinese are given a lot more freedom than anyone else. The hotel is in the city center, and the tourists staying there can walk around the block on their own, and get away with crossing the streets (although it's officially not allowed). On the right, the Ryugyong, aka the Hotel of Doom. The 330-m-tall building stands largely empty, as North Korea doesn't have the funds to finish its construction (started in 1987)."
"Non-Chinese will be staying in the Yanggakdo Hotel, which happens to be located on an island. I believe I read somewhere (Pyongyang comic book?) that you used to be able to leave the hotel and walk around the island freely, but that's no longer the case. You can leave the building and walk the small area in front of the entrance between the hotel and the parking lot (literally 5 meters by 20 meters)."
Update: It has been brought to my attention that, at least historically, non-Chinese foreigners were allowed to stay in hotels other than Yangakkdo."
"Before entering North Korea we were told by our Chinese guide (who did not enter North Korea with us) what would happen if you decided to ignore the limitations and take a stroll outside of the allowed area. Provided they don't stop you immediately, you'd be arrested, threatened, and then forced to pay in order to be released (the person who actually did do it had to pay $10,000). If you are American, all bets are off though."
"We could not leave the hotel area without our guides. She was clearly the good cop, and even sang a song for us. He was the bad cop, and we reasoned he must have had some military authority, as soldiers would salute him upon inspecting his papers. His voice would tell us to go to sleep and wake us up with a morning call."
"The rumor is, the fifth floor of the hotel is entirely dedicated to the surveillance of the guests. Some people managed to visit it (the door is usually closed when you take the stairs), so it's worth googling."
"The waitresses serving us often seemed a little terrified. This was our first night in North Korea. We dined in the hotel's basement, in a small room, debating whether it was bugged, and wondering whether we could trust one another (the whole group was 7 people).
And then this awkward moment happened in the hotel. Suddenly, the bad cop shows up. We all go silent. 'You want to know the one, most important rule of being in North Korea? The number one rule?' We go, 'Uh, yeah, sure.' Waitress interrupts him, whispers something, he excuses himself, disappears for two minutes, comes back. 'All right, breakfast's at eight,' begins to walk away. 'Excuse me, you said something about the most important rule...?' 'The most important rule? Ha ha,' hollow laughter, becomes totally serious. Then walks away looking indifferent."
"The city center also has these colorful skyscrapers, unlike any other buildings I've seen. Various bits of infrastructure, like the bridge, look seriously neglected though."
"Blaine Harden, in his book about the only known prisoner to have successfully escaped from a "total-control zone" grade internment camp in North Korea, Shin Dong-hyuk, writes that the Kim family dynasty has failed to build or maintain a reliable national electricity grid, even though the mountains of North Korea are crisscrossed with swift, large and small rivers. Prior to the partition, 90% of the electricity on the Korean Peninsula came from the North. Although Pyongyang has two power stations, the electricity supply is in a perpetual state of emergency. Neither power station produces enough power to supply more than one district at a time. What does that mean for the Yanggakdo Hotel rotating restaurant? It only rotates very rarely!"
"It seems that everyone living in Pyongyang has to wear a badge, and you cannot just buy it. Supposedly they may give it to you if you're obedient and don't ask stupid questions - or you can buy a ｃounterfeit one in China."
"Since South Korea is no longer providing fertilizer, North Koreans are charged with collecting their feces in winter for spring planting. This is used to produce toibee, a fertilizer in which ash is mixed with human excrement. Factories and public enterprises have been ordered to produce two tons of toibee."
"In North Korea, there are places you can visit and places you cannot visit, and the latter are far more numerous. Well, this is one of them. Usually, we were accompanied by our guides, one in the front, one in the back. But at one point they were both in the front, which allowed for a literally 15-second long detour into this ordinary shop for North Koreans, before being kicked out by the bad cop, and the atmosphere became rather unpleasant. I'm not sure if he saw me taking pictures."
Article Source: http://www.msn.com/en-ph/travel/news/travels-inside-the-secret-state-of-north-korea/ss-AAmjU4T?li=BBr8Mkn&ocid=iehp#image=1
Image Source: http://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAmbi9i.img?h=373&w=624&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f&x=1429&y=1686
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Detour (n.) ~ a long or roundabout route taken to avoid something or to visit somewhere along the way
2. Humiliated (adj.) ~ feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and self-respect, especially publicly
3. Surreal (adj.) ~ having the qualities of surrealism bizarre
4. Utopian (adj.) ~ modeled on or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect idealistic
5. Stroll (v.) ~ walk in a leisurely way
6. Perpetual (adj.) ~ never ending or changing
7. Neglected (adj.) ~ suffering a lack of proper care
8. Counterfeit (adj.) ~ made in exact imitation of something valuable or important with the intention to deceive or defraud
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Is it true that South Koreans can't get a VISA to North Korea? What is the reason for that?
2. Is visiting North Korea interesting for you? Discuss your answer.
3. Based on the excerpts above, what is the general mood of the trip?
