Saying nice things about North Korea

" When you return home please say nice things about North Korea to your friends and relatives , " Madam Lee our North Korean tour guide implored as she bade us goodbye at the airport , and my heart ached . ********************************************************************* The North Korean trip almost didn't come about . I was in the North West of China chasing the Big Buddha Statues when I chanced to talk to our HK tour guide about North Korea tours which had been suspended for a few years." But the tour's back on, " he said , " and if you go in the first week of May you might catch the annual Flower Show which features the Kim ll Sung and Kim Jong il flowers " Unfortunately the tour was scheduled for the second week of May and I never got to see the Great Leaders' flowers. ********************************************************************** Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the easiest ( and for South Koreans the only ) way to enter North Korea is through China. Boarding the plane at Shenyang Airport bound for Pyongyang I ran into hordes of Koreans . The North Koreans were all officials returning home after visits in China , distinguished by their Kim ll Sung lapel pins and closed faces, while most of the South Koreans appeared to be missionaries en route to a religious convention in North Korea . *********************************************************************** " Golly ! " I was astonished, " Is that allowed ? " Yes, the smiling clergies assured me, in fact there's been regular meetings between the men of cloth from both sides for the past few years , but of course all meetings had to be held in North Korea, as the Northerners are not permitted to go to the South . This encounter proved to be just the first of many surprises North Korea unfolded . Apart from our party, all the Chinese on the plane were businessmen bent on making a buck in North Korea . I wasted no time in pumping them for information. " What's it like to do business with the North Koreans ?" Easy ! they said . " What ! No bribes ? No under-table dealings ? No wine and dine the officials? " My eyes were wide as saucers . Nope, they replied snugly, they like your product then it's a sale . North Korea's so short of everything almost anything you bring in, they want . There were exhibition fairs every week on different merchandise, and for that particular week it was medical supplies . I remembered the boxes of Penicillin and medical instruments at the airport terminal. Apparently North Korea is one of the best kept secrets of business opportunities ! ************************************************************************ I was intrigued by a couple of agricultural scientists . " What exactly is it that you sell to the North Koreans ?" Well, American technology on improving grain stock and production. The Americans won't teach it to them so we learn from the Americans and then we teach them ! ********************************************************************** Hmmm........What would the world do without the Chinese ? *********************************************************************** Pyongyang's the quintessential showcase city . It's neat and clean , the buildings well maintained , the streets wide and the roads good . While there's no trace of luxury to be seen, there's no sign of poverty either : the dirt and tattered clothing , the gaunt listlessness born of deprivation so evident in India and rural China. The people though mostly in somber colors, were well dressed , clean and well nourished . ********************************************************************** Coming from busy bustling Hong Kong the immediate strangeness one experienced on arrival in Pyongyang was the eerie quietness of the city. There's very little traffic as most people commute by public transport ( buses, trams and underground ), private cars were few and totally banned from roads on Sundays to save energy . Apart from the rush hour when people travel to and fro from work , the streets were almost deserted. The locals when they're about mostly walked in stony silence, rarely did I catch them talking to each other in muted voices. *********************************************************************** Energy saving seemed high on the agenda .Though all the intersections were fitted with perfect sets of traffic lights , they were only in use when there's visits from dignitaries . The everyday traffic was directed by young and pretty ( mostly female ) traffic police which had become a hallmark of North Korea , and was considered one of the tourist attractions. In all museums and hotels that we went to , intelligent lighting was installed in all rooms, corridors , even escalators and lifts , which flipped on and off in response to people movement , in a bid to conserve energy . There were few street lights and the whole city sank into darkness after sunset . If only all countries would follow suit and the world might see much less energy crises ! All these measures however did not stall off power cuts which we experienced 3 times during our short stay, and gave some credence to the North Korean claim that the development of nuclear power was ( at least in parts ) for energy . ********************************************************************* All tours into North Korea had to go through the State Tourist Agency , even for single traveler ; and tour guides were imposed on the tourists by the Agency with no exception . The tour guides we were assigned with were Madam Lee , an experienced guide fluent in Mandarin , and Mr Kim , a younger guy who's supposedly still in training . We were warned by our Hong Kong tour company to stay off sensitive topics and not to take pictures of the locals. *********************************************************************** I smiled, obviously they didn't know me ! *********************************************************************** I broke the ice by interrogating the tour guides about their personal life . Madam Lee was 50 , a college graduate in language and history, married with 2 grown up children who though already working, still lived with her. It was fortunate that one of the children was a boy, or she'd hear no end of it from her mother-in-law who lived with the family and ruled the house . Mr Kim was 37, and also only had 2 kids despite the push from the State to have a larger family . Apparently in the cities most families stopped at 2-3 kids, but in the countryside they might have a couple more . After the famine, the population stood at 20,000,000 ( the population of Taiwan ) , and the North Korean Government's been desperately trying to step up population growth . *********************************************************************** " I heard that Korean men boss over their women , is it true ?" I teased Mr Kim . Not true ! He shook his head sadly, at least not in his household . In accordance with Confucianism teaching , seniority of age was bestowed with paramount respect and filial piety was the inherent duty, so in any family conference the oldest member, usually the mother / mother-in-law, had the last say . The North Korean family's extremely close- knit and the emotional tie strong, so by regarding Kim ll Sung as their father or grandfather to their children, they'd in fact symbolically given their Great Leader their ultimate affection and deference . ****************************************************************** Because family's so central to Korean culture, nearly everybody's married in North Korea . While the young people had free choice in courtship , parental consent was still the final deciding factor . " Do you've teenage pregnancies here ?" I was curious . Of course not ! Well, at least not much ; which wasn't so unbelievable as everyone seemed to know everyone else , the tight family unit and the community surveillance network probably made teenage sexual rendezvous near impossible ." What do young people do for fun after school ?" Well, after school they study more, either at home or in tutorial classes , I was told solemnly. " Do they go to the pictures ?" I bit my tongue before I finished the question : there are no cinemas that I could see in Pyongyang, only a Grand Theatre ! I hurriedly changed the question, "Do they get together for parties, you know , singing or dancing ? " Well , they could learn musical instruments or Korean folk dance, there're free classes in the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace , they could also learn sports there if they liked sports . I kind of gave up that line of questioning there and then. ********************************************************************* We visited the Schoolchildren's Palace and it was such a joy to see real children again ! Compared with kids in westernized countries where they're essentially miniature adults and loaded with notions and desires well beyond their years, these kids were naive, unaffected , unspoiled and unpolluted , and I just adored them ! We were taken to see the painting and embroidery classes where all the students' works were on sale to bolster funding of the school . I gladly bought 2 pieces of embroidery, one of which now adorns my office wall . In the musical classes we were treated to some beautiful Korean folk songs , but in the computer class I was indignant . " How come there are no girls in the computer class ? " I asked accusingly. Madam Lee drew me to one side and whispered conspiratorially : "Our country needs more babies and the computer might damage the reproductive organs of the girls, that's why they're kept away ! " For once I was stunned into silence ! *********************************************************************** While touring the The Monument to Party Founding I spotted a group of schoolgirls at a bus stop at the far end of the square . I'm a pretty good 50m sprinter and I was 3/4 way across the square when I heard Madam Lee shout after me to stop . Out of the corner of my eye I saw her and Mr Kim exchanged glances then shook their heads in resignation . I chatted with the girls for a little bit then took some pictures with them . The day we visited Fountain Park it was filled with wedding couples , many graciously agreed to have their pictures taken with us. So went the myth about never taking pictures of the locals ! *********************************************************************** After the initial warm up, I slowly edged towards the social and political questions . *********************************************************************** As in all communist countries North Korea has full employment . " What happens when a person's sick and can't work ?" For people medically certificated to be sick or handicapped , they're exempted from work and given a pension. But when they recover they're expected to join the workforce again ." Can people choose what they want to do ?" Yes, but they're given an aptitude test so the State can pick the right person for the right job. " What happens if a person's lazy or not doing his job properly ?" His superior would talk to him and try to educate him , but such cases are rare because all North Koreans love their country and want to serve their country as best as they can . " What's the incentive to do well ?" For people who had significant contributions to the country, e.g. scientists , they'd be rewarded with perhaps a car or a nicer apartment, but the rewards were not theirs to keep, only to use during their time of service . ********************************************************************** With great deliberation I moved on to the central issues : "What happens with people who don't agree with the Government policies ? " Disagreements can be worked out and a final compromise reached ." Can people publish dissenting viewpoints ? " That's a non issue because nobody would read them here !" Are there political prisoners in North Korea ? " "Maybe, but not many ." I sensed a little displeasure from Madam Lee ." North Korea has received a lot of bad press, all that I've learnt about North Korea were from books written by dissenters who've left the country. Why doesn't North Korea clear the rumors by coming out and telling the world the true story ?" "Because we've got too much else to worry about right now ! " Madam Lee almost snapped at me . She stopped to recompose herself, then continued ," We don't care about what the world thinks of us, we only care about how our people are living. Food is the main concern with us. We've to make sure our people have enough to eat and we don't have time for anything else , nothing is more important than this . Every North Korean's a farmer, during plantation and harvest times , all schools and offices are closed in the cities and everyone goes down to the farms to help. We're humans too and we appreciate comfort and an easy life just like any other people, but our country's going through a hard time right now and we can't be thinking of ourselves . "I'd hit a nerve and decided to back off . ********************************************************************** Both Madam Lee and Mr Kim had made multiple trips to China. " What's your impression of China and what do you think about the changes there since the market reform ?" Madam Lee spoke cautiously, "Of course there's progress economically, but there are problems that came of it that we wouldn't like to see happening in our country, that's why we want to change slowly in an orderly fashion." *********************************************************************** Mr Kim's more jaunty and more open when Madam Lee's out of earshot , so I cornered him one day while Madam Lee was busy arranging our schedules ." Is there corruption in the Government ?" "There might be but I shouldn't think very much ." Mr Kim said after a brief consideration. "The administrative authorities are made up of many different sections with built-in check and balance, it'd be difficult to get away with large scale corruption ." He looked me straight in the eye . " I'm not saying our system's perfect, there's no perfect system in the world. Can anyone honestly say there's absolutely no corruption in the American Government ?"" What about nepotism ? If there's a good position that, say, the nephew of a high ranking official wants, would he get it over some other more deserving people ?" "Unlikely, because for any Government position the applicants have to first sit an exam, then be interviewed by a panel of people from different sections , and it'd be difficult to get all of them to agree ." Come to think of it, even in the small Clinic where I work favoritism and unfairness abound ! Maybe we shouldn't demand standards from others that we cannot attain ourselves . *********************************************************************** I was very impressed by our North Korean tour guides, they were well trained , friendly and helpful, and obviously coaxed with model answers to all questions, but there's also a prevalent feeling they did actually believe in what they said . Notwithstanding the seeming openness, there's one topic even I didn't dare broach : the Kim Jong il extravaganza ! ********************************************************************* The Korean guides were particularly attentive to our meals, which were adequate but for some reason, always cold. " The North Koreans like their food cold " Mr Kim said, then made a joke : " A South Korean Spy sneaked into N Korea and was doing quite well until he made the mistake of asking for a hot meal! " To this day I'm still not sure whether they really like cold rice or if it's just a pretext because of fuel shortage . ******************************************************************* Unification was one topic Madam Lee and Mr Kim were both most enthused about ."Certainly it's the ardent yearning of both North and South Korean people for reunification, the Korean people's one family , it's the Americans who's making difficulties and trying to stop the process ! "" But if you look at the reunification of East and West Germany, it's brought out a lot of problems ; besides, would you be worried that your young people might be seduced by the Western glitters and change their values ?" I was worried for them. "That's why we want to go slow and assimilate gradually, the reunification could be a process that might take 10 or even more years to complete, but we still have to start somewhere . " ********************************************************************** The echo of the wound inflicted by the forced division of their country rang deep in the psyche of the North Koreans and was most evident when we visited the War Museum and Panmunjom , the Demilitarized Zone. As an armistice and not a peace treaty was signed in 1953 , the 2 Korean countries are technically still at war to this day. " You know, my father actually served in the Korean War, " I told the young Museum guide . "Our country thanks your father," and she bowed . " But he wasn't in the front line," I hastily added, " he was an interpreter in the interrogation of the captured American GIs " . "No matter, he came so he's our friend ." Many Chinese did come , and it's estimated that at least half a million Chinese volunteer fighters died in the Korean War , including the eldest son of Mao Zedong . ********************************************************************** Visitors to North Korea all had different agendas . A young Indian guy from Delhi was travelling alone, it turned out he was a student in Business Studies in Beijing , and his thesis was on North Korea. Two Italians from Milan came to assess business opportunities, Italy being the first major Western country to open ties with North Korea . The English and Scottish couples I met in our hotel were retired folks, they came to verify what they'd read about North Korea. The verdict for the experience was " surreal " but they nevertheless enjoyed their stay. *********************************************************************** A woman in our group was a reporter for a HK magazine of somewhat disrepute. I read her piece after we got back : it was shallow, cliche and bigoted, full of preconceived prejudicial ideas which did nothing but reinforce the stereotypical narrow precepts of the North Korean People . This was perhaps not surprising, as in the whole trip she asked less than 6 questions , in contrast to the 600 I hurled at anyone who would talk to me. It's as though she's already formulated her ideas of the country even before she came ! One time while I was talking to some schoolgirls, she rushed up and started talking to them in Mandarin . I glared at her. They might look Chinese but they're Koreans, Stupid ! If this woman had done ANY homework she'd know the second language taught in all North Korean schools was English ! *********************************************************************** I noted with sorrow this woman's not alone, almost all reporters coming into North Korea only wanted scandals and dirt , and they would look at everything through colored lenses , ready to sneer, jeer and snicker at any thoughts or deeds dissimilar to their own , scrutinizing the people as if they were zoo animals . Precious few would make any attempt to touch the real people, to see things from their perspective, to try to understand the social fabric and ideology that tie these people together , which in its way gave sense and meaning to their harsh life . Having been poor for half of my life, I totally despise people who'd look down on and make fun of others simply because they're poor, which appears to be what some visitors do . Regardless of what one might think of the Regime , the reality is against all odds North Korea is still functioning ! ****************************************************************** Korean patriotism is legendary. During the Asian Economic Crises hordes of Koreans brought forth their family jewelry to help out their country, and that was in South Korea ! It's just possible the love most North Koreans ( particularly the older generation ) proclaimed for Kim ll Sung is genuine ; unlike China , North Korean never suffered any major political upheavals, and the intellectuals fared much better than their counterparts in China . Korea had been under foreign domination for generations, the older Koreans still remember the hardship and humiliation they endured under the brutal Japanese rule, as well as the years of war before they gained independence ; it's an indisputable fact that the new Republic gave them a new lease of life and a new pride . Lest we forget, in the 60's and early 70's before the economy of South Korea took off, North Korea was infinitely the more progressive of the 2 Koreas in every way . People were well fed , industries boomed and literacy was 99% , thanks in part to the aid from the Communist Big Brothers . The nightmare only began after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc, suddenly there was no market for the minerals which was their chief export , and the subsidized food and energy supply ceased . The withdrawal of aid coincided with catastrophic drought and floods which led to severe food shortage just around the time Kim ll Sung died , so the memory of Kim's Realm was associated only with good times . ********************************************************************* Juche is the official ideology of North Korea, the philosophy of socialist self-reliance that the whole nation embraces. The Juche idea states that man is the master of his own destiny, he does not rely on others and it's through his own effort that he changes nature as well as environment, and ultimately shapes his own destiny . North Koreans are intensely proud people , and they extract donations in subtle ways. At every place we stopped we're invited to buy bouquets of flowers to lay at the foot of a Monument ( Pyongyang's the City of Monuments ), the bouquets were removed the moment we left to be re-sold to the next lot of visitors. I was more than happy to buy the bouquets as a small way to help out . Madam Lee was relieved there's at least one taker of the bouquets in the tour group and enthusiastically recommended other sale items, as a result suddenly I found myself the proud owner of a copy of " Kim ll Sung, The early years " ! ********************************************************************* At Madam Lee's suggestion we broke away from the official itinerary and spent a night at a Spa in the countryside . Madam Lee told me we could have arranged more out- of- itinerary outings if our HK tour guide were a little smarter , but unfortunately we were given a Potato as a guide. I wanted to see the KumgangMountains and some other cities and I was assured that provided they were informed early, it's absolutely possible . ********************************************************************** At the end of the journey everybody left with the guides whatever snacks they didn't finish on the trip.I gave Madam Lee a bag of mixed dried fruit ."It's all organic, so really good for you", then added apologetically "But it's from America ." "It's unopened," she muttered softly ."It's a gift," I gave her a hug, "I'd never give you leftovers !" then stuffed 300 dollars in her hands : for her, Mr Kim and the driver. " You must accept this," I urged as Madam Lee hesitated, " this is a small token of thanks from my heart ! " ********************************************************************** The trip reinforced my conviction that people are just people whatever country or culture they're from . One lunch time I wandered off by myself a little way off the hotel premises and was accosted by a group of young men and women . Through a lot of body language and broken English I surmised they were workers on a day trip. The guys crowded around me and all tried to finger my Canon camera , holding their thumbs up and nodding their heads vigorously.They wanted me to take pictures of them and laughed and jostled each other for a better position . Flying in the face of socialist decorum , some of the guys were drunk, in midday ! Guys would be guys and these young people were just trying to have a good time on their day off and do young people things . I remembered too the middle aged lady at the Arc de Triumph, who blushed with pleasure when I complimented her on her beautiful Korean dress . Strip off the thin veneer of unfamiliar languages and customs and we see ourselves and our friends . While I have great reservation about the Korean Government ( actually all Governments in general ! ) , I couldn't help but feel a great warmth for the people, and admiration for their dignity and courage in dire circumstances . What stirred me most was despite their daily hardship, all that the North Koreans wanted from me was to think well of them ; all that they wanted was a little respect for them as a people . *********************************************************************** I certainly have no problem saying nice things about the North Koreans. *************************************************************** ********************************************************************** The painting : Flag of South Korea is called the Taegeukgi, the symbol came from the Chinese book I Ching, representing the four Chinese philosophical ideas about the universe : harmony, symmetry, balance and circulation ; the Taegeuk holds the two principles of " Eum ", the negative aspect rendered in blue, and "yang ", the positive aspect in red, in perfect balance . The white background symbolizes " cleanliness of the people ". ******************************************************************** Flag of North Korea was adopted on 8th Sept 1948. It consists of three stripes - blue, red, blue - separated from each other by two narrow white lines .The hoist of the red stripe is charged with a white disc containing a red five-pointed star. The color red represents revolutionary patriotism. The blue stripes connote "The aspiration of the Korean people to unite with the revolutionary people of the whole world and fight for the victory of the idea of independence, friendship and peace." .The white - a traditional Korean color - represents the purity of the ideals of (North) Korea and national sovereignty. The five-pointed star signifies the happy prospects of the people building socialism under the leadership of the Korean Workers Party. ********************************************************************* Hibiscus Syriacus, the Rose of Sharon, is the national flower of South Korea. Legend has it a rich landlord coveted a beautiful village woman who was married to a blind man . The landlord kidnapped and later killed the woman who stuck fast by her virtue. Brokenhearted the husband cried and mourned over his wife's grave, and his tears brought forth the Rose of Sharon all around the grave . *********************************************************************** Kim ll Sung flower ( Kimilsungia ) is a species of orchid, bred by an Indonesian botanist and presented to Sukarno to Kim ll Sung in 1965 when the latter visited Indonesia . *********************************************************************** Kim Jong il flower ( Kimjonglia ) is a variety of South American begonia, bred by a Japanese botanist in 1988 . ************************************************************************ China and North Korea had traditionally been close . Kim ll Sung spent his formative years in China and was much influenced by Mao Zedong . China has been a bridge between North Korea and the rest of the world ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Block . A direct railway line linking South and North Korea was due to open this year, hopefully would bring the two peoples closer together in the future .