North Korea: tourism in one of the most mysterious countries in the world

The good news is that now going to North Korea is very easy: the visa is obtained in a few days, an Italian tourist agency arranges for the whole trip and upon arrival the checks are incredibly minimal, the customs officers are kind and respectful, you can keep any electronic equipment you have, including your cell phone, which won't work anyway.

But in fact the similarities with our reality end here, because going to North Korea today means entering a dystopian world, where apparently things work as they do in our country, with visible and modern innovations, but also with very great limitations and difficulties due to a bizarre regime and one of a kind.

PYONGYANG

North Korea is currently only accessed from two places, from Beijing e Vladivostok in Russia, there are only a few flights a day (on some days no planes arrive or leave), and the capital's small but modern airport lists at most four or five flights a day. Arriving in Pyongyang at night, you fly over an absolutely dark country and even when you arrive in the capital, you understand how the first major North Korean problem is theelectricity supply.

In the capital itself there are decidedly few illuminated roads, and even of the main ones, perhaps with 6 lanes, often only half of the carriageway is illuminated. In stores it is easy to stay victims of blackouts while in hotels for foreign tourists there are generally no problems even if the facade of the hotel, like the rest of the buildings in the capital, are only lit up until 22pm, then it gets very dark. Only the main monuments of the regime always remain lit. The blame is placed on the fact that Korea does not produce enough electricity for itself and that "due to the sanctions”, it is not possible to buy it from abroad.

The capital is in any case a lucky island and therefore if there are problems here it is easy to understand how things are going in the rest of the country. TO Pyongyang there is, very visible and disturbing, a coal plant almost in the city center, which produces a black and enveloping smoke throughout the day. The capital is dominated by huge streets, spotless but absolutely disproportionate to the traffic existing, which in any case has greatly increased compared to previous years, a sign of timid openings towards those who can buy even a luxury car: in any case it seems to be on a mid-August afternoon in one of our cities, queues, traffic, horns and traffic jams are all unknown here. Several taxis, many public transport sometimes quite modern.

There are no advertising signs of any kind, the sparse shops are barely indicated by small signs, there are no billboards, there is absolutely nothing that is present in market economies. Yet many areas have been renovated, there are beautiful colorful condominiums even of a certain design, to break the monotony of Soviet-style apartment blocks that generally dominate the landscape, you can also see the traffic lights at the intersections where until recently there were only gracious and inflexible traffic policemen to regulate traffic. In short, it is not a city frozen in time but it certainly is very far from the standards Western or Chinese, even if there are shopping centers that have nothing to envy to ours, and they also seem very busy judging by the people seen, who certainly cannot all be extras of the regime. There are restaurants, frequented almost exclusively by tourists, which however close at 21. Nothing has been possible to find out about the nightlife, given that tourists remain segregated in hotels.

The hotels where tourists are taken are the best possible in North Korea and are generally of a good standard, even if the signs of aging are often noticed (they are almost all built in the 80s and 90s) such as worn wallpaper, old toilets, undrinkable water. The food on offer is generally excellent. Exist citadels of sport with many new and functional systems, particularly well-kept and rich cultural centers where young people can receive additional training: it is in this "academy" that tourists can see shows with very good (and disturbing) children chosen for their talent.

The famous “mass games”, a sort of global show in which around 40.000 participants participate (in a stadium that can hold over 100.000 people) of which the majority are employed to act as “human pixels”: equipped with colored cards, they perform colored choreographies in a perfectly coordinated way, making themed drawings appear on a grandstand as if it were a gigantic display.

However, Pyongyang is a world apart, privileged compared to the rest of the country due to the availability of products and structures, relocation to the capital, as to and from any other part of the country, is however not the free choice of people. In the capital there is a huge funfair western-style, water parks and libraries in gigantic pure Soviet-style buildings that dominate the landscape and are generally appointed to contain the monuments of the regime.

TOURISM AND THE ECONOMY

It is one of the voices on which the Pyongyang regime counts a lot, but we need to understand what kind of It is allowed. Those arriving from abroad cannot go around freely, ever: they are always accompanied anywhere from one or two guides, he cannot choose the hotel or the restaurants, there is a certain flexibility in the proposed program but it is never allowed to leave alone. In the evening you cannot leave the hotel. As mentioned, the mobile phone will not work as there is no roaming with our operators, one can be bought at a high price local sim which will however only be used to make phone calls (however possible from the hotel switchboard). Even with the local sim, the data connection is in fact limited to a large local network, you don't surf like we do.

In North Korea there is no internet, no way, so no Facebook, Whatsapp and websites. Obviously in the hotel there is no Wifi to connect. Even wandering around the country, the hotels for tourists are of a good standard, unlike the hotels for Koreans (old and ugly with dilapidated structures) which are often very nice but are affected by the general shortcomings of the country: there may always be electricity, but L'water hot there can only be every other day. Even water can still represent a problem as a supply and using bathrooms or structures not dedicated to tourists it is easy to see how wherever there are collection basins, a sign of interruptions in the water supply. In the hotels of the capital there is satellite TV, but outside you can only see the local channels (one or two), perpetually occupied by patriotic dramas or emphatic news about the progress of the regime.

Le infrastructure in the country they are lacking: there are huge highways, with 3 or 4 lanes per carriageway, but totally uneven, without any signs and obviously without traffic, the tunnels are totally dark. You don't go over 90 km/h due to the maw, so the transfers are long. They are tiring journeys, service stations do not exist and when they are, one or two every 100 kilometres, they are deserted, there is not even the gas station, at most you can buy some snacks.

The highways are so uncrowded that they are often seen bicycles on the roadway, even in the opposite direction, scooters, people walking on the sides or simply stopped at the edge of the road. Few drivers have one bad driving even in the city, where they never give way on pedestrian crossings or they do risky maneuvers due to low traffic.

Checkpoints are very frequent, literally in the middle of the motorway, even if this is not a problem for tourists who naturally cannot travel alone and who rely on the permits shown by their local guide.

What is there to see in North Korea? Especially i regime monuments, which outside the capital take the form of structures where the nation's leaders have left their mark for some reason, perhaps just a speech on a bench. But also a wonderful nature, cultivated fields as far as the eye can see, (a sign that the great food crisis of the past years is however archived), many mountains, spas and even resorts where you can go skiing, bizarre as it may seem.

There are also tombs of ancient dynasties and a certain number of temples that can be visited: unfortunately most of the structures, even the ancient ones, were victims of the war and therefore very little of the original remains. Tourism is still scarce with the exception of China. Everywhere they are seen bus of Chinese tourists which by number outnumber the western one by many lengths, just consider that the annual tourists to North Korea who come from Italy each year are less than 300, according to the data in our guide.

There is no way to use the credit cards and payments can only be made with foreign currency without being able to change into local money. You pay in foreign currency, you receive change in foreign currency, euros or dollars or Chinese yuan. For tourists, the logic that existed in socialist countries applies, dedicated shops with high prices as and more than in Italy, for example a Coca Cola costs 2 euros, entry to the stadium's "mass games" costs 100 euros, an absolutely disproportionate figure for locals, souvenirs cost the same as in the West.

As mentioned, it does not seem like a country reduced to starvation, even if the general conditions are certainly very poor: crops, rice and corn, are everywhere and you can see modern machinery that supports the manual work in the fields. As far as manual work is concerned, it is interesting to note how much of the labor is forced: given that Kim Il Sung said that "soldiers must defend the nation but also build it", the huge mass of soldiers of one of the largest armies in the world is also used to build roads, bridges and buildings. Besides, even civilians have a week or two a year voluntary work in the fields, to support and help the farmers. Workers have a break from 12 to 14, during which they can also sleep in the workplace, in specially prepared areas in offices or factories.

Obviously missing any product of globalization, and generally there is no western product that we are used to, no fast food, no brands or signatures or goods that you see in our parts, except in the commercial center of Pyongyang where you can find German refrigerators, Italian wine and household appliances at the same prices as here, a sign that there is, however, a privileged class that can afford them.

THE REGIME AND CONTROL

One cannot speak of North Korea without realizing what the regime that governs it is. Ruled for 70 years by a dynasty that handed down the power from their grandfather Kim Il Sung to the son Kim Jong Il and to the present reigning grandson, Kim Jong Un, North Korea is essentially based on a total, absolute and pervasive personality cult. Every public building, like every carriage of the splendid metro, bus or hotel hall or important street corner has the image of the two dead leaders: it is not a matter of formal support, but of a convinced homage which for us borders on ideological fanaticism. Far superior to the Stalinist-type cult of personality, the Korean one is in our eyes an incomprehensible rite with more religious than political characteristics, the leaders are absolutely equated with divinities. It is very impolite, when not explicitly forbidden, to take tourist photos of the images of the leaders going backwards honored with a bow, when not directly with the deposition of a bouquet of flowers. Bow and bouquet of flowers are also mandatory for tourists, we found ourselves bowing in front of the TV on the occasion of a commemoration that concerned the two leaders.

In North Korea the commemorations they are part of the cult: there are always anniversaries of death or birth of leaders, of party foundations, of important battles or achievements and they are all official occasions to be celebrated with due homage.

Phrases or mottos of the three leaders are reported everywhere, even in large letters: in art museums if one of the leaders stopped by and appreciated a work of art, there it is reported on a special plate what he said or the date of the his passage. In the country there are countless villages and huts where Kim Il Sung has passed (or so they say), spurring the soldiers, developing strategies, praising the workers and for every single object that has had anything to do with the leaders there is a plaque, or a preserved building or a preserved wooden chair. The two leaders are always shown smiling, either looking to the future or surrounded by adoring crowds.

In Pyongyang there are two places where worship is maximum and where you have to go prepared, that is, well dressed and with flowers: the Palace of the Sun which contains the bodies of the two leaders and the Great Monument with the huge bronze statues of the two leaders.

The Palazzo del Sole is a gigantic Soviet-style building used exclusively for mausoleum of the two disappeared leaders: after endless corridors and rooms even one hundred meters long, one is admitted into two gigantic rooms with dimmed light where the embalmed body of the father is kept in a crystal coffin and the son of the ruling dynasty in another room , mandatory three bows on the sides of the coffin.

The Great Mansudae Monument is an open-air construction complex built to commemorate the Korean revolution and the two leaders represented in huge 20-metre-high bronze statues: a jacket, a bow and a bouquet of flowers are mandatory. Alone after gaining the trust of their guides you can take pictures of the Great Monument. Usually in North Korea take photos or videos as we selfie lovers understand it, it is not a trivial problem and direct photos of local people are not welcome unless invited by the guide. As mentioned, the photos of the leaders are hardly allowed but they must always be respectful, for example the statues must be photographed in full and obviously no selfies in joking attitudes.

BUT DO THEY REALLY BELIEVE IT?

For those who remember the countries of the Soviet bloc and the forms of even glaring dissent that harbored them, the fundamental question is: do Koreans really believe in their propaganda or are they pretending, perhaps terrified of the consequences of defiant gestures?

The impression is that they believe in it completely and absolutely: North Koreans often tell of dreams bordering on mysticism on the occasion of the death of one of the leaders or tell clearly hagiographic episodes as real, such as the flight of herons over a building of power on the death of Kim Il Sung.

70 years of image worship and obsessive propaganda have not passed in vain. It should also be considered theforced isolation where North Koreans live: even those who are in contact with tourists, such as guides, sleep in a separate part of the hotel, where, for example, they don't have satellite TV. There outward curiosity there is, but in a very moderate way, it limits itself to a few questions and the absolutely clandestine request to copy some foreign film or song onto a USB stick. On the other hand, from their point of view there is no reason to disagree, the socialist system guarantees education, school and work for everyone and induced needs are not created. Inconvenient news simply does not exist: wanting to talk about his half-brother Kim Jong Nam (half-brother of the current leader) killed under mysterious circumstances in 2017, one collides in front of a rubber wall, our guides candidly admit that they don't even know what current leader Kim Jong Un's family is made up of.

The whole system is based on an altered reality and told internally, according to the locals the Korean war was for example caused by the Americans who were driven back up to the 38th parallel thanks to theNorth Korean heroism. There is no invasion in their history South Korea, Russian and Chinese aid and the Americans, like the Japanese who invaded the country until the Second World War, are however the enemies responsible for all the troubles including the hated sanctions.

North Koreans always represent their country as one reunified peninsula and from their point of view it makes no sense that for us they represent a threat to South Korea: they aspire to a reunified state as a confederation with two different systems of government and that's why they gladly take tourists to the most militarized border area in the world seen a thousand times on television.

A Panmunjeom a truce was signed at the end of the Korean war, but officially a state of war still exists between the USA and North Korea which has not been overcome by a peace treaty that has never been agreed upon: in this locality the North Koreans are very happy to show the border where they meet Kim Jong Un and Trump and tell their side of the story among soldiers unusually tall and better equipped than seen in the rest of the country. This locality is also part of the collective rite of altering the truth, waiting for something to happen or, perhaps as an accomplice Trump, the first Mc Donald's also arrives in North Korea.