Comments on: A Year In Pyongyang

A Year In Pyongyang

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:01:49 -0800

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 23:30:06 -0800

Thanks for posting. I just skimmed a bit into it since it's late but know what I'll be reading on Sunday. I think alot of people are really curious to know what goes on the DPRK because in a way it's like their isolation cuts us off from a part of ourselves. That and the sheer insanity of the culture is almost transporting.

By: T.D. Strange

T.D. Strange — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:08:09 -0800

By: Brittanie

Brittanie — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:20:30 -0800

Stavros, I love you. (Don't tell my husband!)

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:21:13 -0800

I'm a few chapters into it -- he writes well, and this is pre-edited, a shame he died. So far, no great weirdness or secrets though.... he seems to like them a lot. Where's the dirt?

By: amyms

amyms — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:28:50 -0800

This is a great read, thanks!

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:37:57 -0800

So I read a chapter more and then skimmed to the end. Very very interesting indeed. He paints a sympathetic of the country, and and understands the original goals and ethos of the government but his year there is grueling and he leaves with great relief. He clearly thought the country was in an "irreversible decline" and I shudder to think what it would be like now, two decades later. He manages to present a nuanced picture of the country and the people and a persuasive story. Lots of good research too... /me shakes head. . for Andrew Holloway.

By: thethirdman

thethirdman — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 02:22:18 -0800

Visit Dandong, on the Chinese border, and you can get a good impression of the Korean life in about two hours. Go to the infamous bridge the US bombed in the Korean War, stand on the end, pay your three renminbi to use the binoculars. You'll see a charming place. A soldier pushes a cute young boy, helping him to learn how to ride a bike. Two well-dressed couples walk by in their wedding outfits. A man reads on the banks of the river. A ferris wheel sits idle on a fairground, waiting for another carnival to use it. After five minutes, it all happens again. The soldier seems to meet the boy again and helps him ride a bike. The couples come out from the same place and seem the same kind of cheery. The man reading walks up and down the banks and never seems to turn a page. The ferris wheel is just boards, perpendicular to the view- no place to sit. The train crossing the functional bridge snaps you out of it, and you leave. On the way out, vendors are eager to sell you DPRK currency and stamps. Then, up on the east end of the Great Wall- Tiger Mountain- you see a girl with the same kind of binoculars. She seems more apathetic, more interested in her tiny dog than the tourists. Another three renminbi, and you can see deep into the country. Men walk up and down the banks of the river with rifles. Filthy, disintegrating huts fill clumped villages. The only motor vehicles are painted tank grey and festooned with DPRK army symbols. People desperately try to forage out of an obviously desolate field. I can only imagine that going inside the country makes all of these sensations crazier, and so I eat up every description like this I can find. Thanks for the post.

By: Brittanie

Brittanie — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 04:57:15 -0800

It's been mentioned here before, but Guy Delisle's graphic novel Pyongyang (third down) is pretty good. Also, surprisingly, my Lonely Planet Korea guide has a really fascinating section on the DPRK, with tips on how to get there from various other parts of the world and what to expect once you're there. If you dare.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 05:46:24 -0800

Thanks for this post—looking forward to reading the book.

By: Joseph Gurl

Joseph Gurl — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 05:50:42 -0800

It's interesting, but sadly not much there that isn't already available in other forms. Holloway seems to have been quite a guy though, and his take is both sympathetic and relatively unflinching. I look forward to reading someone's 2007 Pyongyang experience, hopefully in less than 20 years.

By: pokermonk

pokermonk — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:25:31 -0800

Second-ing the Guy Deslisle comic.

By: snoktruix

snoktruix — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:59:07 -0800

He seems to be generally of the opinion that the North Korean worker class are reasonably happy with their lot, if only because they don't know any better and have been indoctrinated to conform. He paints too rosy a picture I think.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 07:17:23 -0800

Fantastic post, thanks.

By: Aidan Kehoe

Aidan Kehoe — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:24:25 -0800

... These people are the sort of labour force Mrs Thatcher must dream about. Utterly quiescent, they will go anywhere they are needed in the economy. They will put up with the most basic living conditions. They will accept minimal wages. ...

Wow, that was gratuitous and hypocritical from a leftist. But the book is fascinating and the guy's death is a loss.

By: django_z

django_z — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 08:29:30 -0800

Surprisingly gripping. I read the first three chapters and had intended to just blink at this. Thank you for the post. I leave my breakfast a little wiser and a little calmer this morning.

By: FieldingGoodney

FieldingGoodney — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 09:40:26 -0800

Just read the first 3 chapters and will work my way through the entirety over the next few days. A great find.

By: Rumple

Rumple — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:28:28 -0800

Great -- best of the web. Thanks

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:37:04 -0800

This is a truly excellent find... a nice change from the usual run of 1997-ish photoessays and hollow travelogues that just go through all the tourist routines, monotonously emphasizing and re-emphasizing the veneer and the underlying reality.

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 13:53:47 -0800

That's really difficult to read, what with the framing story telling you how it all ends. Certainly a better read, though, than Harrold's Comrades and Strangers, which left me feeling surprisingly flat and empty.

By: trinarian

trinarian — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:27:53 -0800

Great find. Curiously, I was going through the English section of the Shenzhen [China] library last evening and became entranced with a book of Kim Il Jung propaganda art, a gift from the DPRK to the PRC on Kim's birthday. I snapped as many pages as I could. If anyone knows how to properly digitalize this kind of book, email me.

By: tadellin

tadellin — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:43:24 -0800

It might be interesting, but the first chapter is so anti-American that I'm not sure I want to read any more of it.

By: ducksauce

ducksauce — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 11:54:10 -0800

This is fascinating -- thanks!

By: reformedjerk

reformedjerk — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:18:06 -0800

Great read so far. Having grown up in the eighties in China, it's interesting to see how these two supposedly socialist countires diverged over the last two decades.

By: bigbigdog

bigbigdog — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:32:49 -0800

Thank you Mister Chicken.