Day 3 - 14 April 2014 (Juche 103)

To the DMZ

Waking up at 6:30 was hard, and I would have been happy to sleep a bit more. My legs were hurting a little, and I was expecting it because I did not stretch properly, but the pain was weaker than that I was expecting.

We aimed at Kaesong, close to the border between the north and the south of the country, 165km south from Pyongyang. Photo taking from the bus was supposed to be forbidden outside Pyongyang, but since Ri forgot to recall it,we were good to take a lot of pics! The Korean countryside is really interesting to look at. Through the windows of the bus who cannot stop, I saw huge fields, with small tractors, ox-operated ploughs, and lot of farmers working by hand, a lot of people biking or even simply walking although I didn’t see any village for miles. Each piece of land that is barely flat is cultivated (but surprisingly not the mountains, where I would have expected some rice terraces, but it appears that they grow corn on it later in the year). It was like a time travel, but not hugely different from some provinces of China or Vietnam I have been to. While we were taking a lot of pictures of this brown countryside, Ri explained the differences between the state farms and the cooperative farms and some other facts about the daily customs of North Koreans. Although I was expecting to see old farming techniques, this is less shocking than what I was expecting. The main difference from what I had read is the reaction of the onlookers to our greetings and smiles, who greeted us and smiled back at us, or even did it spontaneously, far away from the zombie land Sweeney tried to describe.

We stopped half-way at a small souvenirs shop, like any stop for a group travel. But I was quite disappointed: I thought that, like in China where the shops in Changsha and all-over the country are full of Mao Zedong products, we would have had the same here with the Kim, but there was nothing any close to this. We had to choose between t-shirts with DPRK’s flag (XL size is almost too small for me here…), postcards and small dollies in traditional Korean dresses.

History of the Korean war

As we moved closer to the DMZ, we passed 3 checkpoint, where pictures were this time strongly not prohibited (in addition to have very little interest). We then went out of the bus to pass the first line of the DMZ. The DMZ is 4km wide, each part of the country managing a 2km band. We thus entered the northern band. At this point, we were expressly told that we could take pictures towards the north (towards the countryside) but could not take any picture in direction of the south at this precise point (i.e. pictures of the guard of the first gate) : the immediate result of this rule was that everybody tried and managed to take this pointless picture (pressing the camera shutter without looking at it or using the reverse camera of our smartphones), those who didn’t manage to be discreet enough provoked a whistle blow from the guard and had to (pretend to) delete their picture, whom only interest was to be forbidden. Then the commander of the zone taught us the military history: we learned how the American violated several times the treaties they signed, carrying heavy weapons in their part of the DMZ or bringing South Korean to the negotiation (the enemy is almost always the US and we the South Korean are almost never mentioned).

We went back in the bus to reach the middle point of the DMZ, 2km from here. Along this road, we looked at the land who consisted of fields cultivated by soldiers and local peasants; we also saw a gigantic mast holding the DPRK’s flag, and a similar South Korean mast on the horizon. We entered the house where the armistice was signed. The commander explained that the US wanted to sign it in a standard tent, but since it was the first time in the American History that the villain Yankee army was defeated, the North Koreans wanted this ceremony to be grandiose and thus built a 980 sqm house in less than 5 days; we were also taught how the American, humiliated by the defeat, denied to sign the treaty with their name and did it on behalf of the UN, and how they forgot to bring back the flag they had brought at the ceremony, which is a strong evidence of their humiliation according to the North Korean (and explains why they preserve it under a glass box). We finished the visit of the armistice house looking at the tiny museum here, made of evidences about how the American started the war and how the President Kim Il Sung won it. We also heard the Northern version of the polar tree incident: before 1976, soldiers from both sides could access the centre of the DMZ, but a Southern came to cut a tree without having warned the North Korean forces; when he was asked to stop by a guard, he threw the axe at the face of the brave Soldier, causing a serious incident and almost leading to a war, since then the soldiers cannot meet each other in the DMZ.

At the center of the DMZ, one can see 7 buildings, 4 blue (managed by the UN) and 3 white (managed by the DPRK). The central building is the only part of the peninsula where one can move across the border: it is open to both sides but alternatively (usually open to northern visitors in the morning and southern in the afternoon). The southern side of the border was empty when we were there.

History class at the DMZ in the Korean war Museum

Back to Pyongyang

We then visited an ancient Buddhist temple/ museum from the Koryo period, less interesting despite some nice Ginkgo trees and learning that the whole world could thank Korea for the invention of the spoon.

We had lunch in a tourist restaurant where we were served 11 small dishes, each in a small golden cup, and a soup dog for those who wanted it (and I was obviously part of it). Before getting back into the bus, we spent around 20 minutes in the street in front of the restaurant taking pictures of the daily life of the inhabitants, mainly students coming back from school.

It became harder not to sleep on the way back, but I woke up during the last hour to take picture of the countryside while Ri explained us the School System of the country, and how she became a tourist guide.

Metro and School

We continued with one of the traditional activity of every tourist group in this country: a ride in Pyongyang’s metro. The metro is made of 2 lines and 17 stations. We reached the platform via an escalator twice as long as that of the London underground, and saw a beautifully decorated platform, with mosaic depicting the great leaders, happy workers or other happy scenes. When we entered the train, some children wanted to get up to let us sit but sat finally down after we insisted. We stopped at the next station to take pictures of the most recent station of Pyongyang, with a mosaic of General KJI and beautiful hanging lamps, directly inspired by Moscow metro according to the Russian of the group. We took the subway again for 4 stops. I had read several stories of tourist taking the subway: that the Korean we take the subway with were cold, unresponsive to the tourists, and even appeared to be actors hired by PY. I really think this is not true, or maybe we did not go to the same country. I think that the smile of a child trying to look over the shoulder of a tourist to look at his digital camera, and his laugh when looking at a picture of him on an iPad, the laughs of student when we look at them are say them Anyung Hasinmika with our foreign accent, or any other behavior I saw seemed as natural as any behavior of anybody in any other country. However, I am aware that this happiness may represent only the elite of the DPRK and be different from other cities.

The next visit, however, seemed more suspicious. We went to the 9th middle school of Pyongyang, to attend extra-curricular activities for local students. It was a little weird to go into a room full of students during a class, and turn around the tables taking pictures. The first class we went to was a biology class: a dozen of students were looking at plants with microscopes and drawing schemas, I checked the microscopes, it was real; the class didn't look very natural but could be a real one (and was not a caricature of perfection either). If the first class recalled some memories, the second one was more different from what I had had at school : Revolutionary History of the General Kim Jong Il…; As we entered the room, a student got up and made a speech to his classmates explaining how amazing the Great Leader had been. The last class we visited was a show by the music and dancing club: a group of young girls gave us a demonstration of Korean dances and songs. I did not understand the lyrics, except for the first one where I heard some “Kim Jong Il”. The first row (where I was) has even been invited to take part to the last one, called the dance for the reunification.

While aiming back at the Hotel, we were given our certificates for the marathon. I then got my real time (1:32’54’’), but the mess between the 10k and the half marathon made them apply my half marathon time to the 10k distance, giving me the 55th rank! I’ll have to go on Facebook find the guys who finished in front of me to know my real rank, but I doubt that a formal complaint might work… But the main point is that I improved my expected time by 6s compared to yesterday and have still something to complain about ;)

Extra curricular classes at Pyongyang 9th Middle School