Quite Entertaining? Fun in North Korea by Michal Huniewicz
About this shoot
This fourth and final gallery from North Korea will focus on the entertainment the trip has to offer.
As your trip to the country is organised in every aspect, you rely on your guides to entertain you, and our guide even sang a surprise song for us. Had we stayed longer in Pyongyang, there would have been a possibility to visit the Kim Il-sung Mausoleum, but we didn't do it, which I regret (having seen Lenin and Mao).
There is or will be a possibility of doing a beach holiday in North Korea [1], but it's not something I have done. Neither have I visited any of the ski resorts potentially accessible to tourists.
After we arrived, they took us out and about in a small van where we'd spend most of our stay. Let's stop here, they said, as people have gathered spontaneously to dance.ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/6400s.
Much has been said about the Potemkin village aspect of visiting North Korea. Here they were, dancing away in the heat, and I was sorry, as it felt like this was staged for us.ISO 200, 70mm, f/2.8, 1/3200s.
Pyongyang International Cinema Hall and Yanggakdo Stadium visible in the distance through the smog. Despite its unfinished looks, the hall is supposedly used for a film festival. [3] We never went anywhere near it, but we could watch it from the hotel.ISO 200, 42mm, f/7.1, 1/200s.
This guy smiled for the picture, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il badge on his chest (according to Wikipedia, that's the most precious badge [9]).ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/6400s.
You could buy postcards prophesising the imminent fall of the US. I bought one, sent it to one of my US friends, and it was delivered OK.ISO 200, 32mm, f/2.8, 1/80s.
Trains awaited us at the platform. Some people speculate the metro system is fake in that there are only two stations, and no-one actually commutes here. According to the Guardian, the metro is real. [4]ISO 280, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/40s.
The usual suspects stared at us from the portraits. This underground train was a special place in that it was the only place where we saw signs of human affection - a man put his hand on the butt of his girlfriend or wife. These trains are originally from Germany, from Berlin. [8]ISO 450, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/40s.
At one point, our guides announced we were going to circus. We did not want to go, and it was unplanned. We were told our choice was the circus or sitting in the van for 2 hours. We thought, might as well. They charged us extra for the circus.ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/6400s.
But the show was genuinely breathtaking. This man played with our emotions as he climbed higher and higher, and higher still on these sticks. There was no doubt about the professionalism of these people. Shame about the propaganda image in the background.ISO 800, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/50s.
During the show, there were also humorous elements that the Western part of the audience did not understand, but the significantly more numerous North Koreans laughed.ISO 400, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/125s.
They spared nothing to light up the portraits of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. I wrote briefly about their cult of personality earlier.ISO 200, 40mm, f/4.5, 1/80s.
They allowed us to join, and that was the one moment that we had some freedom during the trip. Encumbered by my DSLR, I ventured onto the square. The dance would change every couple of seconds, so as soon as I figured out the steps, there were new steps to learn. I was terrible at it.ISO 200, 24mm, f/5.6, 1/80s.
I was joined by Shannon - we managed to find each other even though she came with a different group and stayed in a different hotel. We had met earlier in the Dandong-Pyongyang train.ISO 250, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/80s.
The following day, we visited the Victorious War Museum (called that way, even though the war ended in an armistice [5]).ISO 200, 48mm, f/2.8, 1/2000s.
USS Pueblo is an American spy ship - the only ship of the US Navy still on the commissioned roster being held captive. [6] Since 2013, it's been moored here, and it is currently a museum. Apparently, the American crew were starved and tortured while being in North Korean custody. According to Wikipedia, "[t]his treatment turned worse when the North Koreans realized that crewmen were secretly giving them the finger in staged propaganda photos."ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/3200s.
The guide we met would talk to us onboard the ship as well as inside the museum, where photography was not allowed and where we had to bow before a giant statue of Kim Il Sung. If I was to pick the most brainwashed North Korean we spoke to, it would have to be her. She wasn't just dedicated, she was permanently furious about the Korean War. We learnt that South Korea was but a US puppet, and China was never involved. The Americans commited serious attrocities (which I think is true) but the North Koreans never did (not true).ISO 200, 36mm, f/2.8, 1/1250s.
She even had the American tourists lay wreaths in front of this statue to apologise for the war. I asked her, if Kim Il-sung was such a military genius as she claimed, how come the North Koreans did not win the war? Silence. She then stared at me, and said he refused to continue the war until his inevitable victory as he was concerned about the loss of Korean life.ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/1600s.
In the distance, we saw the 330-metre tall Ryugyong Hotel (thus taller than London's Shard). According to Wikipedia, its estimated completion is "never". [7]ISO 200, 42mm, f/8.0, 1/125s.
When we first came to North Korea, they drove us to the hotel following a scenic route to show off the best bits. On our way out of the country, we realised how close to the station the hotel actually was. We gazed on the Yanggakdo Island once more. On the platform, they would give us packed lunch, and then threaten us with being detained had we taken any dodgy photos. I was personally taken aside, and told that I had taken "too many pictures". Pretty stressful journey out of the country lay ahead of me, including a perhaps 3-hour long wait on the border as they checked our stuff. Luckily for me, they never found my dodgy photos, and we were allowed to return to China.ISO 200, 38mm, f/2.8, 1/4000s.
I'd like to dedicate my North Korea galleries to the North Koreans that have been living under the Kim regime for generations. Hopefully, the wind of change will blow for you, too.ISO 200, 24mm, f/2.8, 1/80s.Sources
