All stories of visitors to North Korea start to sound the same, and yet it always interesting to those of us who haven’t made it across the border to receive these brief glimpses of North Korea. Even though it’s a very artificial view, I think it still says something about life in this very closed country.
Lives – Picnic in North Korea – NYTimes.com
In August, my mother and I found ourselves in North Korea, where she and my father were born.
It was indeed announced one day that for lunch we would have a traditional clam bulgogi, clam barbecue. The bus took us to a gorgeous area in the mountains, complete with a waterfall and a tranquil pool. People were already there having their own picnic on the sandy beach. Our picnic was set up on a rocky ledge on the other side, but the water was irresistible in the heat, and some of us gravitated there. Oddly, our handlers said nothing, even though normally they were alert as sheepdogs to anyone wandering off and earlier in the day an unauthorized photo incident caused upset all around.
To get to the beach, you walked a path where a young boy sat painting a picture of the waterfall — it was almost too picturesque. The locals had spread out a feast of kimchi, bulgogi, mounds of fat purple grapes, cold bottles of beer. Soon some of the picnickers were cheerily exhorting us to join them, even picking up food with chopsticks and depositing it straightaway in people’s mouths. Beer was poured; songs were sung. It was the first time I’d seen North Koreans smile wide, toothy grins.
After a while the tour guide sauntered over and reminded us that we weren’t supposed to talk to locals. She didn’t sound convinced of her own words. I suddenly started to see everything anew. Why were the picnickers here in the middle of the workday? Why was their food, those perfect pyramids of fruit, untouched before they pulled us over? Even the boy; I peered at his easel as I walked back and saw he was using a kind of paint-by-numbers kit.
While we ate our clam bulgogi, burning our fingers on the shells, the picnickers below continued to have the time of their lives, laughing and swimming. Some in our group shared my suspicions: this was a “propaganda picnic” for our benefit, but others insisted these North Koreans just wanted to show their good will.
The Associated Press: American sees changes in his North Korean hometown
PYONGYANG, North Korea — Daniel Chun peers out of the window of the Air Koryo turboprop from China as it touches down outside Pyongyang, his former home. It has taken him less than two hours to go back nearly 60 years.
n the evening, North Koreans stream toward May Day Stadium for the Arirang festival, the marvel of choreography and synchronicity known as the “Mass Games.”
The cast of 100,000 dances, tumbles and flies through the air in an unparalleled show of precision and discipline meant to inspire unity among the North Korean people. Two themes stand out at this year’s Mass Games: The drive to transform North Korean into a “strong and prosperous country” by 2012, and a plea for peace on the Korean peninsula without the intervention of foreign forces.
“We are one nation,” read placards held aloft by a phalanx of schoolchildren directed by a conductor across the stadium.
Chun is impressed, but wonders about the long days and months spent training for the spectacle.
“The whole thing was very, very sad to me. I was thinking about why they have to stage this kind of show, what kind of lives these people lead — that was sad to me,” he says.
