When we first entered the DPRK at the train station of Sinuiju I felt overwhelmed. The train just crosses over a bridge from the Chinese town of Dandong where our group of three had breakfast in a KFC restaurant a few minutes ago. You would post last status messages using the restaurant provided WiFi hotspot and wonder how it will feel like to be without connection for the next days.
Digital Detox
The morning we started our tour was rainy and the grey facades of Kim-Il Sung square did the rest to provide a socialist cliché environment. You could see the tower of Juche ideology over the reflecting river. People would hurry over the wide open space to go to work or do other business. The absence of connection felt very releasing in the moment I had crossed over the border. When I was standing in this huge square without any sign of advertising despite the socialist depictions even more so.
The state of infrastructure
The streets in and connected to Pyongyang are made from asphalt unlike the countryside where you’ll find sand and stamped soil. Pyongyang is the place where the majority of cars is located. The concept of privately owning a car is almost non existent. Cars usually belong to government officials, diplomatic staff and ambassadors, military or corporations. I was astonished to see that there are a lot of taxis in Pyongyang as well.
I’ve been to almost empty 10 lane motorways leading to possible points of connection between the 2 Koreas as well as ox-cart ridden back alleys. The condition of roads varies greatly. Some are in neat and perfect condition others are a severe offense to the bum of any person traveling upon them. Could that be one of the reasons leaders prefer trains to travel the country?
Forbidden places
The Kim-Il-sung square provides space for up to 100.000 people. It will be hard to spot people even if you fill 10% of the space. No wonder you feel lost in here. Can you see all the small white spots painted on the floor? These are the directions where people should stand during parades to form the patterns by holding up different colored cardboards which you have certainly seen before.
The space across the street towards the Grand People’s Study House is a forbidden zone and we were not allowed to approach the building closer as to standing on the edge of the boardwalk. Crossing the street was out of reach. The people in this and all other places would look at our group with great suspicion.
The value of a photograph
The woman in the picture is just leaving a photographers shop right on the side of Kim-Il Sung square. Physical photographs seem to have a very high value in the DPRK as well as the places to get them taken. Compared to the Instagram and web ridden oeuvre we have accessible at our fingertips anytime this feels outdated. People would get their favorite pictures laminated right after printing them in one of the shops.
This might be because the pictures are passed around between friends, comrades and family relatives to show the memories of a precious moment. I have seen this at other locations before. Mainly for the older generation a picture of a grandchild specifying date and location is a well kept treasure in the portfolio of personal wealth.
Nowadays with the arrival of the Arirang smartphone (a special version of an Android smartphone) the capturing of images certainly got much easier. But the phones lack the capability of sharing pictures or files on a peer to peer basis. So passing around physical pictures remains the way for sharing.