Climbing for Kim Jong Il

I have been to North Korea. How many people do you know that can say that??

And, I went 4 days after they shot off a bunch of missiles over the Sea of Japan. Excellent!

Last weekend, some friends and I took a tour to an area called Guemgangsan, which means Diamond Mountain. It is is North Korean territory, not far over the border. Many consider it to be one of the most beautiful places on the Korean peninsula, and until recently, it was closed off to the rest of the world. In 2002 however, Hyundai Corp. made a deal with the North Korean government to open the area to tourism. It is now considered a Special Administrative Zone, but it is still part of North Korea. I generally can't stand organized tours, but it is the only way to get there, and not an opportunity I would pass up.

Did I have some qualms about going? Yes. Mainly because I was uncomfortable with the fact that I was giving my money to one of the worlds most repressive and hostile governments. Add to that the fact that we were going 4 days after they had shot 7 test missiles towards Japan, one of which they claimed could make it all the way to the US (that was the one that failed 28 seconds after launching.) My friends and I were jokingly making plans for rescue in the case that we were taken hostage, and then planning on doing the talk show circuit after having a hair-raising narrow escape. But the tour company assured us it was safe there, and I wasn't about to miss such a unique experience.

Going to North Korea felt somewhat like going to Mars. It's a place that I just never expected to go, and once I was there I was continually amazed by the fact that I was actually IN North Korea. Granted, we didn't get to see much of it, no cities or anything, but we were still there, in a place that has been closed off to the rest of the world for over 50 years. A place so foreign, so isolated, that most of what we know about it comes from the few that have escaped and the few that have been allowed in.

Overall, the trip was not all that unique in terms of what we did. Hiking, eating, hot springs, acrobat show, more hiking, shopping....but it was the fact that we were in North Korea that made it so cool, and we did get to see more than we thought we would.

The tour departed from Seoul around midnight, and we spend the night on the bus, getting very little sleep. (The lack of sleep actually added a lot to the surrealness of the whole trip.) As we got closer to the border, we started to see telltales signs: barbed wire around the beaches, military installations, tank barriers. After going through South Korean immigration, we drove right through the DMZ -- the DeMilitarized Zone that divides North and South Korea. It is only 4 km from from one border to the next, and it is empty. They say that it is the one of the best preserved pieces of temperate land in the world, since humans pretty much have not entered it for the past 50 years. If the two Koreas ever unite, its likely that it will be turned into a wildlife refuge.

Kathy and Whitney still manage to look perky after being on a bus all night.

I hadn't expected to actually SEE North Korea, speaking in terms of how the people live. I figured that the government would have moved all the residents away from that area, or at least set up a "village" like the one near Panmanjun that is intended to trick people into thinking that it's a prosperous country. But I was wrong.

After going through immigration, there was a stretch of road before we reached the hotel that passed through what would best be described as a farming village. There were houses, fields, a quarry, schools, a post office, and lots of people working in the fields, riding bikes, catching fish in the river. We could even see a few of the infamous propaganda paintings on the walls. It was all very simple, and somewhat shabby and run down, and looked like any rural village in any country. But it was riveting, and also very emotional, because this was North Korea, a place you hear so many horrible things about and never think you will be able to see. A few people on the bus were in tears as we drove through, and I was close to it. I found myself staring at the people as we passed, wondering about their lives. If everything I have read is true, these are people who know almost nothing about the rest of the world, who are told that my country is evil, who are starving, and who worship a leader that oppresses them and keeps them in isolated poverty while he develops weapons. What was going through their minds as they sat in the fields, watching our big modern tour buses drive by? What have they heard about me, and do they believe all of it? Just as I suspect that they learn distorted truths about my country, I couldn't help but hope that much of what I hear about their lives is also distorted somewhat.

I overheard another girl talking to someone on the bus about the people we saw. "Do you think they see us drive by and feel jealous?" I wouldn't even know how to respond to that comment.

And every time I encountered a North Korean, I felt the same way. What are their lives really like? What were they thinking about me? I wanted so badly to be able to talk to them, and there were some that spoke a bit of English. But I wasn't allowed to speak to them about those things.

By far the most surreal and hilarious moment of the trip came after going through North Korean immigration. It was about 9 a.m., and we had been on a bus all night, which meant 3-4 hours of sleep by a generous estimate. So everyones groggy, and we're thrilled to be there, but we're also a bit antsy about actually entering such a scary country. There are North Korea soldiers with guns hanging out all over the place, which can make a person a bit nervous!

I was lucky because the soldier in my line wasn't asking questions, whereas the other line got drilled about their employment and intentions for visiting. But he was a serious dude. He checked my passport and entry card, scrutinized my face for a second, stamped my card, and waved me past. I walked out, feeling a little bit relieved, and was immediately confronted by a line of smiling Korean women who spoke excellent English. They helped me put away my documents and welcomed me to Guemgangsan. Standing behind them, at the exit door of the immigration building, was a person in a bear costume, waving. It was the friendliest bear I have ever seen, and it continued to wave at me the entire time I was walking past. What the hell?!?! A bear costume? I think it was their way of easing people's tension after going through immigration, and it sure worked for me. Although come to think of it, I was a little freaked out by it.

As it turns out, the waving bear was telltale of most of the weekend. As we expected, the place was set up for the tourists. Shuttle buses, nice hotels, lots of shopping, a planned schedule, you know how it goes. Like Disneyland, North Korea. Very friendly, except for all the rules. If you spit, misspelled anything on the official documents, took any natural objects, touched the water in the river, or took a photo of anything you weren't supposed to, you would get fined $20. We couldn't take in cell phones, South Korean newspapers or magazines, or talk about anything that might be objectionable. The hotel we stayed in was owned by the North Korean government. I hadn't thought to look for it, but one of the guys on the tour found the "bug" behind the mirror in the hotel room. Hello, Big Brother!

I did get to interact with quite a few North Koreans too, but conversation was limited by language barriers. And, well, what do you say to a North Korean who speaks very little English? We were told to be very careful about what we said to them anyways...so I just ended up not saying anything more than Hi, how are you?

Ok, enough yakking, here's the photos! There was a lot that I could NOT take photos of, like the soldiers and the villages. And the DMZ.

(Ok, so some of these pics are sideways. I'm suffering from computer retardation right now. Ever since iPhoto crapped out on me, I can't get my photo stuff quite right....Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload anything that has been edited by Photoshop. Tips on how to fix this are welcome!)All along the trails were monuments for Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. I showed my students the text, and none of them could really make too much sense of it, because it was written in really old style Korean. My friend Sun had to use the dictionary to figure out some of the words, and is basically commemorates something that Kim Jong Il did to work towards unification in 1973.

I thought this particular wall was wonderful, with the green moss growing down it.

Our guide told us that Guemgansan is foggy most of the year, and we weren't lucky enough to get a clear day. The hanging mist added a really neat feeling to the place, but I imagine the views from the top would have been spectacular if it had been clear.

Steve, Kathy and Whitney, sideways.

Carvings of old Chinese characters.

"Do we get to go down now?" Whitney, me and Kathy at the top, slightly exhausted and sweaty.

This was the view from our hotel balcony. I'm not exactly sure what the building is for, but on the left is another monument for the leaders.

The main plaza of the Guemgansan Area, where all the tourist shops and restaurants were.

At night, we saw a performance by a North Korean acrobat troupe. The stuff they did was amazing, but it was actually pretty funny because the costumes were like something out of an 80's dance recital, and the music was cheesy as hell. At a few points it sounded like a spaceship was landing. I couldn't take any pictures during the performance for obvious reasons, but here are the acrobats afterwards.

Outside of our hotel was a huge mosaic of the Father and the Father, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Il Sung. Just look at those friendly smiles! Now are those the faces of oppressive dictators?

Hiking pics from the second day, which was a damn hard hike. I thought I was gonna die!

At the top with a group of goofy teenage boys who befriended me. The broke the ice by asking to share my precious water, which I had very little of. When I asked them where they were from, they said "North Korea. No, I mean South Korea!" They wouldn't tell me the city though, said it was a secret. After they found out of California, the one in the pink shirt said "California oranges are good!" EVERY time he saw me that day. Cute.

The majority of the employees were South Koreas, but many of the hotel workers and a number of people on the mountain were Northerners. The way you could tell the difference was that all the North Koreans wore a small Kim Jong Il pin on their shirts. Their demeanor also tended to be much more reserved. Most were polite but stoic, except the bell boys at the hotel, who were extremely sweet. They were the only ones I felt comfortable asking for a photo.

See Mom, commies aren't so scary!

and, if you look closely, you can see the Dear Leader pin....