Life inside North Korea: Between concrete and cherry blossoms

I so often hear of North Korea being such a bad place, but upon reading this and seeing the pictures, I'm stuck with a different perspective these people are just like any one else. It's amazing to see this, and not some hate filled rant from a major news network.

blog.flickr.net...

I know, its a blog about an average Joe, but any information from inside north Korea is important information.

What does the ATS people think of this?

Sorry, I post so few times, on here its always a chore to figure out how to post links. I had always, saw the North, as a people, who were beaten and trampled. Yet this shows, that they are indeed like every one else.

I'm feeling a little dark tonight, sorry.

Let me paste some of the words from his blog, the one you link to.

“It’s incredible to think about. We live in a society where we have access to all sorts of information. But there, they block everything off and they generally don’t allow anyone in. All we know is what they want us to know.

When they take you around, it’s very coordinated, scheduled, and they try to show you the best of North Korea. They really try to make it seem like a great place, so the whole time you’re trying to peek behind the curtain, while they’re putting on a show.

Benjamin describes North Korea as very 1984-esque – extremely uniformed and contrived. He recalls waking up at 6 a.m. and hearing loudspeakers in the distance playing Communist chants and songs; oddly similar to the morning call to prayer in Muslim countries.

Instead, Benjamin saw propaganda – huge murals, posters and enormous bronze statues of their former leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim jong-Il.

One of the best parts of Benjamin’s visit was attending May Day celebrations. It’s one of the few times during the year when the country allows tourists to walk around freely for three hours.

I'm glad some of the people aren't crushed yet.

The pictures depicted scenes bleak, gray, and poor. Except, of course, for the government buildings upon which no expense was spared.

I don't think I'm going to want to visit.

No one seems to care, when Real pictures, depicting life there come out. They seem to only care about what the MSN tells them, so this thread will die a horrid death lol.

reply to post by Reaper2137

Dear Reaper2137,

I liked the shots of the peasants at the May Day picnic, and I'm glad the photographer could get three hours when he was allowed to take any shots of the partiers that he wanted.

But what was in the rest of the pictures? Ridiculously expensive and largely empty government buildings, Soviet style apartment blocks (which is considered to be among the worst possible designs.), hard labor in the fields, bicycles and rusty buses as the main form of transport.

The Main Stream Media doesn't tell us anything, they're not allowed in or out, for the most part. Why?

Sure, people are people, and they can bear up under terrible conditions. Some even sang in the camps. But what, really, do these pictures, which the government allowed him to take, show us?

With respect,
Charles1952

www.flickr.com...


These are the rest of his photos. Very interesting.

well, why would they? When you're a small country and every other guy out there is telling you you're a piece of #, why would you allow them any where near you? Think of it from their point of view, they have nothing to gain by letting in the western media and every thing to lose.

You let individual people in, than you have a chance of changing one heart and mind at a time. You let the media in, than you open up a whole can of worms, the rest of the world deals with on a daily basis. Does the NK really want to hear about some dumb bimbo who is only famous for being famous? Do they want that kind of bad journalism in their country?

Especially at a time, when they are trying desperately to normalize any and all relationships they can get. It's one thing to combat rumors, because of the media black out, it's another to combat, trumped up bull# because Fox news likes to make # up.