November 23, 2012
The next morning we drove to the nearby Pohyon Buddhist temple (40.00866, 126.23515), which lies in a picturesque river valley surrounded by forest-covered mountains. If I were to ever come back to North Korea it is in this beautiful region I would like to spend more time. Our guide took us around the temple grounds, taking care to point out the markings on a stone tablet she said were left by American bullets. There is a small stone pagoda in the courtyard with bells hanging from it on all sides. The guide asked us to count the number of bells. I quickly said “Well, there are eight sides and thirteen levels, so 104”. She was kind of surprised by that, and said that when Kim Jong Il came there as a boy he answered in the same way I did while all the other kids counted the bells one by one. The point of the story, I guess, was to show how super-smart Kim Jong Il was. I wasn’t all that impressed but was happy to know I wasn’t out-smarted by a fifth-grader.
Pohyon Buddhist temple grounds
A stone tablet with bullet markings from the Korean War
The pagoda with bells on the Pohyon Buddhist temple grounds
Our final stop on the tour before heading back to the airport in Pyongyang was the International Friendship Exhibition right across the river (40.00687, 126.23053). Built in the traditional style of the Joseon Dynasty, the large museum complex is an impressive architectural specimen. The massive three-ton doors are guarded by two soldiers, each with an intricately engraved chrome AK-47. We surrendered our cameras and shoes as we walked inside, and placed protective slippers on our feet. The interior is a maze of marble hallways lined with well over a hundred rooms housing gifts that have been given to Kim IL Sung, Kim Jung Il, and Kim Jung Un from various foreign dignitaries and the like. The majority of the rooms are actually under the mountain that sits directly behind the visible exterior of the building. The longest hallway we saw was 300 meters in length.
International Friendship Exhibition
The range of gifts on display is vast and is intended as propaganda to show how much the world loves North Korea. We saw everything from an obsolete laptop from Lenovo to a luxury rail car from Russia. From the U.S. there was a basketball signed by Michael Jordan from Madeline Albright, what looked like a candy dish from Jimmy Carter, and a couple gifts from Billy Graham with the title on the plaque saying “The Reverend of the United States,” as if that was his official position. We both chuckled at the idea of two great manipulators of the masses coming together to swap ideas. There were a lot of weapons as well, but the most disturbing gifts in my opinion came from Robert Mugabe, the dictator of Zimbabwe. To each leader over the years he has presented a horn from a black rhinoceros.
We arrived back at the airport in Pyongyang later that afternoon and said goodbye to our guides. Getting through security was fairly easy. They did not search my bag or go through the photos on my camera, and my cell phone was returned to me as promised. We were much more relaxed sitting in the airport than we had been on arrival, and swapped stories with other travelers and diplomats. Still, it was a bit of a relief when the plane took off and we knew we were getting out without any trouble.
Many people (especially anonymous comment posters on CNN) are quick to criticize those that would travel to a place like North Korea without giving any real substance to their arguments. However I did come across a very well thought-out piece here that makes a number of compelling arguments as to why you should not. Looking back, though, I think our trip there was a good thing. I really wanted to see with my own eyes what it was like there so I would have a better understanding of it. If I’m honest, it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I realize they only showed us what they wanted us to see, but that’s not too different than any other country. If you come visit my city, Chicago, the tour guides aren’t going to take you to the South Side or what remains of Cabrini Green. They are going to show you the magnificent architecture downtown, the splendor of the Lake Michigan shoreline, the shopping on Michigan Avenue, and that damn bean in Millennium Park.
By visiting North Korea I have a much better perspective on the issue than the overwhelming majority of other people. I think for at least the favored people in Pyongyang the love they show for their leaders is not a ruse – they genuinely believe they are great people and revere them as deities. Tears well up in their eyes when they talk about the loss of the “Great Leader” and the “Dear Leader”. If you understand how they are indoctrinated from birth this makes sense. It is all they know – a real life version of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Do I think more people from the U.S. should go? I think there could be a small benefit to that, if they are the right people. Tim and I were very respectful of their rules and culture, and I believe we left a positive impression on those we met over there. If more Americans went over that played by the rules and were respectful it could help build better relations between our countries over time. I also believe the best path for sustainable peace is to be part of a country’s supply chain. The only economic avenue open to us right now is tourism. If tourism to North Korea grows, they will become more reliant on the money that comes in as a result and hence more sensitive to the negative impacts a belligerent foreign policy would have on that industry. It also has the benefit of providing them with a small glimpse into the outside world, and that’s very important when information is so controlled. An open internet in North Korea would bring down the government in a matter of weeks, I would wager.
The conditions for the North Korean people are not good by any means and there are countless human rights violations, but isolating North Korea doesn’t work. The leadership stays in power by keeping the population constantly afraid of outside aggressors, so by isolating them we only strengthen those at the top. I think a lot about the young girl I saw practicing Tae Kwon Do at the Schoolchildren’s Palace. A smile can be a powerful thing.
Revolution will come eventually. It always does.
sp(arcminute) 
Dude, I just read all of the North Korea posts. I’m blown away. Did you manage to talk or even make eye contact with anyone in the streets, even though from what it looked like it was just empty. For that matter, where were all the people? What about in the coutnryside? Did they really hide it all so well?
There were plenty of people, but most are not comfortable being photographed so we tried to be respectful of that. People would give us curious glances on the street, but unfortunately we were not really given the opportunity to interact with any of them. The only conversations we had were with our guides, military handlers, and hotel staff. The people in the countryside are different; they aren’t the favored class like those in Pyongyang and live a much harder life. But again we weren’t given the opportunity to talk to any of them. The couldn’t hide all the bad, but they did a pretty good job of it. I didn’t see anybody that looked to be starving, for example. But a two or three hour drive on a major highway and you only pass a handful of other vehicles… that doesn’t seem right in a small country with 20 million people.
Yeah, two or three hours across North Korea must have been a considerable part of the country, you just kind of wonder where everyone is. There doesn’t even look like there were any other tourists at all, were you the only two guys in your group?
I’m part of a group of people that is actually in the process of building a bit of a startup and collecting people’s real travel stories. I’d love to talk to you about reblogging some of your stuff on our site? It really is one of the most fascinating places in the world.