Being a fan of all things railway I greatly looked forward to visiting this museum and, being in North Korea, I knew it would have that something extra. It did not disappoint. Continue reading “Pyongyang Railway Museum”
Train Travel in North Korea – For No One and for the Leaders
On 30 November 2018 a South Korean train crossed the border into North Korea. ‘So what’ – I hear you say – ‘trains cross international borders every day of the week’. Continue reading “Train Travel in North Korea – For No One and for the Leaders”
Train Travel in North Korea – Trains for the People
On both of my visits to North Korea (2014 and 2018) trains and the railway system more generally, within the country and beyond, were only mentioned by guides in terms of the Leaders, the very few on which tourists are permitted to travel and the non-existent service to Seoul in South Korea. The overall quality and reliability of the network and, in particular, the domestic service available to locals was not discussed. Continue reading “Train Travel in North Korea – Trains for the People”
Pyongyang Railway Station
Personally, I think Pyongyang’s Railway Station is one of the most beautiful buildings in North Korea but then again I have a thing about railway stations. While many of the high rise buildings built, at the speed of Chollima, in the city in the last five years or so may be as aesthetically pleasing, in their own ways, I wonder about their potential longevity. Continue reading “Pyongyang Railway Station”
Chollima Morphs To Mallima Under Kim Jong-un
If you have read some of my Panmunjom entries you will be aware that the Korean War, which started in 1950, continues to this day. However, hostilities, barring a number of minor and not so minor infractions, came to an end in 1953 with the signing of a military Armistice Agreement outside Panmunjom, a small village, in what is now the Demilitarised Zone, around the border with South Korea. Continue reading “Chollima Morphs To Mallima Under Kim Jong-un”
The Ryugyong Hotel In A Whole New Light
For a country that can build buildings in a day or two (for example, the Armistice Signing Hall in Panmunjom in the DMZ) and whole streets full of high rise buildings in a year the 330 metres high, 105 story Ryugyong Hotel (Ryugyong – ‘capital of willows’– a former name for Pyongyang) remains uncompleted after 27 years and until 2018 has been a major embarrassment for North Korea. Continue reading “The Ryugyong Hotel In A Whole New Light”
No Horns Or Tails Were Removed – A Pictorial Review
When many people think of North Korea, due to propaganda in the press, sensationalised blogs/ other social media and other biases and preconceptions they often think only of a wicked dictatorship now in possession of nuclear weapons and readying itself to take over the world while its people are brainwashed, starving and sent to gulags and re-education camps for the most trivial of offences or no offence at all. A growing number of people believe that the best way of dealing with these problems is to blow North Korea of the face of the earth. Continue reading “No Horns Or Tails Were Removed – A Pictorial Review”
Getting to North Korea by Air and Pyongyang Airport
Two airlines fly into North Korea (officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), the national airline, Air Koryo and Air China. Invariably you will fly in from Beijing to Pyongyang though a few tourists enter from Vladivostok and there are on again off again flights from Shanghai. The airline also has a (very) small number of other international routes (not currently used by tourists). Continue reading “Getting to North Korea by Air and Pyongyang Airport”
What Do North Koreans Think Of Americans?
In the introductory review on my September 2018 visit to North Korea I noted that the US President, Donald Trump, had entered into an amorous relationship with Kim Jong-un. On 29 September, 2018 at a political rally in Wheeling, West Virginia, President Trump declared that he and Kim Jong-un “fell in love” after the North Korean leader wrote him “beautiful letters”.
“I was really being tough, and so was he,” President Trump said of Marshal Kim. “And we were going back and forth, and then we fell in love, OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they’re great letters. We fell in love.” Continue reading “What Do North Koreans Think Of Americans?”
The Media and Freedom of Communication in North Korea
Article 67 of the North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press in North Korea. Continue reading “The Media and Freedom of Communication in North Korea”
The Rambling Wombat 