While I watch very little television at home and I would seldom ever watch it while travelling, after my 2014 trip to North Korea I urged future visitors to actually watch a little television. Television, like many other things, in North Korea – or rather the programming content – is not quite like the television most of us are accustomed to at home. North Korea is not your everyday normal location. Continue reading “Ri Chun-hee And Television In North Korea”
The Flowers Of The Leaders – Why Doesn’t Kim Jong-un Have One?
Should you visit North Korea it will not take you long to realise that anything of any importance is named after Kim Il-sung or more recently, since his death in 2011, Kim Jong-il. Very little, at this point is named after the current leader, Kim Jong-un.
It will thus come as no surprise that the most important flowers (trumping the national flower, the magnolia) in North Korea are the Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia. Yes indeed, that is what they are called – I kid you not.
Continue reading “The Flowers Of The Leaders – Why Doesn’t Kim Jong-un Have One?”
Does One Really Need A Torch In North Korea?
To include this review as a warning or danger would be to exaggerate the impact on a visitor. The oft times lacking and erratic power supply in North Korea is more something you should be aware of and indeed I invite you to turn it to your advantage and enjoy the darkness in North Korea. Continue reading “Does One Really Need A Torch In North Korea?”
Rules Around Photography in North Korea and Their Enforcement – With a Side Comment on Mobile Phones
There are numerous rules for tourists in North Korea. The ones around photography are the most complicated, confusing, inconsistent and inconsistently applied. While the rules themselves seem to have been relaxed only very marginally, if at all, since my last visit in 2014 the enforcement of the rules seems not to be as strict – apart from in more remote and less visited parts of the country.
Very few visitors, apart from those who have no camera, make it through a tour of North Korea without being counselled on their photography – or rather, being told off for taking a photo when they should not have. Continue reading “Rules Around Photography in North Korea and Their Enforcement – With a Side Comment on Mobile Phones”
Money And The North Korean Economy
My reader will perhaps be rather puzzled as to why my first picture in a North Korean money review is of a 100 Chinese Yuan bill after which I feature some Euros and an American note while the local currency of North Korea, the Won, is relegated to fourth place. Continue reading “Money And The North Korean Economy”
Get To Know And Respect Your Kims
The purpose of this review is to introduce you to the key people (Kims) you should be familiar with prior to visiting North Korea. You will certainly be well aware of them before you leave unless you close your eyes and plug your ears for the duration of your trip! Should you read my other reviews you will encounter reference to, and more details on, these people with, perhaps, monotonous regularity. Welcome to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!
North Korea – An Encore – Back for More in 2018
My first visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) was in 2014. That was a nine-day trip coinciding with the 102nd anniversary of the birth of the country’s eternal president, Kim Il-sung and the Pyongyang Marathon in which foreign amateur runners were permitted to run for the first time. I watched the marathon! Continue reading “North Korea – An Encore – Back for More in 2018”
The Rambling Wombat 