Pictures from North Korea

[Gary Whitta]

The UK Daily Telegraph had the first British journalist inside North Korea after the recent nuclear test. Here's a bunch of the photos he took:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Slideshow/slideshowContentFrameFragXL.jhtml;jsessionidN3AZEN S4ATHSHQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/11/01/korea/koreapix.xml&site=News

Just thought it was interesting to see some pics from a country that to all intents and purposes might as well be on another planet.

[Uncle Larry]

Here's some more. (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=27057&highlight=north+korea)

[Balasarius]

He didn't grab any pics of that abandoned 100-story hotel? It looms over the city, unfinished and unsafe. It's probably illegal to photograph it.

NK pics are very interesting. They block off all their beaches with barbed wire. Can you imagine? O.o

Thanks for the link, Gary.

[Gary Whitta]

They block off all their beaches with barbed wire. Can you imagine?.
Is that to prevent a seaborne invasion, or to prevent people leaving?

[Balasarius]

Not sure, probably both.

Edit - well, probably to prevent people escaping. Barbed wire and WWII era beaching obstacles are not likely to slow down a modern marine invasion. Although, KJI is probably stupid enough to think they will...

[Unicorn McGriddle]

They just really hate surfers.

[Theodore Rex DX]

Awesome, interesting link.

[Jason McCullough]

It's like the USSR with everything removed but the buildings.

What I want to know is how they get those uniforms without any industry. Half the population sews for a living?

[BaconTastesGood]

Is that to prevent a seaborne invasion, or to prevent people leaving?

Landsharks...duh.

[Damien Falgoust]

There's a nifty photo out there of the Earth at night as compiled from numerous satellite photos; you can pretty much tell how prosperous a place is by the amount of light coming from each region.

Anyway, one of the creepiest things about that photo is North Korea: you can clearly see its exact borders, because China and South Korea are well lit, but North Korea is totally dark.

[Enduro_Man]

Great links, Gary & Uncle Larry. Artemi Lebedev's experience, as described in Uncle's link, is very similar to that of one of my Swiss banking contacts. He went to the DPRK for his vacation two years ago, since he wanted to know if what he was seeing on TV was just "CNN propaganda" (his words). When he arrived in Pyongyang he found it to be much worse than anything he'd seen on the news before. "A real freak show," was how he described it. As described in the other accounts, he had to surrender his cell phone upon arrival, and his photography was heavily restricted. He was able to visit Kim Il-Sung's tomb palace, where he was impressed by its automatic shoe cleaners, but wasn't able to take any pictures.

One odd observation he had about Pyongyang: He did not see any old people during his visit. When he asked his handler about this, he was informed that persons past a certain age were relocated "to the country." (No, I don't think this is a euphemism like Soylent Green, but still...) Anyway, after a few days of seeing the sights, he headed back to China by train. Upon crossing the border, he was surprised by a couple of ChiCom officials in adjacent seats who'd burst into applause and cheers.

I told him that if he insists on visiting communist dictatorships for his vacations, he really ought to go to Cuba instead. Much better record for tourist satisfaction.

Damien: If you've got a copy of Celestia with a decent night-time texture, you can see this darkness very clearly.

[Gary Whitta]

Here's what I don't understand. How is it the Democratic People's Republic of Korea if it is neither democratic nor a republic?

[Old Man Gravy]

Despotic thugs may not be completely candid in self-description.

[Vincent_GC]

Here's what I don't understand. How is it the Democratic People's Republic of Korea if it is neither democratic nor a republic?

I thought they had elections.

You know, the kind where there is only one person running and gets 100% of the vote with 100% turnout.

[Gary Whitta]

Not to mention 11 holes in one!

[Kareem]

Actually, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Maybe he isn't allowed yet to photograph the really desolate areas.

[Jaysun]

It's like they are stuck in another time.

[Bill Dungsroman]

Here's what I don't understand. How is it the Democratic People's Republic of Korea if it is neither democratic nor a republic?
Seriously, Gary. I assume you're joking.

Fussbett from caltrops visited Cuba and took pics and posted them (i'd link but I don't remember where they are on the site). They look eerily similar to those, except that people are not allowed to congregate in any conspicuous fashion. Same clean-yet-shabby empty streets, 40-year-old government buildings with The Boss' likeness painted on them, creepy military demonstrations, retarded Marxist Commie propogandist murals.

As for the lack of lights, I imagine there's some lights-out curfew as well as people simply living third-world style without power.

[Gary Whitta]

They should just open it up to tourists. They'd make a fortune from the curious.

[Vincent_GC]

They do, to the Chinese I think.

I recall seeing some documentaries of NK and it commented on chinese visitors roaming around, taking pictures and such.

[XPav]

There's a nifty photo out there of the Earth at night as compiled from numerous satellite photos; you can pretty much tell how prosperous a place is by the amount of light coming from each region.

Anyway, one of the creepiest things about that photo is North Korea: you can clearly see its exact borders, because China and South Korea are well lit, but North Korea is totally dark.
That's actually a fake, sorry.

[Enduro_Man]

That's actually a fake, sorry.

There's not just one photo out there; there are several pictures taken from space that confirm this darkness (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights2_dmsp_big.jpg). True, North Korea isn't totally dark (Pyongyang, for one, is lit up), but the contrast with South Korea is striking.

[JMR]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061001.html

That the pic? NK doesn't look totally blacked out ... not that I'd want to live there or anything.

[Damien Falgoust]

Yes, that's the photo, and while there's a tiny dot for Pyongyang, the difference between the three countries is striking...especially between North and South Korea.

[Flowers]

The North Koreans have an early bedtime and prefer to save the environment by not using too much electricity when everyone should be resting for their next glorious day, so what? Honestly, what the fuck is there to do in Peoria after 9 pm that would warrant having all those goddamn lights on?

[antlers]

One odd observation he had about Pyongyang: He did not see any old people during his visit. When he asked his handler about this, he was informed that persons past a certain age were relocated "to the country." (No, I don't think this is a euphemism like Soylent Green, but still...)

There was recently a report by an international human rights organization that described camps in North Korea where the disabled were sent and basically starved to death.

[shift6]

He didn't grab any pics of that abandoned 100-story hotel? It looms over the city, unfinished and unsafe. It's probably illegal to photograph it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel

[Gary Whitta]

Wow that's amazing. What a fucked-up place that is.

[Flowers]

Seriously, Gary's Totalitarian Nation State run by a Cult of Personality would be way rad compart to teh DPRK. It actually would, I'm not kidding, I'd move to the DPRW sight unseen.

[Gary Whitta]

Seriously, Gary's Totalitarian Nation State run by a Cult of Personality would be way rad compart to teh DPRK. It actually would, I'm not kidding, I'd move to the DPRW sight unseen.
Yes you would, and you'd love it. Because if you didn't I'd have you killed.

[Enduro_Man]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel

Didn't I call an airstrike on that thing in Mercenaries?