North Korea (48 photos + text) Bashny.Net

The next test of a nuclear weapon, a recent North Korea, once again attracted the world's attention to this small country. Ukrainian expert Vitaly Kulik visited North Korea a few weeks ago and presented a "political club" a detailed report of what is now North Korea. In our view, the story was very interesting and exciting.


Vitaly Kulik. Good afternoon, we begin our expert meeting. The fact is that recently I was lucky, I was in North Korea and the Russian Far East. Hence the title of this meeting - "Hold whether Russian Far East." Seen evidence of important new trends in the development of the regions of Russia, which will affect the balance of global security and regional security. We'll start it with North Korea, I will introduce you to a presentation of our vision of what is happening in North Korea and the prospects for settlement of the conflict, as well as the situation in the future.

There is a certain set of myths about North Korea, which are produced by the international media, that it is a closed country, that there exists a Stalinism that there is full control of the authorities over the life of society, that there does not exist any form of self-expression and self-realization.

Let's start first with the pictures, and I'll explain in the course of what and how.

In the above image, an interesting point, because it symbolizes the unity of the three estates of Korea: worker, peasant, and in the middle - a brush - a symbol of the intelligentsia.

On the whole of North Korea. The fact that something of yourself now is North Korea, it's a little reminiscent of the spirit and style of the Soviet Union. Even more, the time of the forties and fifties with certain modifications.

This is the thirty-eighth parallel - this is the very building that separates North from South Korea. These barracks are places for conferences and meetings between North and South Korea, the thirty-eighth parallel.



Well, let's probably the first pictures look, and then I'll tell already on the move.



This Pioneer unit, that is, there pioneers, Komsomol, and now there is a Union of Youth, Kim Il Sung, and the Pioneer organization. Everything, as in our old time, the only difference is that the people who went through the school of the Pioneer and Komsomol organizations to move quickly through the ranks, they will be appointed to office, and functionaries are one of the driving elements of society in North Korea.



This arch dedicated to the revolutionary struggle, which began in 1925, the first revolutionary activities of President Kim Il Sung, and 1945 - the year of Korea's liberation.



This is the entrance to the subway. Metro developed, it certainly is not the scale of Kiev, but the cheapest in the world - five won. Given the market rate and won in 2600 won per one dollar, I do not presume to say what a hundredth or a thousandth of a cent. Free actually.



This turns on the transport. There is no minibuses, trolley-buses made by hand, as there is no media, so they are slightly wrinkled. When I asked why such a roof in trolleybuses, explained to me that, you know, in Korea, there is no media, so everything is done by hand, as the basis for the ideology of Juche is self-reliance.



This exhibition of flowers, the flowers are of two kinds. It flowers kimirsenhva and kimchenirhva, small flowers - it kimirsenhva and large flowers - it kimchenirhva. History of colors is very interesting, because the flowers brought two supporters Juche in Indonesia and Japan. Kimirsenhva brought revolutionary, who lived in Indonesia during the Suharto, he brought the flower and gave President Kim Il Sung. But after Suharto came to power, the flower has disappeared and only just recently been found again and returned as if to North Korea. And now he is a symbol of the Juche character and Comrade Kim Il Sung. Kimchenirhva chuchheist brought from Japan, Japanese, who gave this flower Comrade Kim Jong Il.



This is - a young Korean boy clothes national, here there is a date - 2012. 2012 - this is the date when North Korea must become a powerful socialist country with nuclear weapons and space fleet. We conduct Euro 2012, and there are building a powerful Korean state.



In general, neither hunger nor any problems with textbooks, with the technique I have not seen. Each school has a computer lab, in principle, it does not matter last year I was in rural schools, urban schools, we could choose from a list of any school could poke a finger number of the school, and could take us there. In fact, all schools are computerized.



This - the Spring Festival, the birthday of Kim Il Sung, dancing. Imagine that the whole town comes out in the square and dancing. Then there is a signal, all built in the ranks, and go to an unknown destination. All very clear, all very worked out. Here in the photo, even I am taking part in these dances.

Yuri Romanenko. And the same is clearly spent in the dance movements. (Laughter)

Vitaly Kulik. By the way, dance is very nice and beautiful music. Schools have no Internet and Intranet is an internal network, which brings together various universities and institutions computer, but this internal network is mainly designed for high schools.

There is exchange of dissertations, essays, term papers between students of different universities. There are even ICQ under this Intranent, but Internet access does not exist. It is only at the party's leadership, as well as in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the hotel and you can send e-mail, but you do not access your mailbox for free, you are sending from the box away. It costs two euros, you can send and receive, but this same address from which you are sending.

Yuri Romanenko. Two euros for one letter?

Vitaly Kulik. Yes, two euros for one letter. Access to the network at the same no.



Here is one of the computer labs, where the online conference between universities, and it Polytechnic Kim Chuck - the right hand of Kim Il Sung, the scanner to which you put the slide, it shows on the screen, immediately receives the same image, the university, for example, in Nampo, there is an exchange and other discussion.
We got on one such meeting by chance, we were quickly sent. This - Ariana rehearsal. There acrobatic activities that are carried out for the anniversary, to round dates in the history of Korea, in the history of the party, the birthday of Kim Il Sung and other holidays, when people with their bodies lay out letters, whole sentences, pictures and so on. Very nice it looks.



Here's what a normal schoolgirl Pyongyang.

There is a difference in dress, shows the difference in income between rural and urban populations and in other cities in Korea and Pyongyang. It is evident that the level of wealth in Pyongyang higher. But in principle, we can say that there is some middle strap, which determines the overall level of prosperity Koreans.

Vladimir Lupatsy. Shops are?

Vitaly Kulik. Shopping is, they operate, there are markets. In the markets you can buy food.


That's one of the specifics of building cities - facades built up large multi-storey houses, and behind them upon the mountains are hidden shack. It is very clean, well laid and all the stuff, but that's a facade, but behind the facade is still preserved here are the shack.


This is the kind of Pyongyang on top of the hotel "Koryo", you can see that the majority of high-rise buildings. Koreans are not used to living in high-rise buildings, therefore, as we have explained, still live in hovels. Although in reality it is simply impossible to build up Pyongyang, he is so mountainous.




In Pyongyang, no traffic lights, there's such young ladies that show how to ride. Moreover, they are very beautiful, this is a special selection in politics.


Vladimir Stus. Private cars they do not have?

Vitaly Kulik. Cars have even private. Especially common among private cars chhёnrёn (Koreans, the DPRK citizens living in Japan), for instance, the machine on which we were taken.



This is such an old Mercedes for foreign visitors. Machines are in private ownership, the car is mainly public, but there are also private. Private cars have chhёnrёn it Koreans who live permanently in Japan. Two hundred thousand Koreans live in Japan and have a residence permit. Japanese call their ethnic organized criminal group, because they are engaged in "smuggling, and illegal business." Basically chhёnrёn prophenyanskaya community, so have a problematic relationship with the official Tokyo.
But the fact is that chhёnrёn - is a type of income for most of North Korea, as sometimes feed heavily Korea. This is a very rich, one of chhёnrёnovtsev, for example, has built an entire street in Pyongyang. The median income chhёnrёnovtsa in Japan is approximately about ten thousand Euros per month. Business is very developed, and a significant portion of these funds then settles in North Korea, why is the source of replenishment. Because they are allowed to have private cars, there's even a quarter called "Hitachi", home chhёnrёn. For me it was the discovery, unfortunately, there is no such photos when you go to Pyongyang, falls on the playground, where they play baseball, with full equipment, bits, respectively real baseball in Pyongyang. It is as though there is a very common game.



It's - Korean wedding.



This is - a small Buddhist monastery, stupa, a few stupas on the hill Arengak.







Now in general the attitude towards religion. Religion ogosudarstvlena, there is an Orthodox Committee of Korea, there are Buddhist committees, and there chhёngode. Chhёngode - a synthetic religion Koreans invented in the nineteenth century, as a protest against the domination of Lutherans and Protestants. Buddhists, here we are dealing with one of the monks, there are about twenty-two thousand, that is, the parishioners and about two thousand monks across North Korea.


There is also the only Orthodox Church, which is ruled by two Korean priest, that is, ethnic Koreans. They were directed by the order party. Here the priest stands near the representative is a parishioner of the Orthodox Church, mostly Russian, living in North Korea.


Here we can see in the photo of the two Korean priests. Sometimes you can see the priest in a cassock with a badge with the image of Kim Il Sung. Order of the party they were sent to study at one of the seminars at Moscow, and accordingly hold a religious cult in North Korea for the needs of Russian and a small group of North Koreans converted to Orthodoxy. As I said the priest local, there are only twelve such Koreans. Basically, all the Orthodox - is Russian.


This is - a monument to the Juche idea, one of the greatest monuments in Asia.


This - the area in which the origin of all military parades.
This - the view from the Palace of education. On one of the buildings there are two portraits of Marx and Lenin.

But if you look closely to the portrait of Marx, we see that he has slanted eyes. Thus the party leadership had to attach to the ideas of Marx.


This - famous paintings depicting how his wife Kim Bong Suk protects Comrade Kim Il Sung from the Japanese invaders. Was actually an episode when she defended Kim Il Sung by some sniper.



This poster during the war of liberation against the American invaders. If you look closely at the posters, they are very similar to our military posters forties. And there is even Motherland Calls, unfortunately not such a photo where a Korean woman in a pose known to us the poster.

Many posters were borrowed because propagandists and training Koreans took place in Soviet military schools and military instructors were up to fifty years one of the main, who represented foreigners in Korea. The Soviet and Chinese. But in the years 1956-1959 there was a crisis, when it was dissolved fraction nizkopoklontsev, which focused on the Soviet Union, and most of the officers and a part of the party elite, focused on the Soviet Union, were either destroyed or left because the party nomenclature early fifties were three groups. One group was a Soviet Koreans who returned to Korea to train Koreans for independence. The second group - they were pro-Chinese people living in China. The third group was the South Korean Communist Party, the strongest Communist Party while in Korea. And the Kim Il Sung brought a guerrilla, ie, the backbone of its elite, which later came to power, it was the guerrillas who fought with him in Manchuria.



This - the countryside, here are the houses that are interspersed with shanties. Classic villages that were in Korea in the nineteenth - early twentieth century, no longer exists, there are home, here are the villages.


This - the rice fields, cultivated mainly by means of cows and horses. Technology is very small, tractors, we almost never seen. But North Korea is in contrast to the South is the mountainous terrain, and have to work manually.


The whole territory of Korea, even near roads small plots of land they cultivated, and there is no land on which something is not growing.


It - park on Rёngake, very convenient location, very popular for picnics and kebabs.
Vladimir Lupatsy. And what's the alcohol?

Vitaly Kulik. Alcohol - beer, which is based on technology "Baltika", the Russian factory, very tasty beer. Vodka three species. Vodka reed or bamboo, vodka, based on ginseng and vodka with a snake. Koreans themselves vodka with a snake does not drink, but sell it to tourists. Basically popular ginseng and bamboo vodka.


This - cemetery revolutionaries. This I put flowers on the grave of the mother of Kim Jong Il - an obligatory rite for all the guests, for all the tourists who come to Korea.

There is also a museum of the revolution, pedestal Comrade Kim Il Sung. The museum contains all the elements of the revolution, all the things that have ever held in the hands of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, from pistols, donated by the father of President Kim Il Sung, to pens and pencils that wrote Comrade Kim Jong Il at school .



This - the area of ​​the monument and Comrade Kim Il Sung, a very beautiful place, very nicely done and monumental.



This - the museum presents Comrade Kim Il Sung, it is about fifty thousand gifts, handed President Kim Il Sung during his life and after life. Until now given presents Comrade Kim Il Sung.



This is - a top view of the mountains Mejia, very pretty fabulous countryside, this is fantasy, I would say.


In Mehyane live mainly representatives of the UN, which zadeystovanny in the UN program for the supply of food to North Korea, and foreign tourists. Foreign tourists there very much, by the way. Basically, it is the Europeans and Chinese. The Chinese are coming there to see what they could be if the Red Guards won.

By the way, I forgot to tell you about the museum presents Kim Jong Il has two museums: President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. It is also about one hundred thousand gifts, because so far presented. We also, for example, gave very good things Comrade Kim Jong Il, they are all spread out there, there you can see from the first "Panasonic" and equipment "Hitachi" to modern technology, mobile phones and so on. By the way, mobile phones are banned in North Korea for foreigners, but allowed for the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and the military.

This monumental structure - a gateway that separates the South Korean sea, it is also called the South China gateway separates Tedongan - River, the main river of North Korea and the sea, which allows the passage of vessels.



The gateway was built in the eighties for eighty billion dollars. But now the floods have become rare in North Korea, mainly just because of rains, which are often in this area.



Here is a young Korean clothing. The history of this dress is very interesting. At the time, Comrade Kim Il Sung sewed for the little Kim Jong Il general form. After that, many Koreans sew their children form generals generalissimusskimi with epaulets and marks of distinction. This is a tradition.

In general, Koreans are very sensitive to the story, but basically all the historical objects they remake, because in the fifties, Americans have destroyed all that was in North Korea. Only the small building. In the Pyongyang only two buildings remained intact, all the other buildings were destroyed.






























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