en.david.grajal

UPDATE 3/8: The video was not linked correctly, but now is fixed.

In the second week of July we had been two days in North Korea hiking Mount Kungang. It was not a real adventure. You can’t visit North Korea on your own, you must always go there with a tourist group and people related to the government always looking over your shoulder. That way they can control what you are doing and where you are and they can be sure that you don’t do anything inappropriate like speaking with normal people.

North Korea regime is the last communist state, widely totalitarian and considered to be a dictatorship where the main actor is Kim Il-sung, the country’s former leader. The current leader is Kim Jong-il, the late president Kim Il-sung’s son. The two of them are constantly present in huge mosaics all around the country. All the north Korean population wear a pin with the picture of the leader over the North Korea Flag.

This video was produced to remember the trip

When we crossed the South Korean border we entered in another world. There were North Korean soldiers standing perfectly silent every 500 meters. Soldier’s uniforms seems old, similar to the Russian uniform we are used to seeing in the cold-war era movies. North Korea has the fourth largest army in the world because close to 70% of the population can be called to arms if it is necessary.

North Korea is a natural paradise, when we enter the country we were shocked because it is very beautiful. Part of the charm is that there is no industry. At least in the area we visited, we could only see huge rice fields and small villages. Most of the villages didn’t have medium size familiar houses but only huge grey buildings. I suppose entire families are living under the same roof. We saw people working in the fields, normally by hand, sometimes with the help of animals. We only saw one tractor.

The area were we where residing is called 금강산 which is the tourist resort section in North Korea managed by Hyundai. In Spain we only know Hyundai motors but in reality it is a huge South Korean corporation (although recently it was divided in small pieces). The Mount Kumgang resort is the centerpiece of South Korean efforts to engage and invest in the North as a strategy to reduce hostilities along the world’s most militarized border. Hyundai’s founder is a North Korean and he has always been an important figure regarding the reunification of the countries. Indeed, the last day we were there, it was reunification day and there was a huge meeting in the resort celebrating the anniversary of the first reunification encounter after the Korean War.

Of course the most interesting views are when you leave the resort and are taken by bus to the nearby natural attractions. It’s supposed to be a clear area but you are not allowed to take pictures anyway. It’s easy know why taking into consideration we saw several tanks and rocket launchers in several close hills.

As I mention before every 500 meters or so there is an army member standing and controlling the area. I don’t know if this happens only in the closest areas to the resort or in the entire country. It seems that they are there to prevent the foreigners to go to restricted areas and to prevent the North Korean people to enter the resort. It may also be that the entire country is divided in small cells and every day one different civilian wears the military suit. That day he is responsible for controlling the people in the area and that can be the general idea, everybody is controlled by their own neighbors.

Returning to our trip, we hiked a beautiful mountain named mount Kumgang that is considered one of the most beautiful of the entire Korea. It was scary, especially close to the end. But it was amazing to see the old Korean women suffering a lot while climbing to the top. they had incredible strength and very strong will. In a very scary point I wanted to quit (I suffer vertigo) but when I saw a bunch of 50 year old women passing me, I realized that if they could do it, I must be able to do it too.

The next day we were exhausted and we went for a walk to the sea and the lake. It was a beautiful walk and we had the opportunity to speak with North Korean people. Most of them were creepy but some of them were really friendly and interested in our culture. I’m pretty sure none of them know where Spain is but all of them were smiling friendly anyway.

It was a very interesting trip in a very interesting country. Next stop, Japan!