The Nightmare World Of North Korea - With Video
From an article in The Sun by Oliver Harvey…
In a cold sweat, I was led away by the jackbooted and armed North Korean border guards to a bleak side room.
My crime was that I’d disobeyed strict orders and taken pictures of the Stalinist dictatorship’s long-suffering people and the ruthless military who keep them suppressed.
Rogue North Korea isn’t the greatest place to be detained by the army.
The “Axis Of Evil” member, described as the “most barbaric regime on the planet”, is ruled by oddball despot Kim Jong-il, whose finger hovers over the nuclear button.
Check out Oliver Harvey’s video report.
The soldiers, in large khaki peaked hats bearing the red Communist badge, took me to the almost bare white room, their heels clicking on the stone floor.
On a large wooden desk was a flickering computer screen displaying a series of forbidden pictures I had obtained after spending all day playing cat and mouse with the North Korean secret police.
No one in the room was smiling – least of all me. Legs trembling, I lowered myself on to a leather sofa and remembered The Sun’s witty headline, “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Korea?” printed when Kim tested a nuclear device in 2006.
At that moment, it didn’t seem all that funny.
My day trip had begun with a strict set of rules provided by the South Korean tour company which has been running trips to the city of Kaesong, in the North, since December.
Sun photographer Phil Hannaford and I were given a sheet of paper headed Banned Items And Other Regulations.
On the list of nonos were mobile phones – taken from me at the border – and cameras with a telephoto lens.
One order said: “You must ALWAYS wear your ID around your neck.”
We could talk to North Koreans but were told: “Do not talk about politics, diplomatic relations, economics and other sensitive issues.”
The regulations also insisted: “You may not take random pictures of North Koreans, including from inside the bus.”
So, along with hundreds of South Koreans on tourist coaches, we edged through the three-mile Demilitarized Zone – the most heavily-guarded border in the world.
Korea has been divided since the Second World War, when the then Soviet-ruled North split from the South.
Passing through the razor wire and watchtowers the South’s soldiers, dressed in US GI-style fatigues, were soon replaced by the darker, Soviet-type uniform of the North.
Passing over the North Korean border was a doddle. But soon security was put on the bus. One of the South Korean guides had placed themselves in the seat in front of me while in the seat behind photographer Phil, a North Korean plain-clothes security man had materialised.
As we passed through an industrial area of new factories – sponsored by South Korea – I thought I’d shoot some film of the apparently innocent view. I immediately felt the hand of the North Korean on my shoulder.
“No, no, no. Not allowed,” he barked.
Soon we hit Kaesong, once the capital of all Korea and one of the North’s major towns. It was like something from old newsreels.
People either slowly walked or cycled through the streets past grey tower blocks bearing Communist slogans and ramshackle Korean-style slate-roofed houses.
Cars were almost totally absent.
(…)
A US-based human rights group has estimated there are up to 200,000 political prisoners in North Korea.
Reports of torture, public executions, slave labour and forced abortions in prison camps have also emerged.
We were unable to talk to any non-approved North Koreans as the goons in suits kept us well away.
Back at the border Phil and I took different queues at security to increase the chances of getting through. But after a metal detector picked up my camera I was taken to the sparse room by the military and questioned about my pictures. I was then led outside to await my fate.
Meanwhile, Phil had passed by during the fuss and was back on the bus, his rare pictures from inside North Korea safe.
After 15 of the longest minutes of my life I was slapped with a 100-dollar fine and my pictures deleted.
I was free to go – but North Korea’s 23.8million brutalised people remain trapped inside the Dear Leader’s nightmare world.
Click here to read the full article.
(Sun)
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
If there ever was a leader who deserves a bullet its that short, fat little bastard kim jong il.
if i could get away with it i would sneak in there and do it myself and never have a regret for the rest of my life.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:16 amLook carefully at the pics western orientalists…that’s what Hitler’s utopia looks like. Then look to your own miserable existenaces in your own countries. You got nothing to complain about.
March 31st, 2008 at 8:23 am
From a satellite view, take a look at the difference between North and South Korea at night. That should tell it all.
March 31st, 2008 at 9:08 amhttp://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/218-koreas-dark-half/
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/218-koreas-dark-half/
March 31st, 2008 at 9:10 amI still remember seeing a documentary on North Korea where an investigator with a hidden camera documented a few starving children who could barely stand begging with people throwing bones to them. It was one of the most unsettling things I’ve ever seen.
Another example: An eye doctor went to North Korea to help those who were legally blind. Once they were fixed, it wasn’t the *doctor* they thanked, it was their Dear Leader. They did this at a gathering. It was extremely cult-like in its scope. I couldn’t tell if it was because they were brainwashed or if it was out of fear.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:52 amThis is a place where all libs should have to go for at least 6 months. Live under NK rules and regs. Then, maybe they would have a proper reference point, the next time they use the word “Hitler”.
The documentary is “Children of the Secret State”.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:21 pmhttp://www.mininova.org/tor/476708
To whom much is given, much is required. which comes from the last half of the scripture of Luke 12:48. The next verses being ironic are about Jesus saying that He has not come to bring peace but division and
49″I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
This Christian nation has the responsibility that freedom brings with it. We cannot hide this light under a bushel. Freedom must be shared with the world and forced upon those that would impose the opposite. Isn’t it ironic that the greatest opposition comes from within the bastion of freedom that we call the United States.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:22 pmThe world is waiting for us to do something.
I read this article earlier.. amazing how that place is. And I’d imagine you’re seeing the “best” of NK. What about the more northern areas.. where the tour busses don’t go?
That place will implode one day.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:43 pmJust watched that movie. Pretty wild. Thanks for posting Dan.
March 31st, 2008 at 4:00 pm