As promised, here’s round 2 of pictures from our trip to North Korea.
If you haven’t already, be sure to head over to part 1 first to read the introduction and get some background.
Alright, here it goes:
Despite often hearing things like this, I never at any point felt singled-out as an American or as though our guides (or the local people) felt any ill-will towards me. This is one of those cases where the distinction between the people and their government is extra important.
Since you aren’t allowed to leave the hotel after returning from your day out (justified in the words of our guides: “it’s better if you don’t leave the hotel because the locals can’t speak English and you might be inconvenienced”), the hotel is full of other activities to occupy your time. One of those is bowling (and a sign that looks like it hasn’t been upgraded for a few decades).
First, it was requested that we dress up. When we entered the mausoleum, we went through security (I was instructed to take my scarf off because it was too “casual,” apparently) and had to leave anything we were carrying behind – including cameras.
From there, we took a MASSIVE sequence of slow-moving walkways and escalators to actually get to the heart of the building. While on the walkways, we were asked to whisper, not lean on the handrails, and stand still (as opposed to using the walkway to walk…like a normal person would do).
For this reason, it felt like we were on the moving walkways FOREVER given little to do but whisper to our other tour group members or ‘admire’ the numerous Kim-family portraits and photos lining the never-ending hallway.
Eventually, we approached the low-lit hall that housed the bodies. First, we passed through a windy “sanitizer” and then we were ushered into the room where we were expected to bow, in groups of 4, at the feet, the left side, and the right side of each body…skipping the head.
As you can probably imagine, photos were not allowed inside, meaning that we only captured moments from the outside.
This included claims that pre-Korean War the United States was occupying South Korea under military rule (and thus North Korea had to intervene) and that the number of American troops that died or surrendered during the war was right around 405,000 (official estimates in the real world: around 35,000).
Stay tuned for parts 3 and 4 of this photo series: Beyond Pyongyang.
To learn more about North Korea, check out our other articles:
How to Visit North Korea on a Budget
101 Pictures of North Korea: Pyongyang – Part 1
Cheapest Way to Visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in South Korea
