A frank interview with a refugee about life in North Korea. How people live in North Korea is terrible, of course.

Human society constantly experimenting with how it can arrange itself in such a way that most of its members would be as comfortable as possible.

From the outside, it probably looks like a rheumatic fat man trying to get comfortable on a flimsy couch sharp corners“No matter how the poor fellow turns, he will certainly pinch himself of something, then he will serve time,” they say “ " with reference to chisartravel.com

Not to express deep respect to the image of the leader is to endanger not only yourself, but also your entire family.

Some particularly desperate experiments were costly. Take, for example, the 20th century. The entire planet was a gigantic testing ground where two systems clashed in rivalry. Society is against individuality, totalitarianism is against democracy, order is against chaos. As we know, chaos won, which is not surprising. You see, it takes a lot of effort to ruin chaos, while the most perfect order can be destroyed with one well-placed bowl of chili.

Order does not tolerate mistakes, but chaos... chaos feeds on them.

The love of freedom is a vile quality that interferes with ordered happiness

A demonstration defeat took place at two experimental sites. Two countries were taken: one in Europe, the second in Asia. Germany and Korea were neatly divided in half and in both cases a market, elections, freedom of speech and individual rights were introduced in one half, while the other half was ordered to build an ideally fair and well-functioning social system, in which the individual has the only right - to serve the common good.

However, the German experiment went unsuccessfully from the very beginning. Cultural traditions Even Hitler did not completely exterminate the freedom-loving Germans - where does Honecker belong? And it is difficult to create a socialist society right in the middle of the swamp of decaying capitalism. It is not surprising that the GDR, no matter how much effort and money was poured into it, did not demonstrate any brilliant success; it produced the most pathetic economy, and its inhabitants, instead of being filled with a competitive spirit, preferred to run to their Western relatives, masquerading at the border as the contents of their suitcases.

The Korean site promised great success. Still, the Asian mentality is historically more inclined towards submission, total control, and even more so if we're talking about the Koreans, who lived under Japanese protectorate for almost half a century and had all sorts of freedoms, had long been forgotten.

Juche forever

Kim Il Sung at the beginning of his reign.

After a series of rather bloody political upheavals, he became the almost sole ruler of the DPRK. former captain Soviet army Kim Il Sung. He was once a partisan who fought against the Japanese occupation, then, like many Korean communists, he ended up in the USSR and in 1945 returned to his homeland to build a new order. Knowing the Stalinist regime well, he managed to recreate it in Korea, and the copy in many ways surpassed the original.

The entire population of the country was divided into 51 groups social background degree of loyalty to the new regime. Moreover, unlike the USSR, it was not even hushed up that the very fact of your birth into the “wrong” family can be a crime: exiles and camps here have been officially sending not only criminals, but also all members of their families, for more than half a century number of young children. The main ideology of the state became the “Juche idea,” which, with some stretch, can be translated as “self-reliance.” The essence of ideology comes down to the following provisions.

North Korea is the most great country in the world. Very good. All other countries are bad. There are very bad ones, and there are inferior ones who are in slavery to the very bad ones. There are also countries that are not exactly bad, but also bad. For example, China and the USSR. They followed the path of communism, but distorted it, and this is wrong.

The characteristic features of a Caucasian are always signs of an enemy.

Only North Koreans live happily, all other peoples eke out a miserable existence. The most unhappy country in the world is South Korea. It has been taken over by the damned imperialist bastards, and all South Koreans are divided into two categories: jackals, vile minions of the regime, and oppressed pathetic beggars who are too cowardly to drive out the Americans.

Most great person in the world - the great leader Kim Il Sung*. He liberated the country and expelled the damned Japanese. He is a wise man on the ground. He is a living god. That is, he is already lifeless, but this does not matter, because he is forever alive. Everything you have was given to you by Kim Il Sung. The second great man is the son of the great leader Kim Il Sung, the beloved leader Kim Jong Il. The third is the current owner of the DPRK, the grandson of the great leader, the brilliant comrade Kim Jong-un. We express our love for Kim Il Sung through hard work. We love to work. We also love to learn the Juche idea.

• By the way, in Korea we would have been sent to a camp for this phrase. Because Koreans are taught from kindergarten that the name of the great leader Kim Il Sung must appear at the beginning of the sentence. Damn, this one would have been exiled too...

We North Koreans are great happy people. Hooray!

Magic levers

Kim Il Sung and his closest aides were, of course, crocodiles. But these crocodiles had good intentions. They were really trying to create an ideally happy society. And when is a person happy? From the point of view of order theory, a person is happy when he takes his place, knows exactly what to do, and is satisfied with the existing state of affairs. Unfortunately, the one who created people made many mistakes in his creation. For example, he instilled in us a craving for freedom, independence, adventurism, risk, as well as pride and the desire to express our thoughts out loud.

All these vile human qualities interfered with a state of complete, orderly happiness. But Kim Il Sung knew well what levers could be used to control a person. These levers - love, fear, ignorance and control - are fully involved in Korean ideology. That is, they are also involved a little in all other ideologies, but no one here can keep up with the Koreans.

Ignorance

Until the early 80s, televisions in the country were distributed only according to party lists.

Any unofficial information is completely illegal in the country. There is no access to any foreign newspapers or magazines. There is practically no literature as such, except for the officially approved works of modern North Korean writers, which, by and large, amount to praising the ideas of the Juche and the great leader.

Moreover, even North Korean newspapers cannot be stored here for too long: according to A.N. Lankov, one of the few specialists on the DPRK, it is almost impossible to obtain a fifteen-year-old newspaper even in a special storage facility. Still would! Party policy sometimes has to change, and there is no need for the average person to follow these fluctuations.

Koreans have radios, but each device must be sealed in the workshop so that it can only receive a few government radio channels. For keeping an unsealed receiver at home, you are immediately sent to a camp, along with your entire family.

There are televisions, but the cost of a device made in Taiwan or Russia, but with a Korean brand stuck on top of the manufacturer’s mark, is equal to approximately five years’ salary of an employee. So few people can watch TV, two state channels, especially considering that electricity in residential buildings is turned on for only a few hours a day. However, there is nothing to watch there, unless, of course, you count hymns to the leader, children's parades in honor of the leader and monstrous cartoons about how you need to study well in order to fight well against the damned imperialists.

North Koreans, of course, do not travel abroad, except for a tiny layer of members of the party elite. Some specialists can use the Internet with special permits - several institutions have computers connected to the Internet. But to sit down at them, a scientist needs to have a bunch of passes, and any visit to any site is naturally registered and then carefully studied by the security service.

Luxury housing for the elite. There is even a sewer system and elevators work in the morning!

In the world official information A fabulous lie is happening. What they say in the news is not just a distortion of reality - it has nothing to do with it. Did you know that the average American ration does not exceed 300 grams of grains per day? At the same time, they do not have rations as such; they must earn their three hundred grams of corn in a factory, where the police beat them, so that the Americans work better.

Lankov gives a charming example from a North Korean third-grade textbook: “A South Korean boy, in order to save his dying sister from starvation, donated a liter of blood for American soldiers. With this money he bought rice cake for his sister. How many liters of blood must he donate so that half a cake will also go to him, his unemployed mother and his old grandmother?

The North Korean knows practically nothing about the world around him, he knows neither the past nor the future, and even the exact sciences in local schools and institutes are taught with the distortions required by the official ideology. Such an information vacuum, of course, comes at a fantastic price. low level science and culture. But it's worth it.

Love

The North Korean has almost no understanding of the real world

Love brings happiness, and this, by the way, is very good if you make a person love what he needs. The North Korean loves his leader and his country, and they help him in every way possible. Every adult Korean is required to wear a pin with a portrait of Kim Il Sung on his lapel; in every house, institution, in every apartment there should be a portrait of the leader hanging. The portrait should be cleaned daily with a brush and wiped with a dry cloth. So, for this brush there is a special drawer, standing on place of honor in the apartment. There should be nothing else on the wall on which the portrait hangs, no patterns or pictures - this is disrespectful. Until the seventies, damage to a portrait, even unintentional, was punishable by execution; in the eighties, this could have been done with exile.

The eleven-hour working day of a North Korean daily begins and ends with half-hour political information, which tells about how good it is to live in the DPRK and how great and beautiful the leaders of the greatest country in the world are. On Sunday, the only non-working day, colleagues are supposed to meet together to once again discuss the Juche idea.

The most important school subject— study of the biography of Kim Il Sung. In each kindergarten, for example, there is a carefully guarded model of the leader’s native village; preschool children are required to show without hesitation exactly under which tree “the great leader, at the age of five, reflected on the fate of humanity,” and where “he trained his body through sports and hardening to fight the Japanese invaders.” There is not a single song in the country that does not contain the name of the leader.

Control

All the youth in the country serve in the army. There are simply no young people on the streets.

Control over the state of minds of the citizens of the DPRK is carried out by the MTF and MOB, or the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Public Security. Moreover, the MTF is in charge of ideology and deals only with serious political offenses of the residents, while ordinary control over the lives of Koreans is under the jurisdiction of the MTF. It is the MOB patrols that carry out raids on apartments for their political decency and collect denunciations from citizens against each other.

But, naturally, no ministries would be enough for vigil, so the country has created a system of “inminbans”. Any housing in the DPRK is included in one or another inminban - usually twenty, thirty, rarely forty families. Each inminban has a headman - a person responsible for everything that happens in the cell. Every week, the head of the Inminban is obliged to report to the representative of the Ministry of Public Security about what is happening in the area entrusted to him, whether there is anything suspicious, whether anyone has uttered sedition, or whether there is unregistered radio equipment. The head of the Inminban has the right to enter any apartment at any time of the day or night; not letting him in is a crime.

Every person who comes to a house or apartment for more than a few hours is required to register with the headman, especially if he intends to stay overnight. The apartment owners and the guest must provide the warden with a written explanation of the reason for the overnight stay. If, during a MOB raid, unaccounted-for guests are found in the house, not only the owners of the apartment, but also the headman will go to a special settlement. In particularly obvious cases of sedition, responsibility may fall on all members of the inminban at once - for failure to inform. For example, for an unauthorized visit of a foreigner to a Korean’s home, several dozen families may end up in the camp at once if they saw him, but hid the information.

Traffic jams in a country where there is no private transport are, as we see, a rare phenomenon.

However, unaccounted guests are rare in Korea. The fact is that you can move from city to city and from village to village only with special passes, which the elders of the inminbans receive at the Moscow Public Library. You can wait months for such permits. And to Pyongyang, for example, no one can go to Pyongyang just like that: people from other regions are allowed into the capital only for official reasons.

Fear

The DPRK is ready to fight the imperialist vermin with machine guns, calculators and volumes of Juche.

According to human rights organizations, approximately 15 percent of all North Koreans live in camps and special settlements.

There are regimes of varying severity, but usually these are simply areas surrounded by energized barbed wire where prisoners live in dugouts and shacks. In strict regimes, women, men and children are kept separately, while in regular regimes, families are not prohibited from living together. Prisoners cultivate the land or work in factories. The working day here lasts 18 hours, all free time is reserved for sleep.

Most strong problem There is famine in the camp. A defector to South Korea, Kang Cheol Hwan, who managed to escape from the camp and get out of the country, testifies that the standard diet for an adult camp resident was 290 grams of millet or corn per day. Prisoners eat rats, mice and frogs - this is a rare delicacy, a rat corpse is here great value. The mortality rate reaches approximately 30 percent in the first five years, the reason for this is hunger, exhaustion and beatings.

Also a popular measure for political offenders (as well as for criminal ones) is the death penalty. It is automatically applied when it comes to such serious violations as disrespectful words addressed to the great leader. Death executions are carried out publicly, by shooting. High school and student excursions are brought to them so that young people get a correct idea of ​​what is good and what is bad.

That's how they lived

Portraits of precious leaders hang even in the subway, in every car.

The life of a North Korean who has not yet been convicted, however, cannot be called a raspberry. As a child, he spends almost all his free time in kindergarten and school, since his parents have no time to sit with him: they are always at work. At seventeen, he is drafted into the army, where he serves for ten years (for women, the service life is reduced to eight). Only after the army can he go to college and get married (marriage is prohibited for men under 27 and women under 25).

He lives in a tiny apartment, 18 meters of total area here is very comfortable housing for a family. If he is not a resident of Pyongyang, then with a 99 percent probability he has neither water supply nor sewerage in his house; even in cities there are water pumps and wooden toilets in front of apartment buildings.

He eats meat and sweets four times a year, on national holidays, when residents are given coupons for these types of food. Usually he feeds on rice, corn and millet, which he receives on ration cards at the rate of 500-600 grams per adult in “well-fed” years. Once a year he is allowed to receive ration cards for 80 kilograms of cabbage in order to pickle it. Small free market here in last years got started, but the cost of a skinny chicken is equal to the monthly salary of an employee. Party officials, however, eat quite decently: they receive food from special distributors and differ from the very lean rest of the population by being pleasantly plump.

Almost all women have their hair cut short and permed, since the great leader once said that this particular hairstyle suits Korean women very well. Now wearing a different hairstyle is like signing your own disloyalty. Long hair Men's haircuts are strictly prohibited; haircuts longer than five centimeters can lead to arrest.

Experiment results

The ceremonial children from a privileged Pyongyang kindergarten, allowed to be shown to foreigners.

Deplorable. Poverty, a practically non-functioning economy, population decline - all these signs of failed social experience spiraled out of control during Kim Il Sung's lifetime. In the nineties, real famine came to the country, caused by drought and the cessation of food supplies from the collapsed USSR.

Pyongyang tried to hush up the true scale of the disaster, but, according to experts who studied satellite imagery, approximately two million people died of hunger during these years, that is, every tenth Korean died. Despite the fact that the DPRK was a rogue state, guilty of nuclear blackmail, the world community began to supply humanitarian aid there, which it is still doing.

Love for the leader helps not to go crazy - this is the state version of the “Stockholm syndrome”

In 1994, Kim Il Sung died, and since then the regime began to creak especially loudly. Nevertheless, nothing has changed fundamentally, except for some liberalization of the market. There are signs that suggest that the North Korean party elite is ready to give up the country in exchange for guarantees of personal integrity and Swiss bank accounts.

But now South Korea no longer expresses immediate readiness for unification and forgiveness: after all, take on board 20 million people who are not adapted to modern life, is a risky business. Engineers who have never seen a computer; peasants who are excellent at cooking grass, but are unfamiliar with the basics of modern agriculture; civil servants who know the Juche formulas by heart, but have not the slightest idea of ​​what a toilet looks like... Sociologists predict social upheavals, stockbrokers predict St. Vitus's dance on the stock exchanges, ordinary South Koreans are reasonably afraid of a sharp decline in living standards.

Even in a store for foreigners, where Koreans are not allowed to enter, the range of goods is not very diverse.

So the DPRK still exists - a crumbling monument to a great social experiment, which once again showed that freedom, despite all its untidiness, is perhaps the only path that humanity can follow.

A country in half: historical background

Kim Il Sung

In 1945, Soviet and American troops occupied Korea, thus freeing it from Japanese occupation. The country was divided along the 38th parallel: the north went to the USSR, the south to the USA. Some time was spent trying to agree on unifying the country back, but since the partners had different views on everything, naturally no consensus was reached and in 1948 the formation of two Koreas was officially announced. It cannot be said that the parties gave up like this, without effort. In 1950, the Korean War began, somewhat reminiscent of the Third World War. From the north, the USSR, China and the hastily formed North Korean army fought, the honor of the southerners was defended by the USA, Great Britain and the Philippines, and among other things, UN peacekeeping forces were still traveling back and forth across Korea, throwing a spanner in the works of both. In general, it was quite stormy.

In 1953 the war ended. True, no agreements were signed; formally, both Koreas continued to remain in a state of war. North Koreans call this war the “Patriotic Liberation War,” while South Koreans call it the “June 25 Incident.” Quite a characteristic difference in terms.

In the end, the division at the 38th parallel remained in effect. Around the border, the parties formed the so-called “demilitarized zone” - an area that is still crammed with unrecovered mines and debris. military equipment: The war is not officially over. During the war, approximately a million Chinese, two million South and North Koreans, 54,000 Americans, 5,000 British, and 315 soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army died.

After the war, the United States brought order to South Korea: they took control of the government, banned the execution of communists without trial, built military bases and poured money into the economy, so that South Korea quickly turned into one of the richest and most successful Asian states. Much more interesting things have begun in North Korea.

Now let's talk about reverse side medals.

Every country has its own shortcomings. To insure yourself against severe disappointments, I propose to consider 10 disadvantages of life in Korea. Everything is subjective, of course, but personally it seems to me that the 10 minuses are as follows:

1. Absence basic concept etiquette and concepts of personal space
This applies to older people who consider it their business to tell you, despite the fact that you yourself may already have children, what and how to do, moreover, in an orderly tone, even if they don’t know you. They can start communicating with younger people with the phrase “Hey, you!” And some individuals can even openly fart, excuse me, in the subway (which happened to me twice), not to mention constant coughing on the street.

2. TO Korean traditional holidays
In Korea there are two significant traditional holiday— Chuseok is a harvest festival in the fall, and Seollal — New Year By lunar calendar. Since ancient times, these holidays have been considered very important, which bring together all relatives at one table in the house of the eldest relative, where they play games and have fun.

But now everything has completely changed due to the constant employment of Koreans and their inability to have fun, and also because of the difference in generations: the younger ones do not have the right (!) to ask anything from the elders. It's not decent and there are a lot of cockroaches. The following picture emerges (this is not only in the husband’s family, but in most Korean families): relatives who go to visit swear all the way that they have to go so far (usually this is another city, and often the relationship between relatives, to put it mildly, is “not very much,” but you have to go - it’s a tradition), and the relatives who receive guests swear that they need to cook a ton of food for the whole crowd. Then everyone meets with smiles on their faces, as if they were just waiting for this meeting.

Then they bow to the ancestors (men only), that is, they put out food, light fragrances and bow in memory of the deceased ancestors. After which they begin to eat. What does it all have to do with women bringing it, and the men sitting there looking so important. Then communication begins to be “squeezed out” on general topics discussed annually in order to maintain the conversation. After the topics have been exhausted, time begins to drag on, like, well, it’s inconvenient to leave right away, you need to create the appearance that everyone is interested)). You can watch TV. Hmm, in general, for an ordinary “Russian” person like me, all this tediousness is very difficult to survive, even if it’s for a few hours only 2 times a year! Brrrrr... Moreover, the most interesting thing is that Koreans are always proud and stick out their “ family values" Yeah! It’s not like that!

A! Well, and most importantly, for these holidays they give MONEY, which is above all for a Korean and for the sake of which all the inconveniences for Koreans can be tolerated)) Because money is everything for a Korean!)

3. Inability to get close to people and be sincere
I think it’s already clear from point 2, but I’ll add a little. It's a bit of a shame that in most cases, Koreans become “friends” if it benefits them. And regarding sincerity, you will never know what they really think about you, since they always have a “mask” of politeness on their face.

4. Lack of New Year's atmosphere
This is my sore subject. Their Catholic Christmas is December 25th, on this day couples usually go on a date! Just like that. Well, sometimes a family can go out to a restaurant. Our New Year on December 31st in Korea practically passes without attention. No Christmas trees at home! The only thing is that quite a lot of people gather in the very center of the city to see the mayor or someone else ring the big iron bell at 12 at night. And if you are in another part of the city, then there is generally zero feeling that it is a new year. One day I just returned from a funeral on December 31 at 10 pm... but that's another story.

5. Worship of elders
Again this cult of age in Korea. Here, when meeting someone, the first thing they ask is how old you are in order to understand how to behave. If you are older, even by a year, then such respect and uti-paths; if you are younger, then frivolous, relaxed communication. The most interesting thing is that here even twins are distinguished by the elder and younger brother or sister!

6. Trying not to stand out from the crowd
Oh, God forbid, at lunch with employees of different ages you ordered noodles when everyone else ordered rice. Oh no no no! Now, of course, they won’t say anything (not like a few years ago), but they will look askance. Our company has 2 canteens, that is, 2 menus. We all go there together as a department. So, the youngest girl in our department is 20 years old. Usually everyone approaches the menu and “sort of chooses” (because anyway they usually eat whatever the boss prefers). Although, okay, I won’t exaggerate, our boss is quite loyal and can still listen to the wishes of junior employees. Not everyone is like that though. But the most interesting thing is that when they ask that girl, her answer is always the same: “oh, I don’t know how to make such a choice” and looks at the floor in embarrassment.

7. Talk about plastic surgery
Korea is simply a paradise for people with “defects”, as it is very developed plastic surgery and the prices are quite cheap for it. Let’s say, if a girl is not pretty, then she can ask her parents to give her a “nose operation” when she graduates from school, for example.

Recently there was the following situation in the elevator: two women were riding and a younger girl came in, whom they knew, but apparently had not seen for a long time. After the greeting came the question: oh, what did you do to your nose? you've changed so much. (it’s very cool to ask such a question in front of strangers in the elevator!). And the girl answers: no, I just changed my hairstyle!))))
Of course, I was torn. The most interesting thing is that the girl came out earlier, and these women started grinning and discussing, like: well, well, she did her hair..)))

8. No cheese
In principle, it is possible to find it, but you have to look for it and it is sooooo expensive((((no comments

9. Carrying babies like gypsies
It's just annoying! They wrap, or rather, tie the child to themselves from behind with a blanket!!! even a very small one! what's going on with the bones? I can't imagine.

10. Vacation
Korea has the smallest vacations in the world!

This is what life in Korea is like for me, with its downsides. Maybe you can survive them calmly and they won’t seem so scary to you :) Which disadvantage is most unacceptable to you?

While Kim Jong-un threatens his atomic weapons and launches of ballistic missiles in front of the world, while some talk about the advantages of living in North Korea, and some domestic bloggers, after a visit to this most closed country, bring and publish only “glossy photo reports” made under the close attention of local service employees state security, other bloggers, violating local laws, take pictures of real and real life in North Korea.

Recently, photographs of socialist Korea from a Polish blogger and photographer appeared online. Michal Huniewicz currently living in England.

It shows North Korea as it really is. It must be said that the photographer could have been sent to a local prison if state security officers at the border had found these photographs in his luggage.

The military is present everywhere

On one side is China, on the other is North Korea. The difference is obvious.

The difference is especially obvious at night.

The first illegal photograph taken in North Korea from a train carriage

You won’t believe it, but these people are waiting at the station when they clean the toilets so that they can take the waste for fertilizer to their gardens.

A photo from a train in one of the DPRK villages

North Koreans are only allowed to travel within the country

North Korean soldiers patrolling

Poor but proud people.

Arrival in Pyongyang. The blogger claims that it was staged because there were no other trains and there was no reason for elegantly dressed people to go anywhere.

In Pyongyang we have already met local guides who did not leave the blogger’s side.

Just street photography and local flavor

Urbanism of Pyongyang

View of the cityscape and the Ryugyong Hotel itself

Hotel elevators do not have a 5th floor button. You can only get there by stairs. And the blogger tried to get there and saw that the entire floor was occupied by the state service. security. Supposed. that there is equipment installed there to monitor guests

All service staff in restaurants and hotels he is wary and fearful of foreigners.

Kim Il Sung Square. One of the places where guides insistently ask you to take a photo.

To live in the capital of the DPRK, you must have a special permit and a special badge, which is issued to official residents of the capital. But, the author notes that in China such badges can be bought on the market.

Such a photograph would not have been missed by the border guards initially, because... guides strongly encourage you to take full-length photographs of the two statues. On the picture - local residents Pyongyang, who come with flowers and bows.

A real grocery store only for residents of the DPRK. The author writes that he only had 20 minutes to take this photo. Then his curator-tour guide took him out of this store.

Souvenir products

It’s a Muscovite’s dream to be away from traffic jams. In the DPRK, a car is an unaffordable luxury.

Workers carry out work practically in formation

Sociological murals on the streets of Pyongyang

Source m1key.me |

How do people live in North Korea? What do they see when they look out the window? What do they look at on the way to work? Where do people go for a walk on holidays? The most closed country world once again lifts the veil of secrecy surrounding it.

Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il look at Pyongyang and smile from the colossal height of their height. The monument in Pyongyang's prestigious Mansudae district is one of the most majestic monuments in Korea. The citizens of the country look at him with true reverence.

The roof of the government building is decorated with two slogans: “Long live the great revolutionary idea of ​​Songun!” and “Long live our people democratic republic! An unaccustomed observer is struck by the emptiness of one of the central squares of Pyongyang. By the way, do you know what Songun is? This is the basis of the ideology of the Korean state, and the word translated means “the army comes first.” Well, now can you guess where the citizens are?

Sometimes totalitarian architecture can truly surprise. Originality, swift lines and graceful forms - it would be fun to drive under such an arch every day in a car on the way to work. But personal transport for North Koreans is an unaffordable bourgeois luxury.

Girl guides, like most Koreans, wear military clothing. This girl leads the group to the Museum of Victory in the Patriotic Liberation War. The information she shares with tourists does not deviate one iota from the general line of the party.

A lovely sunny day, and judging by the abundance of people, it was a day off. North Koreans make an appointment to meet friends, relatives or lovers in the square, at a noticeable monument. Everything is the same as everywhere else, right? Now pay attention to the postures of most of those waiting. More precisely, to one single pose, which clearly prevails in this group. Back straight, hands behind your back, look forward, chin higher... Isn't it the most comfortable position for communicating with friends?

You should study audio recordings only in specially designated places, so as not to suddenly hear something inappropriate.

Pyongyang police do not leave their post just at the moment when an unexpected traffic jam urgently requires their participation! True, the traffic jam here is still a long way off, but for Pyongyang such traffic is considered very tense. And in such a respectable car there is probably a prominent party member worthy of honor.

The metro is the pearl and pride of Pyongyang. The walls of the station are covered with frescoes telling about the immense happiness of the Korean people and their love for their army.

It’s nice to take a walk in a park like this on a day off. But the bronze statue of Kim Il Sung will not let you forget for a minute about who you owe your happiness on Korean soil.

Memorial cemetery where soldiers and officers who died in the war against the Japanese invaders are buried.

This - main building Children's international camp in Wonsan. Each summer session, up to 1,200 children can relax in the camp. And each of them must remember the faces of the Father and the Son.

Those who have visited North Korea say in shock that the rumors are not deceiving: they really eat dogs in the country! At the same time, prices for dog meat are regulated by the government.

Diligent and hard-working, North Koreans are capable of creating real masterpieces of landscape art. Where else will you see kilometers of perfectly trimmed lawns stretching somewhere into the distance, towards the blue mountains? Of course, such beauty is only suitable for organized events. If the excursionists are not foreigners, they are not necessary once again warn that walking on lawns is prohibited.

The bicycle is the most popular look transport in North Korea. As a rule, Koreans move around the city either by bicycle or on foot. This is probably why no one has ever seen obese people in North Korea.

The painting by a North Korean artist, in which Kim Il Sung feeds everyone present from the belly, is called “Portrait of Democracy.” Looking at it, we see what paradise looks like for North Korean citizens: at least, an abundance of food is an indispensable component of it.

Collapsing provincial towns are common in North Korea. It seems that the government simply forgot about them, leaving citizens the opportunity to survive on their own - or move somewhere closer to large communist construction projects. This town is located almost on the outskirts of the large industrial city of Kaesong.

The picture shows the port city and naval base of Wonsan. Now the ship "Mangonbong-92" is standing at the pier, which is preparing to sail to Japan. A whole crowd of local residents will gather to watch such a grandiose event.

These trucks are for North Koreans living in rural areas, perform the function of buses. The back shakes mercilessly, and if it rains it becomes completely uncomfortable, but no one has yet offered North Korean peasants any other means of transport.

Panorama of Phetyang at dawn. In the distance gleams the roof of the 105-story Hotel Rügen, in which, no matter when you look there, you will not find any occupied rooms.

This is Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang. This is where the most important state events- demonstrations, rallies, military parades. Kim Il Sung Square is a true symbol of North Korean state propaganda.

What is the North Korean peasant with a happy face and a sheaf of grain in his hands calling for? Well, of course: “Full concentration! Full mobilization! All for the battle for the harvest!” Our grandparents will cry with nostalgic tenderness.

This is the village of Panmunjom on the border of North and South Korea. No one has lived here for a long time, except for the military, who are vigilantly watching day and night to ensure that none of their compatriots penetrates into the hostile world of cleanliness. The metal tower in the distance is the point of no return: further passage is prohibited on pain of death.

Kaesong is a large industrial city in the south of the country. Paving stones, greenery, bicycles... But the red flags do not let you forget that you are in the happiest country in the world.

IN military uniform It’s not very convenient to ride a bicycle, but what can you do if you go far? Passenger cars in North Korea are intended only for the state elite.

This is not a rally or political information. It's just a holiday folk dances. But you must always face the leaders!

Another monument to the leaders, this time on the territory of the Mansudae Association of North Korean Realist Artists Art Park. The flowers at the foot of the monument are always fresh.

Aircraft of the national air carrier Air Corio parked. Due to low technical level This airline is banned from flying to EU air ports.

US Atrocity Museum. It contains all possible evidence of the atrocities committed by American soldiers during the Korean War.

The secret to perfect lawns: a large team of landscapers with first-class (by North Korean standards) tools, armed with the determination to turn beloved Pyongyang into a garden city.

I was able to see the outback of the DPRK and take photographs for which people are shot in this country. How does the most closed country in the world really live? Where is the truth and where is the show? Why is the Korean province hidden? Be careful, there are a lot of photos of North Korea inside!

There were very few foreigners in these places, so I take the liberty of saying that you will see many of the shots for the first time. For me personally, such a trip was much more interesting than the tourist route in Pyongyang, planned out minute by second.

I traveled more than 500 kilometers through the remotest corners of North Korea. Was it dangerous? Definitely. But the risk was worth it.

Leaving Dandong, China, I headed north. Interesting place, here to Korea is no more than ten meters. Everything is in full view. And of course, me too.

On the Chinese side, the border is almost unguarded, but the Koreans have towers every three hundred

And there are foot patrols constantly. This border is special: all over the world they are needed so that enemies do not enter, but here, on the contrary, so that our own do not run away.

View from a Korean village to a Chinese village. No matter how propaganda tries to hide real situation cases, calling things by other people's names, borderland residents only need to open their eyes and look at their neighbors. How can you trust TV after this?

That’s why Koreans shouldn’t go and see the world, it’s harmful. You can’t even go to China to visit, the bridges have been blown up.

Some of the bridges were destroyed by the Americans during the Korean War.

But the rest were “finished off” much later, when they tightened the screws and isolated the DPRK from the outside world.

The Chinese have already traveled around the world, now they are interested in their own country and neighbors. Domestic tourism is developing by leaps and bounds, even here.

They develop routes, build hotels, put up signs with which everyone takes pictures.

And all for the sake of a landmark - a half-collapsed bridge. It was here that the Chinese army crossed over to enter the war against the United States and support the brotherly Korean people.

Now these fraternal people are looking through binoculars and rifle scopes.

Two sides, two shores. The Chinese have grown up a whole tourist town with hotels.

North Koreans...

You can't confuse the countries.

This city is located exactly across the river from the village from the last photo.

Koreans see that China sometimes directly teases them, but they cannot do anything about it. They are trying to build Potemkin villages, but what else can they do?

It’s scary to think that both countries were once in approximately the same conditions.

The DPRK has very beautiful nature.

New neighborhoods on the Chinese side are being built in traditional Korean style. Oops!

But stop looking at China. Let's go to North Korea! Let's see a small border town near the river.
Washing machines haven’t been invented yet; everyone goes to the river. But the clothes of ordinary Koreans turned out to be not as gray and monotonous as the imagination drew.

A man walks bulls in the courtyard of a high-rise building.

The main mode of transport is a bicycle; in three days I met literally a couple of cars: none of them were cars.

A house made of glass and concrete was built on the shore. Of course, empty inside. For what?

High school.

Physical education lesson in North Korea. Children carry stones and help build a neighboring house.

Grandfathers were at war. Korean War Memorial 1950-1953.

All the people I saw on the shore were busy with some kind of work. No one sat and admired the views, no one just walked around.

This work was physical and hard.

I was not the only one observing the lives of ordinary Koreans. Soldiers are the only people in the country who are allowed to sit and do nothing. They're at work. The border is guarded.

From a distance, Korean towns look neat and even cute.

And if you look closely, you will see: only the first line of houses has been painted, then the real slums begin. And again it looks like Russia.

Slogans, slogans everywhere. A person should not think for himself; the wise Party takes care of him.

The railway station looks like a propaganda poster. Unchanging portraits of leaders. In the DPRK they are deified.

The train is the only connection with the rest of the country. The roads are only dirt, there is no public transport. But this train is not a passenger train either. Why should they go somewhere?

But the line is electrified. In a country where the majority settlements there is no electricity.

This is what a real Korean village looks like. Very different from what is shown on the border with South Korea.

This station is being renovated. Portraits of the Kims were carefully hung with white linen.

Village Council.

Empty houses in a Korean village.

There are several hydroelectric power stations on the river, which are jointly managed by Korea and China. They are built with Chinese money.

The entire border runs along the Yalu River.

A remote village.

The Koreans raised the alarm and started burning the grass so that I couldn’t take pictures :)

How beautiful! The city of Rodongzhagu is located in a picturesque valley surrounded by mountains. This is where life itself should be, otherwise all the villages are nothing but holes!

What beautiful, neat white houses, what majestic slogans that can be seen hundreds of meters away

In this city everyone says, no, even shouts, how wonderful it is to live in North Korea!

The streets and squares are decorated with paintings from the lives of the leaders, the great leaders of the Korean people.

I had thoughts that this city was a showcase for foreigners. All facades and slogans face the border. On the other hand, where should they look, not at the mountains?

But there are a lot of shortcomings and “blunders” here, if they wanted to make a beautiful ostentatious city.

Hundreds of identical whites beautiful houses. And not cardboard, residential, there are people almost everywhere. But look at the paths between them...why should there be others, since there are no cars?

The only car in big city there was this blue truck. Not on wood, and that’s good. There were a lot of people riding in the back.

This part of the area was not completed and abandoned. Strange, it is closest to the river. And at the same time, people live even in unfinished buildings: you see, plastic bags instead of windows?

The city-forming enterprise is the plant.

And this factory seems closed. Not a single person, not a single car - how are they going to export the products?

The central square is not crowded.

We return to China. He is once again teasing Koreans with his lights and displays. Shakes the system? It’s unlikely, the Chinese have much more effective methods collapse the DPRK in a matter of months.

We are not saying goodbye to North Korea, in the coming days I will show you something else, you will like it.