Livin' in The DPRK

The picture on the left is a close up of a pin that everyone wears all the time. The only time you do not wear the pin is working in the fields, dirty construction etc. It is a picture of Kim Il Sung , the eternal President, The Great Leader. People are indoctrinated into the party at around 13 or 14 after starting to wear an " official" school uniform at 7 or 8. When they are " confirmed at 18" , they are given their pin ( it can be in the shape of a flag or a circle) and they are members for life. You are either in or out ( and you do not want to be out!). I asked our escort where I could buy one of these pins and she gave me a look that said ' Buddy, you are almost out'. The gentleman to our right with us was a our tour guide during our walk thru the  location sets for a movie studio located in Pyongyang. Like everything else it is owned by the government but puts out many good quality films throughout the year. The films are used to educate ( inculcate) the people of DPRK about their history but there has also been some films that are more artsy and do play more internationally. The gentleman , Mr. Kim, was a former  film director but is now retired and does these tours. He states that the current leader, Kim Jong Il is a film buff and has visited the studios 493 times ( they keep count!) and gives his directorial advice. He did question us about how we felt about being Americans and seeing all the anti-American propaganda around. He also asked if we had any relatives who participated in the " The Big One" ( i.e., Korean War). We did not. It seems he did tour some Americans once whose father could not join them in North Korea because he did participate in the war and did not feel he could go back. We had a general back and forth conversation about our respective world views and parted as friends. A very nice guy with great hair!

Pyongyang 5:45am tuesday June 15, 2010. Worker being ferried out to a dredging boat on the Daedong river. In the background is the Juche Tower ( the eternal light) which was a "gift" from the people of DPRK to President Kim Il Sung on his 70th birthday ( 1982). He authored the Juche Ideology which basically states " that man is the master of everything and decides everything''. It's basic principals are  1) Independence in politics, 2) economic self-sufficiency, and 3) self defense in national defense. These policies must reflect the will of the masses and fully employ them in revolution and construction and which must be suitable to the country. Also, the most important work of revolution and construction is to mold people ideologically as communists  and mobilize them to constructive action.
North Korea is the only true communist country still standing. We shall see how long that lasts. Below are some pictures of the tower including one taken at night from our hotel room as well as views of the city from the top of the tower. There is also a picture taken on an inset on the back wall adorned with 230 granite and gem stone blocks sent by political groups and individuals who adhere to The Juche ideology. The last picture is a beautiful statue signifying The Worker's Party of Korea. This one almost got us thrown out of the country because you are not suppose to take a picture of anything under maintenance. This is one of the few structures being maintained and I would have thought they would be proud that something is being done in this very poor country. Remember, you can double click on all pictures for a better view.

It's 7:15pm...

I just looked up from my computer and it is dark outside! I would be playing golf if I was in Vermont. It's the longest day of the year and no Bar-B-Q for me. China does not use Day Light Savings Time. They did have it from 1986 through 1991 but no more. Compounding the early dark is the fact that China has only one time zone and Shanghai is at the extreme eastern side. China and US are about the same size so imagine that California is on the same time zone as Vermont. I would be playing golf at 4:30 am! Right now I can walk outside at 4:30 am and it is daylight. China instituted the one zone feature as of May 1, 1980. It does make some sense if you want everyone on one clock and one person, one clock, one country has been the China mantra. Although this is changing as many different western influences take hold. It's great if you are a farmer. China is becoming a leader in green energy so I am a little surprised that they have not implemented DST to save energy. We shall see. I thought I would throw a random picture or two in this posting for ha-has.                                  

Lunch anyone?

Jane and John at 1st Annual Dinner  

NORTH KOREA

We were the first off the airplane and I took this shot of the airport terminal before getting on the bus for the very short trip to the building. Pyongyang is the capitol of North Korea and has the only airport in the country. Take a look at this picture. What do you notice? What do you not notice? This bleak looking, 1950's Russian /cold block inspired building with no vehicles or people would be a precursor to the sights and the ambiance of our week in North Korea. Kim Il Sung's picture at the top would be a continuing presence throughout our stay. Big Brother was truly watching over us. I think we were the first off the plane because we are Americans and if they didn't shoot us, the rest on the aircraft would be safe. Planes only fly in from Beijing and only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thus, our trip was from Friday, June 11th until Wednesday june 16th. There was a group of businessmen from China but also some westerners. We thought, " ok, there are some tourists here with us". Turns out all of the non Chinese were embassy related. As the young women from the Czech embassy sitting next to Jane said " You are very brave" ( said with a Natasha accent).
The processing in the terminal was actually very efficient and friendly--kind of like Tom of Tom and Jerry. We were met by our "guides" Kim Un Hu ( Ms. Kim) and Kim Yong Un ( Mr. Kim). They were to be with us for the 6 days. When you travel to North Korea-- They liked to be called Korea or , better, DPRK-- you must be accompanied at all times by your guide or escort. Even if you are touring alone, you will have a man and a woman escort you. We had a set schedule each day and we met in the morning and  had a van and driver each day to take us around. I say we met in the morning but we really never parted. Although, both Kims ( not related) and the driver all lived within 15 minutes of the hotel, they all stayed in rooms at our same hotel. We were not chained to the beds but we were told not to leave the hotel property without an escort. We would get in trouble for this ( worst case is escorted out of the country) but the guides would be punished more severely.
I have been trying to decide how to present our trip to the DPRK on this blog-- chronologically, by site, rambling stream-of-consciousnes-- I do not want to make these postings too long so I am going to wrap up this post with some pictures of our hotel and general sites and then post in the next days about specific topics and places we experienced.
First, why did we go to North Korea? Because George Bush asked us? No. Because it was there. That's why. I was looking at a google map a few weeks ago and noticed a large blank area NE of China and west of Japan. It was the DPRK. There was nothing. I thought that they are so isolated and insular that we had to go to find out for ourselves. We applied for visa's and were told that they were granted. This blog states that this is J and J's adventures in Asia so we had to make good on that promise.                This is the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang. It was completed in 1995 and is located on an island in the Daedong river, the main river in the capitol and the third largest in the DPRK. What better way to monitor the visitors than put them on an island.

Let's say that the decor was quintessential Holiday Inn-Disco at best. The DPRK is 25 years behind in their design applications. This is Jane excitedly trying to place a call to all you blog readers out there. Unfortunately, you had to make a special request to make an international call and go downstairs to make it. See the above  pictures. Oh, so 1950's.

Swift Justice

I was reading in the NYT on-line that Ronnie Lee Gardner , a convicted murderer from Utah, was finally executed today. It appears that this was note worthy because Mr. Gardner elected to be executed by firing squad. Utah is the only state that allows execution in this matter but has now eliminated this option for future executions. I highlighted the word finally above because the crime he committed was in 1985 when he was 24 years old. He was in court for a hearing on a previous murder charge but managed to break free of his security guards for a moment and kill one of them. He was immediately recaptured. His picture appears in the dictionary under " Ultimate White Trash". But I digress. 
In China Mr. Gardner would have been executed within 2 months of that court date in 1985. He would have been tried, it would have been reviewed, a date would have been set and the deed done.  We all love living in the US and enjoy it's freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The 1st and 5th amendments to the constitution contain the core values by which we live. The 6th amendment allows for a swift and speedy public trail. This, of course, is important to protect anyone from being incarcerated for too long for an unjust cause. However, it often seems that swift and justice in America is an oxymoron.
You may have read about a series of attacks on school children by unstable individuals here in China. There have been 5 cases in the last 6 months. In all the cases but one, children and teachers were killed. These were horrible and senseless acts and strike at every person's basic idea of humanity. Each individual was immediately apprehended by the police and there were many witnesses to these crimes. The average time between capture and execution was 7 weeks. There was a trail and all the evidence was presented. There was no doubt that these people committed their accused crimes. Now think of Mr. Gardner of Utah. It took 25 years to accomplish the same result as it took in China. Twenty-five years of taxpayer money to house, feed and continually adjudicate his case. Twenty-five years of lack of closure for the victim's families. 
America is a great place to live and I am all for saving lives and rehabilitating those who want to work on improving themselves but sometimes we can learn important lessons from other countries.

Random Pictures

No, I am not bringing my dog, Fred, to China.













                                                                     Is China really a communist country?


Yao Ming is injured so they asked John Kennedy to fill in on the nationalist team.

Jane thinking about dinner. We know the chicken is fresh!

One of the amazing topiaries in Shanghai.











Richgate ( what a name) is a very high end condo building. This does not prevent the locals across the street from using their sign as a clothesline.

The Forbidden city in Beijing. it was snowing quite hard the day we were there.

It's a tough job but someone has to guard the palace.

Get out of Jail Free Pass

You saw the picture with this post before on the last posting. But why was there a picture of John and James standing in front of a police station?
Since Jane had to work most days that the kids were here, it was my responsibility to plan our activities and  show Shanghai to the kids. One day I said, " how about seeing a water village today?" Sounds like fun. Water villages are in Shanghai but also outside of the city. The most famous one is probably Zhouzhuang. Some of the villages remind you of a smaller version of Venice. Some are 900 years old and have been preserved to show a way of life that existed back then. The people still live on the water and perform chores such as washing or running errands in small boats. Many of the homes were built in the Ming and Qing dynasties and parts were able to survive the cultural revolution. You can walk by the people's homes ( they usually have  some kind of retail situation set up in front of the house) and look at the bridges and walkways.A little current history is the filming of Mission Impossible 3 in the water village of Xitang. So you could watch the movie to see why we were attracted to the villages. ( As a side story, Jane and I had dinner a couple of weeks ago at a restaurant in the French concession area --former-- at a beautiful old building that was a hugh private home at one time but has also served as a consulate for three different countries. When Tom Cruise was in town with MI 3 he just reserved the entire restaurant for himself and crew of 10. It must be nice.) Since we had Clementine with us, we did not want to be in the car for too long so I elected to go to Feng Jian water village, right on the border of Shanghai.
After about a 40 minute drive we approached a toll booth and our driver, Jack, said " Oh, we have to go out of Shanghai". I noticed a worried look on his face, which I had not seen before in our 4 months together, as he looked to his left and said "and the police are here". With Expo here in Shanghai from May until November, there has been an extreme increase in security. Hilary C. was here and many Presidents, Kings and PM's have been stopping. Usually we can just drive in and out of Shanghai without a problem. Jack was to apply for a sticker for his car as a preregistration but had not received it yet. But Jane had gone out of town twice on business and was stopped with Jack and they only looked at his ID and let them go. Oh, but not John Kennedy.  The police looked into the car and talked to Jack for a bit and told him to pull over to the right and wait.
Great! Now I was a little worried. Did they find that outstanding arrest warrant on me for that panty raid in 1969? I did yell at a taxi driver in Shanghai the previous week ( in a combo of mandarin and english) for almost hitting me. I'll never yell again. After about 5 minutes a silver car pulled up with two men in the front seat and the police handed all of Jack's documents to them. They then told Jack to follow that car. When I asked Jack what was going on he said those were the police also. He said " It's ok". Yeah, Jack, that's what they told people in Germany in the 30's-- "It's ok''.
We followed them off the highway and back on again to the other side where their "team" and facilities were located. They ordered James and me out of the car and told Jack to stay with the car and keep Anne and Clementine in the car. They had us follow one of the police down a 100 yard stretch of road to a building. Would I ever see my family again? Did James wish he had never met Anne 4 1/2 years ago? We walked into a small room and 4 policemen were there. One said " passport number". There was some tension in the air. Now I have a copy of my passport that I stick in my wallet but I did not have it. James's passport was back at our apartment. He did have his driver's license but that was a no-go.  They asked if that was what we use for ID in America and James said ,  yes. But apparently not in China. I had a number written down on a piece of paper and thought that might be it, but their computer said , no. Then ,  the policeman let out a hmmmm.
Now is that a hmmm, we got a couple of live ones here we can use for trade negotiations, a hmmmm, we are going to make them go back to Shanghai and get their passports and hold the baby hostage, or was it a hmmm, we've got our own version of Bubba here in the provincial slammer and he would like some new friends. What do I do? So in my best mandarin ( what little I have) I formally introduced myself and... " wode nuxu" ( my son-in-law). For some reason everybody started laughing. Why? My pronunciation -- the words were correct-- or the fact I would have to spend time in jail with my son-in-law-- who knows but it lightened things up and they told to call someone for the numbers ( Jane -who called the manager of our apartment building) and we were suddenly on our way with a smile. I'll have to remember that " wode nuxu " line for future use. Thus, the picture of us getting out of jail. Oh yeah, the water village was nice, too.