Pyongyang – Arthur Hofn

Some interesting reads.

For a country that is said to be closed off from the rest of the world there is an awful lot of books and documentaries about North Korea. I guess the fact that as soon as you are told something is a secret we can’t help but want to know. I’ve read and watched lots about North Korea, a closed country. I’ve read far less about Portugal, for example, which is a modern and forward looking country that under normal conditions positively welcomes tourists; in 2019 around 24 million of them. Sometimes being told “no” is enough for us to try harder.

It’s easy to get caught up in the conspiracies and propaganda from either side when trying to find out about pretty much anything; it’s a lot harder on a subject as sensitive as a dictatorial country with human rights issues. You’re never quiet sure what the facts actually are. The fact is with an estimated population of twenty five million, not everyone is the same and not everything can be political.

I love travel and learning about places (sorry Portugal; I will get to you soon), so of course I’m interested in learning about such a closed country. For me however it’s not the politics or even the telling of the history that I want to know about but the everyday people, their lives and how similar and different they are to me and the world as I know it. After all we are all human, regardless of where we live or what regime we live under and even with somewhere like North Korea amongst the general populace there have to be nice people doing positive and good things to the best of their abilities. As a result there are two books that I found really thought-provoking and I want to share.

The first is Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim. Subtitled: My secret life teaching the sons of North Korea’s elite, this is a personal account of the author’s time teaching English to North Korean boys at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. Suki Kim herself was born in Seoul, South Korea but she and her parents moved to America when she was a child and has citizenship. Because of her dual experiences of being from a South Korean background but also a full understanding of the American lifestyle, her observations are fascinating. While Suki Kim was living and working in Pyongyang she was under constant watch, personally I’d be terrified of doing anything.

There has been some controversy over how much of the book has been sensationalised and other issues but regardless it is still an insight into North Korean culture few of us will ever experience.

“I am often asked, “Which Korea do you come from? North or South?” It is a nonsensical question. The chance of me or any Korean out and about in the world being from the North is almost nil. Virtually no one gets out of North Korea.”
― Suki Kim, Without You, There Is No Us

The other book is from the brilliant Michael Palin. Basically everything he does is going to be good so this one goes without saying. The book North Korea Journal is a record of his notes as recorded for a documentary, well worth seeing if you haven’t and please Channel 5 release it on DVD. As always Michael Palin comes across as a really nice bloke, and it’s this combined with the wisdom of experience that makes this account of his time traveling around the country so measured and human. Yes this place is under totalitarian control but the people he interacts with, and writes about, are real and not so different from you and I.

What makes this more interesting is that rather than just stick to the Pyongyang and/ or the DMZ like a lot of books do, Palin and his group travel to distance places and see parts so the country you don’t normally see. What is so special about Mount Paektu? What is life like outside the capitol? Palin is honest in stating that he was shown a controlled version of the country but here, amidst many photographs, is a travel story that is rarely told.

“A low resonating vibration. A long-drawn-out chord that seems to be coming from everywhere from around me. It’s an eerie, ethereal, synthesised sound – like something Brian Eno might have created. I check the clock. It’s 6 a.m. I turn over, pull the blanket over my head and try to ignore it. But there’s no escape. The sound is everywhere.”
― Michael Palin, North Korea Journal

Buy Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim
Buy North Korea Journal by Michael Palin