Leaving the airport, we were on our way to Pyongyang city. We
had two tourist guides, and they would “take care” almost everything including
our passports in the following few days. Without the passport, we could only
follow their arrangement. All North Korean have to pin the pins to their
chests. The pin was designed in DPKR’s flag and their former leader’s face. The
pin was not for sale, so if you have no pin in your chest, they can know you
are a foreigner. We will be caught by police if we separate from the group and
walk alone by ourself. One South Korean was shoot to death on the
road by police because he walked alone and refused to obey the police’s order
four years ago. So we had better follow the rule.
The first thing I noticed
was many residents grew trees along the roadside. But I got confused because
they would saw the tree in the middle, and grew both parts. Can trees survive?
The
second thing was roads were so terrible. I believed DPKR is too poor to build a
normal road. How terrible it was when I sit in the bus while driving? The bus rocked
and shook so much that could make me vomit if I ate full. I could not even take
a nap because it felt like that someone was shaking you constantly. It was also
possible to have carsickness because some parts of road were cracked, so the needed to
weave the car around the road often.
The
third thing was there had almost no vehicles on the road. I only saw few cars
on the road after we entered the center of Pyongyang City. The tourist guide
told me that only the elite of the elite could own the car. For example, if
someone won the gold metal in Olympic Game, he deserved one car that government
gave. They also had a few small buses without the
air condition, and it was very old. In fact, almost all people walked, owning a
bicycle can tell everyone you are rich here. Besides the vehicle, houses were
all allocated by government. The higher class you were, the closer you live in
the center of city.
Although we were in the
capital city, I felt it’s not crowded here. Compared to the big city in China
or Taiwan, population here is small. The tourist guide never told us what’s the
population in DPKR, they would declare a huge number that have included South
Korea number. I guess population is also a secret.
In
Pyongyang, we could see many gigantic former leader’s statues and memorial
halls. All of them were built to memorize their great leaders. Those gigantic
things reminded their people never forget their former leader’s spirit. Their
spirit education seems really work. People there would go to bow their great
leader’s statue automatically ever day randomly.
I summed up things that I
learned above. First, people’s mobility were limited by government. Few people
owned the car, and gasoline must be totally controlled. Without the car, people
here couldn’t leave far away from their house. Also, terrible roads force
drivers to drive slow, so the scene of drag racing in Hollywood movie won’t
happen in here.
Second,
people’s life is controlled. Our tourists guide got approximately NT 600 dollar
a month. The salary is really low for us, yet for them is really high. Actually
they barely have any place to spend except some small grocery store. What
really important for them is get rice from the government every month. The
higher class you are, the more you get. If you are a normal person who live
very far away from the capital city, I guess you may be someone who left behind,
and be starved to death in famine.
Third, people spirit is
manipulated. Apparently, all media here is owned by government. Government keep
brainwashing everyone since he or she were born. Everyone is Patriotic and think
their leader as a God. Two girls in the photo left, went to bow to their former
leader’s statue at least twice when we were visiting there.
From
the aspect of mobility, spirit and life, their leader controlled the whole people
very well.
