He managed the almost impossible - to return alive from North Korea, and even bring an interesting story.

I returned from North Korea alive. But lately, not everyone has been able to do it.
In the next issues from the Land of Stopped Time - a chubby dictator with a cool haircut, eating dog meat, a sea of ​​​​pioneers, uncomfortable questions for security officers, 38th parallel, Lev Leshchenko in a Pyongyang pub. And is it true that all North Koreans are so crazy about the Juche idea and do they believe in everything that happens around?

Having paid almost a hundred thousand for a trip to one of the most countries in the world, I took Chausov as a travel companion. This redhead was known as the first cop to circumnavigate the world. We met in a rooming house in Ecuador, although in our hometown we lived in neighboring houses.
By the way, the Russian side received the entire amount. We paid nothing to the North Koreans. Did the poor fellows get anything?

The DPRK, to most of those who admonished us “do not tear off propaganda posters”, seemed to be a gray military state, where all people walk in formation, every second is in labor camps, and the country is ruled by a thirty-year-old heir to a dynasty that has been in power for 70 years. Father, son and Holy Spirit. Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

What can I say?
...Only that they REALLY WALK IN STRUCTURE!!! It was the first thing I saw through the window: a group of airport workers were marching in formation to the place where the aircraft was towed. A couple of times we had to go through the formation.

The plump lips of the Korean stewardess worried no less than the plump cheeks of Marshal Kim Jong-un. The distribution of propaganda printed publications with the words “Tears flowed down the cheeks of the working people of Great Korea at the appearance of the Beloved Party Leader at the stadium” began already on the plane.
And here we are in Pyongyang. At the customs inspection, they took out all the flash drives from me - but they did not check a single one. It's good that I posted photos of a clearly erotic nature from my wallet. They, like any similar infa, are prohibited for transportation to North Korea.

a search, a stamp, a couple of routine questions in Russian - and we fall under the care of our guide Song Hwa and the "major", a representative of the authorities. The security officer with the guide will follow us relentlessly throughout the stay. A foreigner is forbidden to leave the hotel alone, walk around the city, pay with local money.

Experienced people in the DPRK advised them to bring gifts from the mainland: whiskey, perfume, cigarettes. It was these people who now depended on how we would see this country.

But the coolest was the carrier. He only spoke Korean, but his emotions alone were enough. This is the most positive North Korean I have ever seen.

The program of stay did not allow any special steps to the side. On the first day, a visit to the Library, the Memorial to Soviet Soldiers, the Museum of War, and souvenir shops was marked. Boredom, right? But add here the North Korean specifics that the name of the Leader will be stuck in every item.
As for souvenirs, here Korean guides work out no worse than their Turkish or Egyptian counterparts. We visited the souvenir shop every day and never bought anything. Well, because it sucks.

Our bus rushes around the city at great speed - so that we do not have time to shoot anything. However, they are allowed to shoot only what they allow.
You can’t take pictures of the military here, and any object more or less related to defense. And it's difficult - because the military is everywhere. Among the crowd, in the subway, in institutions, everywhere!

Who needs all these memorial complexes, communist monuments and other propaganda bullshit?! No one asks whether it is interesting to us or not. The DPRK lives in its own world and I do not climb into their monastery with my charter.

The initial impression of Pyongyang was very bright. Reviving authentic pictures from the 50s, like a chronicle of those years, painted in the tone of my sunglasses.

It took 21 months to build the National Library. But under the current conditions, in the absence of the Internet in the country, it remained in the 20th century. They brought us books in Russian: "PK Iron" of 2005, Gorky and "Anna Karenina". Thought we'd be impressed...

The question "how often are computer books updated?" put the guide in the first impasse.

Was he writing jokes? - we asked, - is this supposed to be funny? ...
- No, not him ... More precisely, he, but not jokes.
- But it is written "Anecdotes". That's funny?
- It's not funny.
- Well, jokes - it's supposed to be funny ...!
The librarian girl began to get confused in the testimony and decided to end the argument with the words "This is a very good book"

Of course, even if it's not funny, you don't want to go to hard labor!

We go into the library in the elevator. There is always a girl in it (pictured below), who presses the buttons. I ask:
- and she has such a job: just press the buttons in the elevator?
tour guides answer:
-Yes... (a pause of a few seconds)... But in general, she also sings.

Settled in a hotel. This is one of the tallest buildings in the city. The same hotel where the ill-fated poster that cost the life of American student Otto Warmbier was torn down.

The women came...

By the way, this is not a joke. According to rumors, all rooms are equipped with wiretapping. But this did not stop us from debriefing the existing system. Personally, I think that countries like North Korea should be on Earth. It is more interesting to live with them.

In the evening, we sat down with the North Korean side to discuss future plans. They chose a circus, a shooting gallery, a pub, a subway, and a museum of gifts from the great leader Kim Il Sung, and something else ... In short, the choice is not rich.

The Koreans even managed to drag them to the Museum of Flowers, where each flower is named after the Great Leaders and Leaders.

in the basement of the hotel, ping pong, billiards, karaoke, and a swimming pool were discovered from entertainment. Each pleasure cost 3 euros per hour. The bonus was communication with bored Korean women at the checkout.

The simulators were hidden behind a potted greenhouse.

the North Koreans have a specific bzik about the war with South Korea and America in the middle of the last century. They categorically refuse to name their losses, but flaunt the number of imperialists killed and captured. They brag about their generosity that, they say, they let everyone go after they apologized. However, the captured Pueblo ship located next to the museum is a special pride.

however, we'll talk about the window dressing of the DPRK next time.

The museum is luxurious. Hey class. I don't understand why the North Koreans don't let you shoot in it, as well as in many other worthwhile places. But there crows are pecking at American soldiers, the most fucking wax figure of Kim Il Sung, and the same fucking spinning panorama of the entire war. The building was personally supervised by the head of state - Marshal Kim Jong-un.

To my question "Did she see Marshal Kim Jong-un live?" this fragile charmer, packed in military, replied:
- No, but this is my dream!

by the way, how many people I didn’t ask - no one saw Kim Jong-un live. I'm starting to doubt its existence.

and then I saw them... The women in blue. And they were wonderful. As soon as I pointed my camera at them, the “Head of the Ensemble” immediately appeared and warned all the participants that there should not be any jambs in front of foreigners !!

These are simple housewives who, on a voluntary basis, unite in such ensembles for conscription.

What life looks like in North Korea from the inside

What do we know about North Korea? Yes, almost no one knows anything. Well, sometimes! the news mentions the nuclear program of this country, the testing of missiles. Western media love to shout about the totalitarian regime and the terrible danger posed by such a regime. In fact, this country is quite nice, very interesting and, in general, quite happy. Despite the fact that most North Koreans do not live very well, they dress in military uniforms and move around the country in old wrecked trucks. There is no Internet or mobile communications in North Korea, but there is no Coca-Cola and MTV. Sooner or later, these benefits of civilization will come here, and then the local population will face real misfortunes.

WE BE LIKE CHILDREN

Tourists do not spoil the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with their attention. But in vain. Because for little money, guests here are simply licked from head to toe. For any group, even if it consists of two people, a large staff of escorts and servants is allocated. They feed literally to the slaughter, and in different restaurants, so that the guest appreciates all the richness of the local cuisine. Well, they are attached to their culture, of course. And the fact that this culture is implicated in the veneration of the founder of the state, the late leader Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il - so who feels bad about this? And who cares that guides, chauffeurs and hotel staff are full-time state security agents looking after foreigners? Well, unless, of course, you are an American spy sniffing out nuclear secrets.

In general, those who dreamed of riding a time machine should go here. The illusion of falling into the Soviet past of the 40-60s will be complete. By the way, the local population will also perceive you as a fantastic alien. White people are rare here, so everyone turns to the tourist. Disciplined men, having recovered from the surprise, pretend that nothing special has happened - well, an alien and an alien. And women and kids react violently. Children can run after a foreigner for a long time, point a finger at him and laugh. Knowledgeable people say that especially the local children will be amused by the long noses of Europeans.

Children are allowed everything here. Later, when they grow up, go to the army or the settings of socialism, the state will clamp them in a strict vise. But until the child has grown up, he can live as he wants. Of course, the state is seriously engaged in the formation of his character, but without the slightest violence. The local life is arranged in such a way that the kids dream of attaching a beautiful badge with the face of the leader to their shirt, and at school they are happy to click, for example, such puzzles from the life of a capitalist neighbor: 20 thousand children live in a poor South Korean city. 40 percent of them make a living cleaning shoes for American soldiers, and 60 percent beg. How many children are engaged in these trades? Or: How many liters of blood did the starving Seoul students donate for sale to the US imperialists, if each of them donated such and such an amount of blood? Or: How many enemy tanks were burned by the soldiers of the People's Army, if each of them ... Well, and so on.

Well, for the DPRK, this is much more relevant than pipes in the pool and apples, which the heroes of our textbooks cannot share among themselves.

THE WHOLE KOREAN COUNTRY WAKES UP AT DAWN

The capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang, wakes up at seven in the morning from the roar of sirens. This is not an air raid alert, but just a reminder - it's time to go to work. Immediately, vigorous marches begin to rumble from street loudspeakers. After a while, the streets fill up with people. Most get to the duty station on foot or on trolleybuses and bicycles. Particularly cool people drive cars, but there are few of them.

The traffic is mainly controlled by pretty traffic controllers. Traffic lights are rare here. From time to time, the girls give each other a post, while pacing and saluting, like our soldiers from the guard of honor. The work of traffic controllers is not too difficult: despite the fact that the avenues in Pyongyang are wider than in Moscow, there is very little traffic here, even at rush hour. The rest of the time, the roadway is generally empty. The country has practically no auto industry, oil too. And there is nothing to buy it. Therefore, on Korean roads, antediluvian trucks are often found, the engines of which are converted to firewood. But because of the noise and burning, such cars are not allowed into big cities.

There is also a subway in Pyongyang, built in the style of Moscow ring stations, but, perhaps, even more elegant. The houses are decorated with posters of proletarians, workers and soldiers. They differ from the Soviet prototypes only in the shape of the eyes. Well, there are also monuments to the leader, steles dedicated to the heroes of the revolution, streamers with slogans - everything is like that of a former older brother.

But there are also differences. For example, socialist competitions between brigades are held from time to time at the local construction sites and enterprises. The participants of these events hang out the red flag, the winners receive prizes. But if in the USSR such races turned into a fiction, then in the DPRK everything takes place in earnest and only before big holidays. Bonuses in the form of additional rations of rice or cornmeal are not scattered here.

And after ten in the evening, Pyongyang plunges into darkness. Lanterns and neon advertising do not illuminate the street. The windows of the houses almost do not give light, because economical light bulbs hang in the apartments. However, electricity is not always available in homes. And only a stele in honor of the Juche idea with a red torch on top illuminates the city.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY people

Juche is translated as self-reliance, this slogan is the essence of socialism with a Korean face, its strength and misfortune. Even on their banknotes, the slogan We envy no one in the world flaunts. Indeed, North Koreans do not envy anyone, at least until recently. And how to envy, if you know nothing about the world around you?

Yes, there is a card system here. The most skilled and industrious worker receives 700 grams of rice a day, several kilograms of meat and two dozen eggs a year. But the inhabitants of America or neighboring South Korea do not have this either! They, the poor fellows, the state does not guarantee anything! So says the state television of the DPRK and it is impossible to verify the official information. Only carefully checked, reliable people are allowed to communicate with foreigners, television does not show foreign channels, five years of camps can be obtained for keeping a radio. And if you are caught listening to voices, you will get all 15. At the same time, punishment here has greater consequences than even in the Stalinist USSR. For example, our son did not answer for his father. In North Korea, the entire family of the guilty citizen is repressed. However, she is permanently blacklisted. And this means that both children and grandchildren gouging, "who told a political anecdote 50 years ago or just hooligans, are doomed to vegetate in a deep province, without the right to enter the capital, without the opportunity to make a little career. And if we add to this public executions, especially dangerous criminals and propaganda that accompanies the Korean from birth, it is clear that during the years of the Juche era a special breed of disciplined and trusting people was bred.

However, there are some advantages. For example, crime here is almost zero, citizens' apartments do not even have locks. North Koreans are a very healthy nation due to the fact that all citizens have been involved in sports since childhood, regularly undergo medical examinations and, of course, do not overeat. And their women don't smoke. That is absolutely. Because Comrade Kim Il Sung so bequeathed. True, men smoke for two.

Or take the problem of overpopulation that plagues Eastern countries. In China, they can’t cope with it in any way, and in the DPRK, where back in the 60s six children were born per family, now no more than two are born. Why that the Great Leader ordered to reduce the birth rate.

And about prostitution here at all did not hear. No, girls who bring joy exist at Intourist hotels, but they are all Chinese. And decent Korean girls don’t even let men come to them for free until they get married. Well, up to thirty years. If no one has married a Korean woman before that time, she can freely dispose of her body.

LONG DISTANCE RUN

Of course, South Korea is immeasurably richer than North Korea, but this has not always been the case. Immediately after the end of the civil war that divided the country into two parts, both states began a military and economic race, and the communist half, having taken a sharp start, quickly overtook the capitalist one. It overtook in all respects, from the restoration of industry to the standard of living. The great and wise leader Kim Il Sung skillfully played on the contradictions between the USSR and China, receiving help and military support from both allies. The rulers of South Korea were fed by the Americans, but despite the huge dollar injections, the GDP and standard of living of the southerners lagged behind the North.

As for rights and freedoms, everything was about the same for a divided people. southern mode long time was dictatorial, with executions of dissidents, restriction of freedom of speech and the like. But by the 1970s, the opponents had equalized, and by the beginning of the 1980s, South Korea had taken the lead and since then has gone further and further, overtaking not only the northern brothers, but also many European countries.

And the point here is not at all the superiority of capitalism over socialism. In the post-Soviet experience, we have seen that there is no special superiority. It is enough to compare the economy of the former Soviet Union with the current Russian one. It's just that South Korea was sponsored by the United States, while North Korea was sponsored by the USSR. America grew stronger, and the Soviet Union weakened, after which the position of the DPRK worsened. Like the rest of the socialist camp.

The territory inherited by the DPRK was initially poorer in minerals, fertile lands, and had a smaller population. In addition, the defense of the southerners was mainly provided by the States, which deployed their military contingent there. So South Korea has no need for a huge military machine. But the North is forced to support a gigantic army, the fourth largest in the world, and an ever-growing military industry, which soon reached 30 percent of GDP. Even the most powerful economy cannot withstand such a weight. Nor could North Korea. All the more so since Soviet Union at this time, problems began and he stopped sponsoring other people's projects. This finally knocked down the Juche Republic. The words about self-reliance suddenly became too literal.

KOREAN PERFORMANCE

The foundations of Korean communism began to shake in the 1990s. Unsustainable defense spending undermined the economy, and then the country's agriculture suffered from an unprecedented flood that flooded the rice fields and washed away the fertile layers of the earth.

The rationing system, which guaranteed every citizen the exact amount of proteins and carbohydrates, began to malfunction. The grain distribution rate was first reduced from 700 grams to 500 (of course, at the request of the workers), and then the cards stopped working altogether. A famine began in North Korea, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in 1995-1996.

And here, in an absolutely communist country, the market began to work. He earned illegally, but on a large scale. The people began to trade in humanitarian aid that came from neighbors, to take away non-ferrous metals from production and open handicraft workshops in which they made copies of Chinese clothes and assembled simple electronics. Peasant collective farmers slowly began to turn into farmers, began to work for themselves. The government turned a blind eye to popular pranks. And what was left to do if it could not feed its people. After all, the citizens of the DPRK themselves joked about themselves like this: there are two types of North Koreans: those; who are engaged in trade, and the dead.

It immediately became clear that the punitive-surveillance apparatus, which had worked effectively until recently, was not so terrible. That the state is also unable to feed the police and other officials means that an underground businessman can always pay off hungry controllers. In general, by the time the state defeated the famine, the country had its own bourgeoisie. Very small, of course. The turnover of an average trader or craftsman does not exceed $1,000. Although there are real oligarchs who turn over tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, these can be counted on the fingers.

CHAINED BY ONE CHAIN

But there can be no Soviet-style perestroika in the DPRK. In our country, after all, socialism was buried by the elite itself, which merged with the underground business and eventually wanted to legalize their capital. If such a fight breaks out in the Korean elite, none of its representatives will simply survive. The enlightened people will tear apart their rulers and, in accordance with Eastern traditions, will exterminate their offspring and distant relatives.

Neither party leaders, nor the military, nor the red directors, nor even the new Koreans who have accumulated a dozen or two thousand dollars, will be able to keep power over the country. Everyone will be crushed by South Korean business. Managers from Samsung and L.G. will rake up the country for themselves and will not share it with anyone. The North Korean elite is well aware of this and therefore holds together. All of them, from Great Leader Kim Jong Il to his numerous children and children of other leaders, ride on the back of a tiger. Sitting on a predator is dangerous, but no one knows how to get off. That is why a lot of money goes to the maintenance of the army, the development of nuclear weapons and propaganda.

However, the problem is not only in the instinct of self-preservation of the North Korean elite. Democratization and reunification with the southern brethren do not bode well for the ordinary population of the DPRK either. Now they know almost nothing about the outside world. A few owners of VCRs who watch illegal copies of South Korean and Japanese films, or shuttles that bring goods from China, receive some information. The bulk of the people live in a fairy tale, confident that their country is the hope for all mankind.

A collision with reality will be a terrible shock for them, from which it is not easy to recover. In addition, the country is horribly behind the rest of the world technologically. Accordingly, its population has also become uncompetitive. If tomorrow the two Koreas are reunited, then tens of thousands of North Korean doctors, whose knowledge remains at the level of the 70s, will be unemployed; engineers who have never seen a computer; an army of useless officers; peasants who know how to till the land only with a hoe and a sickle. The situation will be much more serious than with the unification of the two Germanys. And even the powerful South Korean economy may not be able to withstand such a load.

Perhaps, for today, the best way out for the country is to leave everything as it is, while the system still somehow holds on. Let the happy North Koreans live in their fairy-tale kingdom, build communism and be unaware of the existence of McDonald's and House-2. And if, at the same time, the world sends them humanitarian aid from time to time, then this is a very small price to pay for the preservation of a small reserve where time has stopped.

Interesting article?

Back in 2015, the world community was shocked by the sincerity of the French journalist Marcel Cartier, who decided to go on his own to the DPRK, which is now increasingly called simply North Korea. His goal was to find out if everything there is as bad as the Western (and not only) media describe. As it turned out, not every existing myth corresponds to reality. This article may somewhat change your myths about a closed state, and its charms, shortcomings, and all that.

Cartier admits that many things struck him to the depths of his soul and left no stone unturned from the stereotypes that existed before in his mind. Here are just a few, but the brightest, of them.

Americans are not hated at all, but are joyfully greeted as guests

Koreans have the highest level of class consciousness. They never hide their contempt for imperialism, which in the United States is part of the regime system, but if you tell a citizen of the DPRK that you come from America, then your conversation will not be about hating each other at all, but about sports, differences in politics , culture and much, much more. That is secular. For example, in the People's Palace of Education in Pyongyang (where, for a second, there are more than 30 million books), the most frequent work of musical art is not a local performer at all, but a collection of hits by the immortal The Beatles. But do not despair, because with about the same frequency, North Koreans ask for Linkin Park CDs for themselves. This is especially true for progressive youth, who found a place here as well. Doesn't sound much like an iron curtain, does it? And if you add that there is an active interest in the American Basketball League, then it becomes generally strange. And this interest is not limited to the most famous names of this sport.

Cartier cleared customs and border control twice as fast as in the European Union

Many of the Westerners who had the courage to finally make their way from Beijing to Pyongyang were concerned that the immigration process would be painstaking, lengthy and, as the saying goes, "addicted." Imagine their surprise when the cherished seals in their passports appeared within a few minutes. Only a few passengers were selectively examined luggage, but without fanaticism. The travel company urged the journalist not to take with him images of the American flag or posters, books, films and other things that could tell about the events of the Korean War. Cartier did not take it, but he was very surprised and later noted that even if he had all this in abundance, he would not have experienced problems, because the customs officers were not very interested in such trifles.

Pyongyang is an extremely beautiful, cultural and clean city

Cartier speaks of the capital of North Korea as one of the finest cities he has ever seen. Pyongyang impressed him with its grooming and comfort even for a tourist who does not know a word of Korean. Given the fact that in the Korean War (here, by the way, it is called the Patriotic Liberation War), US troops subjected the city to massive carpet bombing, by 1953 only two buildings remained intact here. What happened to the city during this time is worthy of the deepest respect. A mass of statues and majestic official buildings, large park areas for people to relax, residential buildings that do not stop growing up like mushrooms. Previously, it was said that at night in Pyongyang it is pitch dark at night, but this is not true. Yes, there is no mass of advertising glowing at night, which is inherent in Western cities, but the coverage of important aspects of the capital of the DPRK is constantly working and this is even more pleasing, because falling asleep at night is much easier than, for example, in Paris, which is always noisy and burning with all the lights, from where the origin of the author of the article.

Hairstyle "like Kim Jong-un" is not required and there are practically no those who wear it

During his entire stay in North Korea, the French journalist managed to notice only one man who tried to imitate the leader of the DPRK. The hairstyle, Cartier notes, did not suit him at all, and at first the reporter thought that the rumors were really true, but later he became convinced that this was another fiction from the BBC, Time and other publications, which, with the light hand of the South Korean media, spread this information. Cartier also made sure that it was a lie that the people of North Korea were limited in their choice of hairstyles. Yes, in local hairdressers, portraits of models really hang on the walls, but this is not done as the only choice, but rather, is designed to simplify the life of a client who cannot decide. Also in some beauty salon in New York. Only the price is five times lower.

Residents of the DPRK are constantly joking and smiling

Here you can ask a reasonable question, what is happening, most likely, for show? The journalist claims that he would be sincerely surprised if he knew that all the laughter that the Koreans shared with him turned out to be feigned. If we think in this way, we can assume that in some incomprehensible way in North Korea they can guess in which cars the people of other countries are sitting at high speed in order to laugh at this very moment. Koreans have a lot of very witty jokes on a variety of topics, including Americans on the demarcation line. The French journalist is sure that the most successful is the following: “An American soldier passes a cigarette to a soldier from the DPRK across the demarcation line. The Korean soldier takes it, and then the American asks if he hates the Americans, then why does he smoke American cigarettes, to which the Korean soldier replies: "So I don't smoke it, I burn it."

The monolithic ideology is not the monolithicity of the inhabitants of the DPRK

You should immediately understand what is individualism, and what is individuality and what a big gap there is between these two concepts. In fact, Cartier notes, his observations made it possible to understand that people in the same Pyongyang can communicate on a variety of topics, support an idea that, it would seem, can only come to mind by a native of the “open West”. People here have a lot of interests, and everything is used: sports, culture, music, cinema and much, much more. They are free to choose what they like and what they don't.

People are dressed as "like a needle", moreover, all over the country

Even in the countryside, where the French journalist managed to visit, Koreans are dressed very decently. There was not a single place he visited where people looked untidy or in clothes that looked like cast-offs. Another myth turned out to be the fact that all men and women dress the same way. Everything is not the way typical Europeans and Americans have been taught to think. Men often wear brighter clothes than today's teenagers, but there is also room for business attire. The tie is an international symbol. There was a place for him in North Korea. Women, on the other hand, do not deny themselves dresses of bright colors, some choose traditional Korean clothes, while others even choose sportswear. At the same time, no one violates the norms of decency, but people look completely different.

English is a compulsory school subject from Grade 1

English proficiency among young people is impressive. Even shocking. Cartier says that 90% of those whom he approached on the street freely communicated with him in English, without experiencing visible discomfort. As it turned out, it's all about the quality of education. Previously, foreign languages ​​were taught here from the first grade, but due to the fact that it was not so easy for children to learn completely foreign English, the discipline was transferred to the 3rd grade. In addition, the study of Chinese and German is actively taking place, but here it is already the choice of the parents of the elementary school student.

Koreans are very fond of tourists and want to develop this area

One of the aspects of the economy, as it seemed to Cartier, which the government of the DPRK will develop in the first place, will most likely be tourism. The new airport building located in Pyongyang is under construction and will soon expand impressively. The Koreans would very much like to open their country to the outside world, but they are sure that this should be done in a slightly different way than, at one time, the People's Republic of China did. They don't want North Korea to become another pillar of Western culture and lifestyle, so their fears are largely understandable.

Cartier also noted Air Koryo in a separate text. All directories give her only one star, but he said that he was ready to argue with anyone that the rating was artificially low, because in terms of service and comfort, this is one of the best agencies whose services he had ever used. First, they have a new fleet of Russian aircraft flying between Beijing and Pyongyang. In addition, there are entertainment during the flight, you can even buy a hamburger, and to choose from, coffee, beer, juice or sparkling water. This kind of service deserves at least three stars. But, unfortunately, not the passengers themselves choose.

Beer officially recognized as a non-alcoholic drink in North Korea

In almost every region of the country, you can now find a local brewery that provides people with the need for this drink locally. There is a huge variety of varieties that are very popular throughout the country. Most meals in local catering buildings are served, by default, with small amounts of beer. For example, if you visit the Kim Il Sung stadium on a tourist visit, you can see how local residents with plastic cups drink beer during a friendly match between the football teams of the DPRK. The most striking example can be any football in Russia - the stadium in both the Russian Federation and Korea is full, but the crowd in the latter is not aggressive, which helps to enjoy the game and not be afraid for your own safety.

Most of the stories that I publish in the West about the DPRK are blatant lies and slander

About 100-120 US citizens were in Pyongyang at the same time with the French journalist. This was largely due to the fact that for the first time amateur runners were allowed to participate in the Pyongyang Marathon. One couple said that this was their second visit to the DPRK. Interestingly, they were in North Korea just a year ago, but they liked the country so much that they wanted to return. They noted that last time they were afraid to go. They were especially scared after the story about how allegedly Kim Jong-un ordered the execution of his girlfriend because she refused to act in a porn film. Other rumors that Kim Jong-un executed his own uncle with the help of a pack of hungry dogs (dogs in various interpretations changed with a mortar, machine gun, hanging, and many others). Educational camps and prisons do exist, but this does not reject the fact that the Western press throws quite a lot of effort into the campaign to demonize the DPRK, distort objective reality, which, of course, does not reflect well on the people of North Korea.

Nikolay Ofitserov

I managed to see the outback of the DPRK and take photographs for which they 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 hide the Korean province? Beware, there are many 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 scheduled in seconds in Pyongyang.

I drove over 500 kilometers through the most remote corners of North Korea. Was it dangerous? Definitely. But the risk was worth it.

Leaving Dandong, China, I headed north. An interesting place, here to Korea no more than ten meters. Everything is in the palm of your hand. And so do I, of course.

On the Chinese side, the border is almost not guarded, but the Koreans have towers every three hundred

And there are constant foot patrols. This border is special: all over the world they are needed so that the enemies do not enter, but here it is the other way around, so that our own people do not run away.

View from the Korean village to the Chinese village. No matter how much propaganda tries to hide the real state of affairs, calling things by other names, it is enough for the inhabitants of the border region to open their eyes and look at their neighbors. How then to believe the TV?

That's why Koreans can't go to see the world, it's harmful. You can't even visit China, 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 is photographed.

And all for the sake of sights - 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 this fraternal people is looking through binoculars and sights.

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

The North Koreans...

do not confuse 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 can’t do anything about it. They are trying to build Potemkin villages, but what else is left for them?

It is terrible to think that once both countries were in approximately the same conditions.

The DPRK has a very beautiful nature.

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

But stop looking at China. Onward to North Korea! Let's see a small border town by the river.
Washing machines have not yet been invented, everyone goes to the river. But the clothes of ordinary Koreans turned out to be not as gray and monotonous as the imagination had drawn.

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

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

A house of glass and concrete was built on the shore. Of course, empty inside. What for?

High school.

Physical education class in North Korea. Children carry stones, help build a neighboring house.

Grandfathers were at war. Memorial of the Korean War 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 walked just like that.

The work was physical and hard.

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

From afar, Korean towns look neat and even pretty.

And if you take a closer look, you will see: only the first line of houses is painted, then 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. Immutable portraits of leaders. In North Korea they are deified.

The train is the only link to the rest of the country. The roads are only unpaved, there is no public transport. But this train is not a passenger one either. Why would they go anywhere?

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

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. The 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 under joint Korean-Chinese management. They are being built with Chinese money.

The entire border runs along the Yalu River.

Deaf farm.

The Koreans raised the alarm and started burning grass so 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 and holes!

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

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

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

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

But there are a lot of flaws and "blunders" if they wanted to make a beautiful ostentatious city.

Hundreds of identical white beautiful houses. And not cardboard, residential, there are people almost everywhere. But look at the paths between them... why the other ones, because there are no cars?

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

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

The city-forming enterprise is a factory.

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

The central square is not crowded.

We return to China. He's teasing Koreans again with his lights and shop windows. Shatters the system? It is unlikely that the Chinese have much more effective methods to destroy the DPRK in a matter of months.

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

North Korea is the most closed country in the world. Western tourists who want to take a few photos face many bans. You can not take pictures of poorly or sloppyly dressed, tired, working people; it is forbidden to film the military; it is not allowed to photograph anything that could compromise the myth of the happy life of the North Korean people in the eyes of the world community.

The average resident of the DPRK has no idea that this is a myth, and, moreover, never existed. A citizen of the Western world knows perfectly well that an ideal life does not exist, and beautiful pictures only alert him and make him look more carefully.

Last year, the ISS, flying over Asia at night, filmed the largest cities in Russia, China, and South Korea. By the number of lights, you can assess the level of development of a particular region.

The world was shocked: darkness reigned in North Korea. This country seemed like a black hole on the face of the planet - a tiny dot of Pyongyang shone. And, as a mockery, nearby is a solid sea of ​​​​lights of the southern neighbor-sister. After ten in the evening, electricity is cut off almost throughout the country ...

North Korea ranks fourth in the world in terms of the size of its regular army. Up to 1.190 million people are under arms in North Korea. The number of people ready to join the ranks of the North Korean army is approximately equal to the population of the state of Senegal. 6.515 million men and 6.418 million women are fit to serve in the armed forces of the DPRK.

At the same time, North Korea is called the most corrupt country in the world - along with Afghanistan and Somalia. According to the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index, in 2013 North Korea, Somalia and Afghanistan were countries where corruption reached a critical level. A score ranging from 0 (highest level of corruption) to 100 (no corruption) is given to 177 countries. North Korea received a score of 8. Not surprisingly, despite the dictatorship of communism, even the security forces live in miserable conditions.

Nearly 6 million people in the DPRK suffer from food insecurity, and 33% of children are chronically malnourished. Residents of the DPRK, especially those born after the Korean War, are almost 6 centimeters shorter than South Koreans. It is likely that the difference in height is due to the lack of nutrition during the war, as well as the chronic malnutrition of one in three children in the DPRK.

Now there is a card system. The most skilled and industrious worker receives 700 grams of rice a day, several kilograms of meat and two dozen eggs a year.

According to some reports, 23.4% of North Korea's GDP comes from agriculture. It includes the cultivation of rice, corn, potatoes, legumes, pigs, and cattle. However, according to the World Food Program, due to natural conditions and lack of arable land, the DPRK is experiencing a chronic food shortage: less than 20% of all North Korean land is suitable for sowing crops.

Between 1994 and 1998, North Korea experienced extensive flooding and much of its agricultural land became unusable. The growing debt to the USSR excluded food imports. As a result, entire cities began to die out. During this time, about 3.5 million people died of starvation - more than 10% of the country's population. Any food stocks were confiscated by the military in accordance with the Songun ("army first") policy. North Koreans began to eat their pets, then crickets and tree bark, and finally children. It was at that time that the saying became popular: "Do not buy meat if you do not know where it comes from."

The total length of roads in the country is 25,554 kilometers, of which only 724 kilometers are paved. That is, only 2.83% of all roads in the DPRK are covered with asphalt. This happens because few residents in the country have personal vehicles. And the North Koreans have big problems with public transport…

In 1957, as Kim Il Sung struggled to maintain control of North Korea, he launched a global inquiry into the "trustworthiness" of the country's population. The end result of this investigation was a completely changed social system, dividing the citizens of the country into three classes: "enemies", "waverers" and "base". This division was not based on the person's personality, but on their family history. Families loyal to the government were included in the "basic" class and were given better opportunities for life. They are now, as a rule, politicians and people closely associated with the government.

The people in the middle stratum are the "fluctuating" or neutral class. The government does not support them in any way, but it does not oppress them either. With a happy combination of circumstances, they can become the "basis".

The class "enemies" included those people whose ancestors were seen in such terrible crimes against the state as Christianity and land ownership. According to Kim Il Sung, they are the main threat to the country. These people are deprived of the opportunity to receive an education, they cannot even live near Pyongyang and, as a rule, they live in poverty.

Only "loyal" people have the right to live in Pyongyang, so by definition there cannot be dissatisfied with the regime here. The North Korean capital, like Moscow in its time, is considered the front showcase of socialism and is carefully protected from strangers: you can enter only with special permission.

North Korea claims to be one of the most literate countries in the world: its average literacy rate allegedly reaches 100%! At the same time, literacy in the DPRK is determined by the ability to write "Kim Jong Il."

In addition, what is the quality of education in the country, can be seen from the "official biography" of the first President of North Korea, which is studied by every student.

He was born on a volcano under a double rainbow when a new star appeared in the sky ... Kim also corrected teachers in history classes and wrote 1500 books. He was a "god-like gift from heaven"... Moreover, the chronology here takes place according to the Juche calendar, in which the first year of the world is Kim Il Sung's birthday.

Even math lessons are not complete without ideological education: “20,000 children live in a poor South Korean city. 40 percent of them make a living cleaning shoes for American soldiers, and 60 percent beg. How many children are engaged in these crafts?

And if necessary, schools are closed and children sent to work. In 2013, when another food crisis broke out in the country, even elementary school students were sent to the fields - children aged 5 to 10 years.

The country has a six-day work week with mandatory evening political classes and rehearsals for mass demonstrations. But you still need to get home and solve everyday problems. The only day off is Sunday, but it is also customary to spend it in a team: North Koreans are very fond of joint picnics. Even in this case, any individualism is condemned.

Only 28 government-approved hairstyles and haircuts are allowed in the country. Girls are allowed to wear 14 options; married women are supposed to wear short hair, and single women can let their hair grow longer. Men are prohibited from growing their hair longer than 5 centimeters, while older people can afford hair lengths up to 7 centimeters.

Crime here is almost zero, citizens' apartments do not even have locks. Maybe because most Koreans simply have nothing to steal?

All North Korean citizens are required to work, with the exception of married women. After completing their education, people are assigned to jobs that are almost impossible to change. Now, however, the system of distribution to work and lifelong employment is slowly weakening. A shadow market has formed, there are even people doing business. And usually they are women. A man, in order to do business, needs to somehow resolve the issue of working in the public sector, because officially you cannot quit before the age of 60. And a woman has the right to be a housewife or engage in crafts or trade.

999 out of 1,000 Koreans have a very vague idea of ​​the world around them. Those few who go abroad are carefully checked for ideological stamina and they take receipts of non-disclosure of impressions. The true state of living abroad is likened to a state secret, and North Koreans sincerely believe that their country is the happiest and most economically prosperous in the whole world.

Dutch photographer Alice Vielinga created a series of photo collages titled “North Korea: Living Between Propaganda and Reality” in which she tried to combine the reality she captured during her 2013 visit to the DPRK with the utopian vision of the country’s leadership reflected in official propaganda.

According to foreign media