North Korea, From The Inside

Barry Petersen Shares His Candid Observations From A Trip To The "People's Paradise"

(CBS)  Tokyo-based CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen has been covering Asia since 1986. He has headed the CBS News Tokyo bureau since 1995. Though he had traveled previously to North Korea, Feb. 25 - 27, 2008 marked Petersen's first visit to the reclusive communist state's capital, Pyongyang. Below is a series of observations he recorded during his trip.

---

Minders are a part of any North Korean visit. Men in black suits with Kim Il Sung lapel pins assigned to watch, translate and sometimes guide you to shoot what they consider important and not what they want to hide.

When our team arrived at Pyongyang airport - myself, producer Marsha Cooke, and cameraman Randy Schmidt - the minders were waiting on the tarmac.

We submitted pictures in advance for our visas so it wasn't hard to know who was who in the press corps, but it was still spooky to have a stranger walk up and say, "Mr. Petersen."

His name is Lee Gyong Il, and his job was minding we three. But we could tell this was going to be an unusual visit when he put on his best "welcome face" and for the next two days, seemed almost anxious to please. No stopping us from shooting this or that, no hands in front of the camera, and no problems interpreting when we spoke to people that we selected.

---

The nine-hole golf course stopped me dead in my tracks.

But, there it was, in front of the Yanggakdo International Hotel. The hotel is on an island in the Taedong River in the heart of Pyongyang. The golf course - it's in front.

Nine holes. In a country where most people don't get enough to eat, a golf course. But it gets better.

While we were visiting North Korea, doing stories on the visit by the New York Philharmonic, it snowed. Call it a light dusting.

Next morning, workers of this "People's Paradise" were on the golf course with brooms, carefully clearing off the greens. In freezing cold of in winter, the greens were ready, in case someone wanted to go nine holes.

---

Here's the joke: When you go to North Korea, set your clock back 20 years.

Or maybe more. North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Three years later, a truce was signed.

To this day, the United Nations and North Korea are still technically at war, since there was no peace treaty and Korea remains a divided county - except in my "Sightseeing Guide to North Korea," bought at the hotel.

It shows a map of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (what North Korea calls itself) and shows all of Korea, including such places as Seoul - the capital of South Korea. If you didn't know better, you would think the North won the war and now runs the whole country.

Delusional? Sure, but in a world of big lies and propaganda, it fits.

---

I started calling it "Pyongyang by the numbers" because, here, size really does matter.

For instance, Kim Il Sung square. He was the founder of the Communist North who died in 1994, not that you could tell since artist's renditions and photographs of the "Great Leader" are everywhere. At left, CBS News producer Marsha Cook is seen dwarfed by an imposing bronze Kim.

His square, the guidebook tells me, covers 807,293 square feet.

The Grand People's Study House (library) has room for 30-million books and, if you're counting, has a roof of 750,000 blue tiles.

Dominating the skyline is the Juche Tower. Juche is the ideal of self-reliance promoted by the Great Leader. Translation - if we can't afford to buy it, we'll either make it here, or, since you imposed all those economic sanctions, just skip it.

The tower is 492 feet high, with a torch adding an additional 66 feet at the top. The statue in front weighs 33 tons. Fountains shoot water almost 500 feet into the sky.

And, says my guidebook, the tower was built in 1982, so that Kim Il Sung's "revolutionary exploits would be remembered for all ages."

---

Pyongyang by night is a city of lights - as long as we're there. Kim Il Sung square and, down the road, his monster-size statue were all lit, as were other government buildings and lights along the main roads, including large starburst displays on lamp poles every few yards.

To the average North Korean, this was an omen - lights-on means visitors are in town. In normal life, the lights are turned off. Electricity is a coveted commodity in this poor country, and even the capital goes without power on a regular - almost daily - basis.

So, if the lights are on, locals know something is up.

After the Philharmonic performed, orchestra members and the press got onto buses and headed back the hotel. Someone looked back and saw the starburst displays of light shutting off one-by-one, once the last bus had passed.

---

Pyongyang is clean and neat. People look good, some women favor bright colored winter coats and scarves.

The subways are graffiti-free with chandeliers of many colored lights and murals of what I can only call: "Socialism on the Move," usually with Kim Il Sung or his son and current leader, Kim Jong Il, leading the charge of the masses.

When the orchestra arrived at the airport it was greeted by a high level official delegation, who arrived in Mercedes-Benz sedans.

But all this hides the Potemkin Village that is North Korea. Residents of Pyongyang are not the ordinary people, they are the lucky. Commit an infraction and you'll end up spending the rest of your life in a village eating grass soup for dinner.

---

What's for dinner in a country where people still starve to death?

If you are an invited foreign orchestra and the press covering them, try this:

Appetizers of sliced turkey, vegetables fermented with strong seasonings (called kimchi), rolls and butter, special fish dumplings and main courses of salmon, roast beef, sweet soup and - already on the table when we sat down - a chocolate cake served with ice-cream.

---

Can you explain the subprime mortgage crisis? Try doing it for an apparatchik North Korean official over dinner (see above).

He was lean and smoked Marlboro lights. The American brand cigarettes and his talk of listening to the BBC and Voice of America made it clear he was one of the elite. His job, as best we could tell, was bossing the many "minders" assigned to various press people.

First, I tried to explain the whole idea of a mortgage to a man raised in a country where there is no private property. Then I pushed forward bravely by explaining how some mortgages were different - riskier than others.

Did he get it? No idea. But that was the last thing I would have expected as dinner conversation in North Korea.

---

It struck us that people were careful not to see us. Example: Randy was shooting a line of people getting off the subway. Not one turned to look at him. In their world, curiosity is dangerous. Seeing could be fatal. Best to keep eyes forward.

A mass of foreigners; many carrying video or still cameras rolling and clicking away. No one waved, no one even smiled.

Randy got one nice shot; a mother with her small child, walking towards his camera. The child looked and seemed ready to smile. Kids are like that. One good yank from Mom and they were gone.

---

How do you keep a failed nation going? Perhaps we can borrow a clue from the Jesuits, who taught that if you get them while they're young, you will have them for life.

That was my thought while watching children at the "Mangyongdae School Children's Palace" performing during our last event before leaving. By the way, the Palace covers 300,000 square meters.

The kids - they looked younger than teenagers but, in a country where food is scarce, children don't grow as fast or tall as elsewhere - were gaily decorated and were wonderful singers and dancers.

They opened with "Best is My County". We got renditions of "Jingle Bells" - complete with performers dressed in red and white, like Santa's elves, and a bit of American folk music with "Clementine", and an ode to the late Great Leader, Kim Il Sung.

They closed with two known crowd pleasers: "We are the Masters of the Future" and "We are Faithful Only to General Kim Jong Il."

Children are believers. That is why we take such care in what we teach them. And so, quite obviously, do the leaders of the North Korean Hermit Kingdom.

[pelosisaho2]

Mistake one - Truman firing MacArthur.

Mistake two - Bill Clinton showing his usual cowardice by not eliminating the NK nuke sites, but allowing his fellow coward - and bigot, one James Earl Carter to talk nicely to the murderous scum who even let babies die in the cold.

But then again, what do you expect from Democratic Presidents? Trust me - it will only get worse if either one of the two MoveOn.Org paid off Neo-Fascists candidates are elected.

[easeup-2009]

"Mistake four - then I guess the great neocon savior George W. Bush showed his own cowardice by also not "eliminating" the NK nuke sites either. But then, a neocon like you never met a bombing you didn''''t like - as long as you didn''''t have to do it yourself. The arrogance of our neocon presidents is going to get the world destroyed.


Posted by rafterman1 at 10:42 AM : Mar 10, 2008"

Actually NK has shut down their reactors & it has been confirmed by the IAEA as of July, 2007.

Sorry to let facts ruin your rant.

[walt1944-2009]

The New York Philharmonic played in North Korean!

39 years ago, China invited the US (which at that time had no relations with the country: they were Communist, remember!) to send its ping-pong team to China to play their team. Next thing we knew Richard "the Trickster" Nixon was walking around Peking shaking hands with Communist leaders and visiting the Great Wall!

We all know where all that has led! And China, for all its "capitalism" today is still Communist!!!

Now, suddenly, illogically, the Great Emperor Bush II is getting "friendly" with the North Koreans. Today, it''s the New York Philharmonic, and tomorrow???? Do I see "Ping-Pong" diplomacy at work again???

I would imagine that every hardcore neocon Fascist Nazi out there must be pretty upset with the Great Emperor Bush trying to act like "the Trickster" and get some kind of "favorable" legacy by trying to open up North Korean. After all, we have to remember that there really is very little difference between Nixon and Bush II, the list of similiarities too long to go into!

I can only assume that Cuba will be next, provided the Great Emperor Bush II has time enough to send the New York Yankees to play a baseball game in Havana!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
sig heil, McCain????

[easeup-2009]

"Posted by walt1944 at 01:42 PM : Mar 10, 2008"


You''re against diplomacy??

I-D-I-O-T

[gods_grace]

North Korea, From The Inside
I would not want to live in North Korea. It reminds me of the battle in which self lost? From inside our core there is self we all know of him. With the power of Christ Jesus we can walk in Love and not self!

[smilee_face]

What is this walk you spoke of?

[god_blessyou]

North Korea, From The Inside
The walk is the life%u2019s direction you take! Whether for Right or Wrong it can be for God if you turn from self to God through Christ!

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".

[abroad1]

The map. Many countries in the world are showing Korea as one country. South Koreans that I know in the US say that they are "from Korea".
China still Communist? Have you been there? Is this first-hand information or maybe third or fourth, or maybe just the way you want to think?
The number of people working for the government in China compared to the number of people working for the government in the US? Is that your measure? I think those would be similar. Or maybe you want to compare the number of private vs. public enterprises. I think those would be similar.
China business is heavily privatized and provincial control is stronger than in the US in many ways. Elections of leaders is by party leaders, not private citizens. That is perhaps what some think of as "communist".