[imText1]Photographs and writings by a Chinese man who made a recent visit to North Korea are popular amongst Chinese web users.
Last October, a Chinese man under the pseudonymof Ackidungsoon made a four day trip to North Korea by train when North Korea was celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Chosun Worker’s Party. Upon returning home, he posted 201 photographs with detailed explanations on a web site called “Gawujaesun”, which means “a society of good friends”.
It is possible to gain a sense of how the Chinese view North Korea in observing many of the responses to the website by Chinese web users. Many other photographs and writings regarding North Korea followed Ackidungsoon’s posting, as Gawujaesun is a Chinese photographers’ club.
Nearing North Korea
Ackidungsoon did not state exactly when he had visited North Korea, but from his pictures and writings it can be assumed that his visit was made around October 10th this year. He visited the International Friendship Exhibition museum, the Triumphal Arch, and saw the famous musical, Arirang.
It seems that he had had considerable knowledge of North Korea beforehand, and wanted to capture scenes of ordinary North Korean people’s lives on film.
The DailyNK plans to introduce Ackidungsoon’s photographs and writings through English translations, released in a series of articles. It will also include other Chinese photographs with the permission of the photographers. It should be noted that Ackidungsoon sometimes used sarcastic or ironic expressions–the nuance and tone of which were difficult to translate into English.
Nearing North Korea
One day of early last October, I landed in our neighboring country, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a member of a tour group. It was a familiar, but strange and secretive state. Photographing there has been the most unique experience since I began my work as a freelance photographer.
North Koreans seemed to be instinctively afraid and wary of the camera. North Korea imposes very strange regulations on tourists’ photographing. The reactions to the camera shown by both the authorities and residents terrified me consistently.
I heard before that in North Korea photographing had been restricted, and tourists carrying cameras with zoom lenses had not been allowed. Thus I asked the travel agency about it. Contrary to my expectation, they answered that all kinds of cameras could be carried nowadays. Despite their confident remark, I gave up taking the XGP and chose to take a 24-85 camera instead. Just in case I also decided to carry a GX8 to photograph stealthily. My decision turned out to be a wise one.
For my four day visit, I made full use of the GX8 with some stunts. Half of the photographs I took with the GX8 were useless because the camera malfunctioned. The remaining half were somewhat satisfactory considering that I felt very insecure while shooting them. I was given the permission to take the rest.
I wish the viewer to see my photos just as a record. I only want to show North Korea from an objective perspective. I was pondering what should be an appropriate name for my posting. I concluded Entering North Korea, which I had considered before, to be an inaccurate title.
I could not see what North Koreans’ lives were like because I was restricted. I felt as if I had been moved around North Korea while caged in a glass bottle. It could be more accurate to say that I have never been in North Korea, but was just closer to it than usual. Hence, I chose ‘Nearing North Korea’ to be the title of my posting.
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| ▲ The international train between Dandong of China and Shinuiju of North Korea. |
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| ▲ North Korea and China Friendship Bridge(the Yalu River Bridge): this 900m bridge connects North Korea and China. |
At 8 in the morning, we started the due process such as clearing through customs. About 9 o’clock we boarded the train and sang an old Chinese war song.
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| ▲ The travel agency prepared these wreaths. |
I saw a couple of wreaths on the platform of Dandung Station. These wreaths are prepared by the travel agency to be given to Kim Jong Il, the general secretary of the Chosun Worker’s Party. “May the Great Leader, General Kim Jong Il, live to a great age,” and “We present these to General Kim Jong Il” were written on the ribbons.
The tour guide said that October 10th would be the 60th anniversary of the Chosun Worker’s Party, and thus these wreaths were prepared. “You are very lucky because there will be a lot to see in Pyongyang because it is a big holiday season,” said the guide.
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| ▲ A scene of Sinuiju Station. |
As soon as the train crossed the North Korea and China Friendship Bridge, two North Korean border guards hopped on the train. We were quite amazed to see them jump onto the running train.
The two soldiers did not look healthy. Their eyes were inflamed. However, we could not figure out what their problems were.
When the train stopped at Sinuiju Station, customs officers inspected our baggage. It seemed that they knew only one Chinese word even though they dealt with Chinese people everyday.
“chiencha”
Their pronunciation was too strange to understand what they meant.
Kindness to the Chinese, strictness with Westerners
The process of the inspection was somewhat ridiculous and miserable. A female customs officer felt every item in female tourists’ baggage, and dug out some items she thought strange. For instance, she took a grotesque looking lipstick out of a tourist’s bag and inspected it for a while before she smiled with a gesture of applying it to her lip. The female officer did not inspect male tourists’ baggage.
Next, a male officer showed up, and said, “Changchia.” We assumed his “Changchia” to be “Chiencha” because “Changchia” did not make any sense. (Inspection is translated as Chiencha. Changchia means seasoned cabbage. Thus, it could be assumed that the officer made a pronunciation error.)
The officer did not fully inspect male tourists’ baggage. Hence, we assumed that there was some sexual discrimination in dealing with customs inspections.
There were also Americans, Russians, Germans, French, and other Europeans. These people were thoroughly inspected. They even had to take everything out of their back pockets. The inspection was no less than those conducted by soldiers in war movies. From the western perspective, it is a severe human rights infringement. But no one complained even though they were upset. Westerners seemed to be more afraid of communists than we were because they sincerely submitted to the officer’s instructions.
North Korea was kind to the Chinese.
It was also notable that cellular phones and telescopes could not be taken into North Korea even though the Chinese telecommunication network had been installed in Sinuiju. We took the train bound for Pyongyang at Sinuiju. The atmosphere of Sinuiju Station was quite different from that of the Chinese train stations: People looked solemn. The slogan of “Cheer to the Great Leader, General Kim Jong Il” caught my eyes.
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| ▲ The foreigners’ car of the train between Pyongyang and Sinuiju is called the 6th car in North Korea. |
The train was good, but the upholstery on the arm and back of the chair was a bit dirty. It was strange that there were no covers on the chair. Our guide said there were no covers on the chairs in North Korean buses and trains. That may be because North Korea has a shortage of fabric.
161 dead, 1300 injured in the Yongchun Explosion
According to the schedule, the train was supposed to depart at ten thirty in the morning. But it started 20 minutes earlier. The guide was very surprised and said, “This is very rare. Normally, North Korean trains delay. It is uncommon for North Korean trains to depart on time. But I have never seen them depart earlier.”
Rice in the fields was awaiting harvest. It was said that North Korean rice farming was excellent this year, so people were expecting to receive rations on time every month. But North Korean rice production is quite poor. I heard that for every 10 square meters, 180kg of rice is usually cropped.
I took a window seat, and folded my arms over my chest holding the GX8 in the right hand. I hid the camera by covering it under the sleeve. Its small lens was free of blockages though. I stealthily could shoot a scene with the help of my friend’s look-out.
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| ▲ A scene of North Korean countryside. The white building in the middle of the picture is a research center for the Kim Il Sung Revolution. |
The houses in the above picture are North Korean farmers’ houses. The government distributes the houses to farmers. The government divides land for building houses and constructs them according to a single design. The houses are then assigned to its people for free. The assignment is executed in consideration of the population, social ranking, and contribution to the nation. There are 80 square meter houses, and 120-150 square meter houses.
North Korean housing system strictly restricts houses to the mountain sides, and the house cannot include any empty land. This restriction is stronger than that of China.
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| ▲ New houses were built in Yongchun where a big explosion occurred in April of last year. |
Last year, a huge explosion occurred in Yongchun Station, and 161 people were killed. Among them, 76 were children. 1300 people were also injured. The explosion occurred 9 hours after Kim Jong Il retuned to North Korea after his visit to China. It is said that people in Yongchun at the time thought that the U.S. was finally waging war. They thought that the U.S. had dropped a nuclear bomb because they had never experienced such a huge explosion.
The North Korean authorities had not revealed this news for two days, but they finally announced that an explosion had occurred caused by collision of two natural gas containers and an ammonia container. China sent relief goods worth 10 million yuan. The houses in the above picture were built after this incident.
