Return to North Korea
Return to North Korea
I have spent much of the past week in North Korea (or, as it is officially known, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). I have been very privileged to visit North Korea four times during the past three years. The purpose of the visits has been to establish goodwill between the school where I work (Li Po Chun United World College in Hong Kong) and educational institutions in North Korea. Significant progress has been made, and some background information on the educational initiative can seen HERE.
My fourth trip (this week) took place from 29th May to 2nd June - yes, I returned home just yesterday afternoon. Accompanied by another teacher from the College, I took a group of 13 students from such diverse countries as Australia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, South Africa and the United Kingdom. During our time in North Korea, we visited many places of historical, political, cultural and revolutionary significance, spending most of our time in Pyongyang and in the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) at Panmunjom and nearby. A highlight of the trip was the visit to June 9th Secondary School where our students had the opportunity to engage in lessons together, to speak freely and openly, to participate in a reciprocal musical concert and to play a friendly game of football. Our aim was build bridges of friendship, and our students were sensational ambassadors who more than achieved their goodwill objectives.
It is hard to do justice to the trip through mere words, which is why I have already taken the time to upload six galleries of images that describe our experiences much more effectively. The links to the image galleries are given below, and I encourage you to spend the time peering into another world - a world that seems to going at right-angles to the direction of the rest of the planet. Most of the world’s nations seem to be embracing the global economy. North Korea, on the other hand, just wants to follow its indigenous juche philoshophy, which in summary means “self-reliance” or “humans are the masters of their own collective destinies”.
Compared to previous trips, I found less anti-US rhetoric (although it was still there, of course, especially at places such as the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum). On the other hand, there was considerably more anti-Japanese rhetoric than I have encountered previously. During our visit to the school, when our students were given time to engage in free conversation, a Korean student asked our students “What do you think of Japan and the Japanese?”.
I could write more, and perhaps I will at some stage soon, but for now, I suggest you enjoy the image galleries that can be found following the links below:
Gallery 1 - Day 1 (29th May 2007) arrival in Pyongyang - 40 images
Gallery 2 - Day 2 (30th May 2007) in Pyongyang - 76 images
Gallery 3 - Day 3 (31st May 2007) morning in Pyongyang - 52 images
Gallery 4 - Day 3 (31st May 2007) afternoon visit to June 9th Secondary School - 98 images
Gallery 5 - Day 4 (1st June 2007) visit to Kaesong and Panmunjom (DMZ) - 42 images
Gallery 6 - Images of the students on the trip - 56 images
Galleries of my previous trips to North Korea can be accessed using the following links:
1st trip - March 2005 - 129 images
2nd trip - August 2006 - 267 images
3rd trip - March 2006 - 159 images
Sunday, 3 June 2007