In keeping with the ideals of the regime (and The Dear Leader Kim Jong Il’s artistic bent), children spend a lot of their spare time practicing singing, dancing and gymnastics. We were treated to a concert, which was extremely impressive, though. Inside is a massive marble foyer, which seems a bit excessive for some young kids. One of the more impressive buildings is the Children’s Palace, which we were told is a place where schoolchildren come after class to learn music, sport and arts. While most people seem to live in these rudimentary apartments, there is still a lot of grandeur in the public buildings and it’s hard to know whether the residents see the contrast as an insult or a source of pride. Glimpses inside some of the lit apartments revealed simple, bare abodes with prominent photos of the leaders on the wall.
Daylife korea windows#
The Pyongyang skyline was filled with the grey concrete apartment buildings that house the population, where they presumably spend a lot of their time.Īt night, though, many of the windows were dark (either because of power shortages or because they were uninhabited) and it felt like a city designed with the promise of a metropolis but without the ability to deliver. Unlike a normal capital city, there weren’t restaurants, cafes, bars or shops lining the streets. None of this is easy work, by the way, and the construction teams we saw were doing a lot more by hand than you would expect in any developed economy.Ī department store on a main street was deserted every time we drove by it, just a lonely attendant standing behind a counter. Many are employed in construction, manufacturing or the military. The average North Korean isn’t commuting from home to the office, though.
Daylife korea full#
The old buses and trams are full of people (obviously they don’t own cars) and the subway was packed at peak hour when we took a ride. There is a sense on normalcy, though, on the public transport.
It felt a bit like one of those post-apocalyptic movies, with the irony being that the world thinks it will be North Korea that will wreak the apocalypse. In theory there are 3 million people in Pyongyang but it seemed quieter than a small country town. On the streets of North Korea’s capital themselves, there’s an eerie feeling of vacuity – an emptiness evident by the lack of vehicles, sounds of traffic or crowds of pedestrians. North Koreans need permission to live in the capital (there are roadblocks on the country’s streets that stop you moving around without permission) and the city is generally made up of people loyal to the party and those who have a higher position in society.Īt some special events we went to like a funfair and a FIFA soccer game, it wasn’t unusual to see people with mobile phones and digital cameras.īut this certainly wasn’t a common sight on the streets, presumably because technology like that is too expensive for most people.
You can never truly look inside and discover anything with certainty, but by talking with people and keeping your eyes open, you can start to get a basic sense of things.įor citizens in the Pyongyang, life is certainly better than in the countryside. Trying to find out what life is like in North Korea is a bit like trying to find out if the light turns off when you close the fridge door.
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