Unbiased. Of course. After all, the TRUTH stinks, don't it?? At least Andy Kershaw made mention of the fact that Kim Il Sung was born on the same day that the RMS Titanic sunk.
He sounds like joyful, almost praising the country and its authorities. But when you read between the lines, you can see he’s both horrified and also having some fun. He doesn’t genuinely admire the authorities, but has a genuine admiration for the locals who deal with this dystopia, especially in '96 when the famine was soaring, and would peak the next year.
It is indeed. You never know what you will find in Korea these days. Chinese versions of many products are quite common. Sometimes you can even find the American versions.
It's crazy to think that this was at the height of the famine. I think in those days what happened in North Korea was not widely published like it is today so perhaps people were more comfortable with going.
The anticommunist propagandized perspective makes this frustrating to watch but it is very cool to get such a window into this period of DPRK development, I'm glad the greatest hardship of famine is over and I wish to be able to afford a trip to this amazing country one day
I am critical of north Korea, but I respect the way they defend their nation and I am always first to question ppl who make dumb, unsourced assertions about dprk
Yeah. Think before you judge, I think that's a good way of thinking. I've been to North Korea twice (in 2012 and in 2015). Of course I am aware of things that are wrong in the country, but it would not make any sense to speak about this with the guides, as they have been brought up to believe their version of the story. Still, there were some interesting dialoges. For instance, I asked about the Ryugyong hotel, that's the unfinished pyramide shaped one. And I told my guide something that I had read and he probably hadn't. That is, a well-known international hotel chain (I forget which one, but think Marriot, Hilton, Kempinski or similar) had meant to finish construction of the Ryugyong hotel and operate it. However, that hotel chain was threatened with a boycott of ALL its hotels in the U.S. if they did that. So, not surprisingly, they decided agains it. My guide listened without commenting this, but I'm sure he will remember. And another guide was there when we visited Pyongyang station, asking me whether it was like that where I came from. I was like, "er, not really". There were no soldiers guarding the station. Anyone could just walk in. In Germany, you don't even need a ticket to get on the platform, but in some other countries, such as the U.K., you do. But in both countries, you can acccess the platform at any time, no questions asked. And there are no plush chair with crocheted doilies in the waiting room either. Which is something that I regret ;-) ... No, really, I didn't know where to begin explaining how different it was. I didn't even mention the homeless people, drug addicts, pickpockets, etc. Just normal operations as it should be was different enough from Pyongyang for a start. That guide was just starting out, he said it was his first tour. His English was not yet perfect, sometimes he had do ask me to repeat something. But he listened carefully, and I'm sure he will remember, too.
The North Korean soldier seems like a very pleasant man. We really have no good reason to hate these people or sanction them. Their fear of The United States government is rational and based on history. Going forward, we should seek ways to have mutual respect and lift sanctions, possibly signing a contract to never invade or interfere in the domestic affairs of each others countries. There's no reason why we cannot help each other prosper and grow. As an American, I have nothing against North Korea or Kim Jong Un. Hopefully in the future we can do business and put the negative past behind us.
This was filmed during the Arduous March or the March of Suffering (고난의 행군), was a period of mass starvation together with a general economic crisis from 1994 to 1998 😳 😱😳 oh how we just don't care
Do you Know the Us was trying to emphasize de effect of the starve? During this period, North Korea tried to open it economy to the global bank, and was prevented by a US letter
the hardest years of NK（1995-1997）, the food production cam only provide half the least requirement of people, many people starved to death（about 0.5 to 1 million）, you can see many dead body when out of Pyongyang, a tourist in 1998 said that he even saw people eat human, many technology workers can only stay on bed because it's too hungry, even the tourists can be only allow to have one bowl of rice in each meal
Type into Google: 'World Bank DPRK population,' read the statistics, and stop lying. The only time when population of DPRK dropped was during Korean War.
No its not. This was a time when north was crashing down because of the famine and south korea was already very economically prosperous compared to the north. But soon after we south koreans had to face the asian financial crisis in 1997 when our bubble economy began to collapse. This crisis was locally known as the "imf crisis", because we had to lend a lot of money from the international monetary fund, which we suffered from repaying the debts until like 2001 when we finally recovered completely.
South Korea was already ahead of the North in the late seventies, in 1996 the North was suffering from economic recession, they had virtually no more economy nor industry, things improved a little since but it's still far behind the RoK
I love the host of this video. He is very unbiased, and not a jerk. That counts for a lot! Thanks Koryo Tours!
Unbiased. Of course. After all, the TRUTH stinks, don't it?? At least Andy Kershaw made mention of the fact that Kim Il Sung was born on the same day that the RMS Titanic sunk.
tourism...during the arduous march?!
*famine
He sounds like joyful, almost praising the country and its authorities. But when you read between the lines, you can see he’s both horrified and also having some fun. He doesn’t genuinely admire the authorities, but has a genuine admiration for the locals who deal with this dystopia, especially in '96 when the famine was soaring, and would peak the next year.
thank you for your video, read show more, very nice to see your tour in the year 1996,
Thank You For sharing this Video
The southkorean house at the boarder has not been built so far in 1996
Unfortunately you can certainly see the malnourishment in their figures.
17:50 is that a Chinese coke can?
It is indeed. You never know what you will find in Korea these days. Chinese versions of many products are quite common. Sometimes you can even find the American versions.
The letters look Korean rather than Chinese to me.
amazing, looks the same in 2007!
those people know where they're at. makes the rest a lot easier I guess.
Looks almost the same in 2020 too, just with nukes. And lots of them.
@@juliancumming6893 I think you don't know what you're talking about
19:38 wow that’s 70,000 people . A bit small . Now I know how big ancient battles were
"kim il-sung was born on the day the titanic sank" I fully admit that this is the first time I noticed that
11:53 you can just see the hate and annoyance in his face.
What’s the song name at 0:14?
Snowflakes Falling from Night Sky, cannot find the specific version though.
nice holiday in 1996
In the middle of the arduous march.
It's crazy to think that this was at the height of the famine. I think in those days what happened in North Korea was not widely published like it is today so perhaps people were more comfortable with going.
The anticommunist propagandized perspective makes this frustrating to watch but it is very cool to get such a window into this period of DPRK development, I'm glad the greatest hardship of famine is over and I wish to be able to afford a trip to this amazing country one day
Yikes
What anti-communist propaganda? He seemed pretty unbiased but maybe I missed something.
Hell yeah
I am critical of north Korea, but I respect the way they defend their nation and I am always first to question ppl who make dumb, unsourced assertions about dprk
Yeah. Think before you judge, I think that's a good way of thinking. I've been to North Korea twice (in 2012 and in 2015). Of course I am aware of things that are wrong in the country, but it would not make any sense to speak about this with the guides, as they have been brought up to believe their version of the story.
Still, there were some interesting dialoges. For instance, I asked about the Ryugyong hotel, that's the unfinished pyramide shaped one. And I told my guide something that I had read and he probably hadn't. That is, a well-known international hotel chain (I forget which one, but think Marriot, Hilton, Kempinski or similar) had meant to finish construction of the Ryugyong hotel and operate it. However, that hotel chain was threatened with a boycott of ALL its hotels in the U.S. if they did that. So, not surprisingly, they decided agains it. My guide listened without commenting this, but I'm sure he will remember.
And another guide was there when we visited Pyongyang station, asking me whether it was like that where I came from. I was like, "er, not really". There were no soldiers guarding the station. Anyone could just walk in. In Germany, you don't even need a ticket to get on the platform, but in some other countries, such as the U.K., you do. But in both countries, you can acccess the platform at any time, no questions asked. And there are no plush chair with crocheted doilies in the waiting room either. Which is something that I regret ;-) ... No, really, I didn't know where to begin explaining how different it was. I didn't even mention the homeless people, drug addicts, pickpockets, etc. Just normal operations as it should be was different enough from Pyongyang for a start. That guide was just starting out, he said it was his first tour. His English was not yet perfect, sometimes he had do ask me to repeat something. But he listened carefully, and I'm sure he will remember, too.
I CANNOT believe the NoKor censors allowed that part (9:48 - "reports of starvation") to stay on the film!
He did the voiceover back in the UK
The North Korean government acknowledges the famine, why wouldn't they allow him to talk about it?
Very interesting (and sad) to see just how little has changed in almost two decades.
Seems the tour schedule hasn't changed much either
WizardOfOss What kind of changes were you hoping for?
@@GSKim-pv5ey shitty new cars, advertisements, consumerism, im guessing
아닙니다. 1960년대 후반에 한국이 북한을 GDP에서 앞서기 시작했고, 1970년대 중반부터 한국의 생활 수준은 북한을 확실히 이기기 시작했습니다.
this guys commentating is hilarious hahahaha
Documentary from before GWB's "axis of evil" speech, and during the famine period.
The North Korean soldier seems like a very pleasant man.
We really have no good reason to hate these people or sanction them. Their fear of The United States government is rational and based on history.
Going forward, we should seek ways to have mutual respect and lift sanctions, possibly signing a contract to never invade or interfere in the domestic affairs of each others countries.
There's no reason why we cannot help each other prosper and grow. As an American, I have nothing against North Korea or Kim Jong Un. Hopefully in the future we can do business and put the negative past behind us.
"He was born on the day the Titanic sunk" lol
Umm..thanks for fun fact, I guess
also note how he refers to a building as an "erection" and touching as "fondling"
“Ummm yeah, thanks for giving us like…facts in a documentary or whatever. Weird thing to do but ok”
They actually do have nice motorways.
17:04
03:13🤣🤣
This was filmed during the Arduous March or the March of Suffering (고난의 행군), was a period of mass starvation together with a general economic crisis from 1994 to 1998 😳 😱😳 oh how we just don't care
Do you Know the Us was trying to emphasize de effect of the starve? During this period, North Korea tried to open it economy to the global bank, and was prevented by a US letter
This was during the arduous March it’s interesting how normal thing look
the hardest years of NK（1995-1997）, the food production cam only provide half the least requirement of people, many people starved to death（about 0.5 to 1 million）, you can see many dead body when out of Pyongyang, a tourist in 1998 said that he even saw people eat human, many technology workers can only stay on bed because it's too hungry, even the tourists can be only allow to have one bowl of rice in each meal
Type into Google: 'World Bank DPRK population,' read the statistics, and stop lying. The only time when population of DPRK dropped was during Korean War.
Hello To Everyone From California
back in that time when both korea seems equal
No its not. This was a time when north was crashing down because of the famine and south korea was already very economically prosperous compared to the north. But soon after we south koreans had to face the asian financial crisis in 1997 when our bubble economy began to collapse. This crisis was locally known as the "imf crisis", because we had to lend a lot of money from the international monetary fund, which we suffered from repaying the debts until like 2001 when we finally recovered completely.
North Korea's economy halted growth in 1976. By this period they were in famine. Nothing alike.
@@motro1301 even during the collapse south korea was still doing like 100 times better than the north.
Nah that was the late 60s
South Korea was already ahead of the North in the late seventies, in 1996 the North was suffering from economic recession, they had virtually no more economy nor industry, things improved a little since but it's still far behind the RoK
Is that Simon? With hair?
That's hell of dystopian reality.
did he find it better than birmingham
he was killed 6 months later by a unknown man who got away from the crime scene
BS.
@@TomasPetkevicius94 nah im joking
i mean it might have happened idk
The people of North Korea live in the days of the Flintstones.
what famine : /
Read the "Hunger Games". The capital city is better provisioned than the rest of the country.
What famine?
고난의 행군 period, the crops production is only half of people's least portion, many die of hunger
really strange language, "fondled", "erection"
those poor people :(
People shouldn't go there.
That's not your decision to make! So shut up.