North Korean Olympic Team
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Asia
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
North Korean Archery Team.
Watch out for the beautiful North Korean girl who is the top shooter in their ladies archery team. At the 2008 olympics she missed out on a medal by only a hairs breadth so this time she is sure to be inspired. If you wish to see pulchritude personified them don't miss the ladies archery.
O.P.
O.P.
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Milano
Age: 53
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I guess if you are on an OFFICIAL tour you'd be OK - see
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow
Posts: 121
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Amazing how media political outporings are soaked up by the sponge like brains of the uninformed.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Asia
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Visiting North Korea.
lenhamlad;
The answer to your question is yes. I recently visited North Korea, I went with an open mind and came away with much to think about. May I suggest you key into Google the letters KFA ( they stand for Korean Friendship Association ) and spend a few minutes reading their official web page. You don't have to take it all on board but it might help achieve a balance. I'm sure you will agree that knowledge is no load to carry.
O.P.
The answer to your question is yes. I recently visited North Korea, I went with an open mind and came away with much to think about. May I suggest you key into Google the letters KFA ( they stand for Korean Friendship Association ) and spend a few minutes reading their official web page. You don't have to take it all on board but it might help achieve a balance. I'm sure you will agree that knowledge is no load to carry.
O.P.
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow
Posts: 121
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
OP Thank you. Well you are more informed than me as I have not been there yet. That does not mean to say I am uninformed. Neither of us have been to the moon but we have knowledge given to us from which we can make an opinion. Were you able to travel freely around the country? More importantly are North Koreans able to travel freely in their own country and apply for a passport to travel overseas? I have had a quick glance at the website you suggested. As a counterpoint may I suggest you read the Human Rights Watch report on North Korea. I know which website I would trust to give a more accurate picture of real life in the Democratic Republic.
Lenhamlad,
You only have to watch the 'Friends of Kim - Documentary' to see how deluded Alejandro Cao de Benós de Les y Pérez, President of the Korean Friendship Association, and his supporters are. How on earth can people be so naive and gullible?
8 part documentary.
You only have to watch the 'Friends of Kim - Documentary' to see how deluded Alejandro Cao de Benós de Les y Pérez, President of the Korean Friendship Association, and his supporters are. How on earth can people be so naive and gullible?
8 part documentary.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Asia
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
lenhamlad;
I am not saying North Korea is perfect. The problem is Juche. Juche is a failure but hopefully there is change on the horizone. It's a fair bet that the Human Rights Report you refer to is part fact and part fiction and you would be well advised not to be unduly influenced by it. Ask yourself who put the report together and who signed it off ? Grinding axes comes to mind.
TEEEJ;
I am a member of the KFA and I don't consider myself naive or gullible. More to the point is that you and others like you should be aware that there are many people in the west who silently support the people of North Korea. Nice video you supplied so thanks for the memories. I even recognised the flagstones and the lush short green grass that helps make Pyongyang such a beautiful city.
Nervous SLF;
One of the most active sub branches of the KFA is in New Zealand. Oh you didn't know that, well now you do.
O.P.
I am not saying North Korea is perfect. The problem is Juche. Juche is a failure but hopefully there is change on the horizone. It's a fair bet that the Human Rights Report you refer to is part fact and part fiction and you would be well advised not to be unduly influenced by it. Ask yourself who put the report together and who signed it off ? Grinding axes comes to mind.
TEEEJ;
I am a member of the KFA and I don't consider myself naive or gullible. More to the point is that you and others like you should be aware that there are many people in the west who silently support the people of North Korea. Nice video you supplied so thanks for the memories. I even recognised the flagstones and the lush short green grass that helps make Pyongyang such a beautiful city.
Nervous SLF;
One of the most active sub branches of the KFA is in New Zealand. Oh you didn't know that, well now you do.
O.P.
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: On the flightpath
Age: 61
Posts: 355
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thread drift alert!
Can we get back to the original theme, please?
I think we've established that the North Korean olympic team didn't travel to the UK on an Air Koryo aircraft. So where outside North Korea can you regularly see Air Koryo planes? There are plenty of flights to Beijing, for sure. And I've heard about flights to places like Vladivostok, Shenyang, Macau and Bangkok.
Any recent sightings, anyone? Passenger or cargo flights.
I think we've established that the North Korean olympic team didn't travel to the UK on an Air Koryo aircraft. So where outside North Korea can you regularly see Air Koryo planes? There are plenty of flights to Beijing, for sure. And I've heard about flights to places like Vladivostok, Shenyang, Macau and Bangkok.
Any recent sightings, anyone? Passenger or cargo flights.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Manchester
Age: 45
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
DPRK welcomes responsible tourists
Latest copy of one of the popular aviation periodicals has a report on an organised spotting trip to North Korea! (yes, I was surprised too).
To get a visa to get to visit (and many, many Europeans and Americans have in fact visited over the last 15 years whose accounts I've read), you need to agree to what they tell you to do.
You will be met by official escorts at the airport, you will not go wandering off on your own, you will stay in the hotel they tell you to stay in (at the rates they set), you will eat what they tell you to eat, when they tell you to eat it (as tourists, you will get very, very good food), and you will follow the itinerary they give you.
You will surrender your passport to them on arrival, and your first duty will be to pay respects to "The Dear Leader" and "The Glorious Leader". Accounts of this ceremony all involve you buying some flowers, and at least bowing to the statue of the dear leader, if not crying as your chaperones most likely will.
You do not get to take photos of anything you want. You do not get to make phone calls to whoever you want. It's their country, you're their guests, you do as they ask you to.
Remember: they have your passport. It's probably polite to do as they ask, and they will return the politeness by returning your passport at the end of your trip. It's not a threat, per se. Just an understanding
If you turn up wanting to do some plane spotting, either that will have been agreed in advance and they will tell you where you are going, when, and what planes you will see, or you're making up an itinerary on the spot and your request will be politely refused.
You will not get to see any military hardware, and if you should see it by accident, you will be not allowed to take any photos of it on pain of your camera being destroyed and you possibly being imprisoned.
There have been people who have got into North Korea without this palava (search for "The forbidden railway" if you want to know more), but the method they used is now forbidden to Westerners (they'll cancel your visa the moment you turn up in Pyong Yang if you've got the train in from Moscow), and is possibly punishable by imprisonment if they believe your motive was espionage.
Certainly if you do find a way in without a guide and start taking photos of planes, you're going to eventually hand your camera over to somebody in a uniform who doesn't like what he sees and you're going to cause a diplomatic incident. Given such incidents could lead to nuclear warheads being deployed (they're very twitchy, and in 1990 the Pentagon estimated if war broke out on the Korean peninsula there would be 1 million deaths in the first 24 hours), it's probably best if you don't do that. At all.
In short, if you're going to go plane spotting, make sure it's official, respectfully do as you're asked to by your guides, don't push the boundaries too far but challenge them lightly about their insistence you shouldn't interact with "uninteresting things" (they're the most interesting things), try and be be careful about what you say and do, and please, please, please write it up. It's rare and valuable social history.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Asia
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Visiting North Korea;
p7r;
I'm amazed !! Everything you have said is correct. The only thing you have missed is to confirm it's all very easy. The visit amounts to a unique experience and to enjoy it all you have to do is behave yourself. Everyone who goes comes away a much wiser person.
There are no fingers at Pyongyang airport so arriving passengers walk across a wide tarmac amongst various types of Air Koryo aircraft. The smell of burning kerosene in an unpolluted atmosphere along with a brilliant blue sky is truly intoxicating. Visiting North Korea these days is not political, just go, it is worth ever cent you will spend.
O.P.
I'm amazed !! Everything you have said is correct. The only thing you have missed is to confirm it's all very easy. The visit amounts to a unique experience and to enjoy it all you have to do is behave yourself. Everyone who goes comes away a much wiser person.
There are no fingers at Pyongyang airport so arriving passengers walk across a wide tarmac amongst various types of Air Koryo aircraft. The smell of burning kerosene in an unpolluted atmosphere along with a brilliant blue sky is truly intoxicating. Visiting North Korea these days is not political, just go, it is worth ever cent you will spend.
O.P.
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London (Babylon-on-Thames)
Age: 42
Posts: 6,168
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
all you have to do is behave yourself. Everyone who goes comes away a much wiser person
Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 30th Jul 2012 at 16:27.
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: North, UK
Age: 67
Posts: 936
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I can behave myself but be free to do as I wish, for behave yourself I think you should say as long as you behave in the way they want you to. I am an experienced traveller and respect the culture and rules of law in any place I go so I believe I can be trusted on my own. What is shown above is you will not be trusted alone therefore you do not get a true feel for the country merely one that they wish you to see.
I have just returned from Seoul and was quite surprised with their view of the North, however I will leave it at that sorry I am now contributing to thread drift.
I have just returned from Seoul and was quite surprised with their view of the North, however I will leave it at that sorry I am now contributing to thread drift.
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Milano
Age: 53
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The smell of burning kerosene in an unpolluted atmosphere along with a brilliant blue sky is truly intoxicating
Classic quote
Last edited by Dg800; 31st Jul 2012 at 06:53.
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Milano
Age: 53
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I couldn't help but notice that the North Korean Olympic Team wasn't entered in the Pole Vault competition.
A Runyonesque Character
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: The South of France ... Not
Age: 74
Posts: 1,209
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
The smell of burning kerosene in an unpolluted atmosphere along with a brilliant blue sky is truly intoxicating
Classic quote