What's the Matter with Pyongyang?
Nothing, according to Yale University senior Jerry Guo, a promising young student studying—don't laugh—North Korean economics. Guo writes in Sunday's Washington Post that, contrary to all that propaganda from the West, the Juche Kingdom ain't all that bad:
"What I did witness: a mother buying a soda for her daughter from a sidewalk snack cart; two older women sitting on a bench, gossiping and eating pears; businessmen coming out of the subway, sans Bluetooth headsets; a grimacing teenage boy getting a haircut at a salon.
This was not the bizarro-land that I've read about in countless magazine articles and history books. No, this could have been Anytown, USA."
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There were delicate blouses and dresses for around 15,000 won (roughly $4 at black market exchange rates), all sorts of fruit -- thought to be nearly impossible to find in this mountainous hermit kingdom -- and enough varieties of mystery meats to make my high school cafeteria green with envy.
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And the town offers plenty else to do: there's golf, several karaoke bars, the "Kaeson Youth Funfair," a massage house with lots of late-night activity, and a shooting range (no joke: there's a field where you can practice your grenade-throwing).
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And while conditions are certainly grim, the view I had of the countryside from my window suggested that they might not be as stark as all that: young boys giddily waving hello, men leisurely fishing, schoolchildren swimming in irrigation canals.
Take a look at the aerial view of Pyongyang on Google Earth and you will notice only a handful of cars on the street, and almost no people—just like Anytown, USA. It looks something like this:
Oh, and after the karaoke bar and the indoor golf don't forget to check out a public execution!
