Photos from Inside North Korea (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#41

Post by bane » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 3:47 AM UTC

There's a very recent and pretty interesting series of interviews with Thae Yong-ho on Arirang. He's the highest ranking North Korean to ever defect (he was the Deputy Ambassador to England and defected last year). He provides some pretty fascinating insights into life in North Korea from a North Korean perspective.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Thae+Yong+Ho+Sp...

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#42

Post by pandaman » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 3:50 AM UTC

tuna-piano wrote: post #30

blhack wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa. At 2:59 on [2] ( https://youtu.be/FtDWYzwwuUs?t=179 ), it looks like that camera is 100,000 won? Thats $111 according to google. Any idea what's up with that? Am I interpreting the price wrong?

Actually, Google is quoting the official rate.. but the official rate is basically impossible to convert at. You'd need to convert at the black market rate, which is supposedly about 8,000 north korean Won to $1. If it's actually priced in North Korean Won, that would make it $12? I think we're missing something. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/north-korean-e... https://www.nknews.org/2015/04/north-kore…

In the USSR there was a chain of stores ("Березка" - "Birch tree") where imported goods were sold for restricted currency. The currency was denominated in "rubles" but could only be obtained in exchange for a hard currency. The rate of the exchange has been arbitrary and the prices were too. The whole system had been set up to incentivize citizens who earned foreign currency (sailors, touring artists, diplomatic corps etc) to give it to the government. Giving it to the government had been mandatory, of course, but if they got nothing in return (or something as useless as regular rubles) they would be trying harder to hide their earnings. I'd imagine something like that could be going on here. It's hard to imagine an imported camera being offered for sale to regular citizens.

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#43

Post by JabavuAdams » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 4:03 AM UTC

yequalsx wrote: post #19

It's immoral to visit such a country. It has concentration camps. It tortures on a large scale. It's citizens suffer and visiting the country gives money to an evil regime.

This is absolutely a valid criticism and should be debated rather than down-voted.

EDIT> Is it moral to give money to a regime that has killed millions of its own citizens? I mean, unless you're secretly giving medical supplies to the poor, your money is only benefiting the elite.

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#44

Post by Mindless2112 » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 4:06 AM UTC

nchammas wrote: post #13

Related: A YouTube channel [0] dedicated to videos of "everyday life" in North Korea, from an Indonesian expat living there. Couple of random examples: * Walking around Pyongyang in the winter. [1] * Going to a computer store in Pyongyang. [2] [0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2ZkXz_1U8 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs

The cigarettes section of the "Privileged Store" [1]. At least Kim Jong-un cares about your lungs. (Also, the electricity goes off and nobody bats an eye [2]. They must have the POS computer on a battery.)

[1] https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=245 [2] https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=505

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#45

Post by iamjeff » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 5:23 AM UTC

toomanybeersies wrote: post #38

iamjeff wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an element of adventure to these pictures. Some of his pictures are clearly illegal, disallowed, or uncomfortable in the North Korean context. There are examples of these especially in the second instalment [1]. Having spent some time in small-town Russia, I could almost taste the soulless architecture. The sense of adventure is further heightened when watching vlogs from Jaka Parker (noted elsewhere here),…

Those overland tours are surprisingly affordable.

Wasn't sure whether to take you literally, but the quoted cost does not include the cost of tours/etc bundled up as the Kitty. However, the price for the overland tour over Eastern and Southern Africa (the Safari route) are comparable to a round-trip plane ticket from Nairobi to Johannesburg and a 3-day stay in Jo'burg. The overland is about 73 days long and, from past testimonials, adventure of a life time.

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#46

Post by rgerganov » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 5:46 AM UTC

The female tourist guide may have problems after the leakage of these pictures.

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#47

Post by TeMPOraL » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 6:15 AM UTC

nchammas wrote: post #13

Related: A YouTube channel [0] dedicated to videos of "everyday life" in North Korea, from an Indonesian expat living there. Couple of random examples: * Walking around Pyongyang in the winter. [1] * Going to a computer store in Pyongyang. [2] [0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2ZkXz_1U8 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs

Wow. I'm surprised, it all looks so... normal. If not for lack of advertising noise, this could easily pass for a small city in Europe.

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#48

Post by jpatokal » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 6:19 AM UTC

waqf wrote: post #12

idlewords wrote: post #3

Keep in mind these are photos of the capital, in areas that tourists are allowed to see. There's a fascinating photoset from 2008 by some Europeans who through a bureaucratic miracle were allowed to enter and cross North Korea by train: http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/2008/09/khabarovsk-khas...

Did you read the first few lines of the page? Or pretty much any of the captions? > Most tourists only experience the political smokescreen of Pyongyang; I had the privilege in visiting all corners on one of the longest tours ever executed (no pun intended) for foreigners into the hermit kingdom. Photos from an officially supervised tour, yes, but limited to Pyongyang, definitely not.

It's not quite that straightforward: through exploitation of a bureaucratic loophole, they managed to enter the DPRK through a border that's supposed to be closed to foreigners and had quite a bit of time essentially unsupervised (although most of it was on a train).

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#49

Post by orblivion » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 7:43 AM UTC

nchammas wrote: post #13

Related: A YouTube channel [0] dedicated to videos of "everyday life" in North Korea, from an Indonesian expat living there. Couple of random examples: * Walking around Pyongyang in the winter. [1] * Going to a computer store in Pyongyang. [2] [0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2ZkXz_1U8 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs

Nice to see the winter biking craze has reached Pyongyang.

Re: Photos from Inside North Korea (2014)

#50

Post by 4ad » Mon, Apr 10, 2017, 8:13 AM UTC

Keyframe wrote: post #16

nchammas wrote: post #13

Related: A YouTube channel [0] dedicated to videos of "everyday life" in North Korea, from an Indonesian expat living there. Couple of random examples: * Walking around Pyongyang in the winter. [1] * Going to a computer store in Pyongyang. [2] [0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2ZkXz_1U8 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs

Well, that was unexpected. How is this even possible?

I am curious as well.

I have no doubt that a small number of foreigners live and work in North Korea, move around freely without minders, and are allowed to have cameras and make videos, but how do they get the footage out? Even if they work at some university and have access to the internet, I very much doubt it's unrestricted like that.

I am willing to believe some of them might smuggle it out, but this guy walks around and behaves like it's nobody's business.