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Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

mydiplomaticlife.com

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Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#31

Post by thriftwy »

dheera wrote: post #20
the_duke wrote: post #9

The post never mentions a date, but this must have been around 2000-2004, since that is when the UK embassy was established. [1] Some things have probably changed since then. A fascinating read regardless. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_Kingdom,...

I wonder who works in those embassies. Are there some British dudes just living there that go to the embassy every day for work? Where do they buy food? What do their residences look like? Do have spouses and children? Where do they work and go to school? Do they enjoy life there?

They likely go to specialized shops for foreigners where you may only pay with US$-backed coupons, and can purchase most of stuff you can commonly buy in Japan.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#33

Post by netsharc »

dheera wrote: post #20
the_duke wrote: post #9

The post never mentions a date, but this must have been around 2000-2004, since that is when the UK embassy was established. [1] Some things have probably changed since then. A fascinating read regardless. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embassy_of_the_United_Kingdom,...

I wonder who works in those embassies. Are there some British dudes just living there that go to the embassy every day for work? Where do they buy food? What do their residences look like? Do have spouses and children? Where do they work and go to school? Do they enjoy life there?

Some of your questions are answered in the actual article... no mention of spouses or kids, so most probably they don't come along.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#34

Post by ZhongXina »

starik36 wrote: post #30
gwbas1c wrote: post #4

Weird, I tried to click on "Kimchi Harvest" to see a larger version. Instead, the link was to https://mydiplomaticlife.com/how-to-survive-3-years-in-north... , which just took me to the top of the article.

Oddly enough, Soviet Union had a thing similar to "Kimchi Harvest". I remember workers in my town having to go work at a collective farm for a week harvesting things. They also had something called "subotnik", aka voluntary Saturday labor. This was a practice where citizens, including workers and students, participated in unpaid labor on Saturdays. These activities included various tasks like cleaning up the city (th…

It was still the norm in Uzbekistan until just a few years ago, but with cotton instead of potatoes. Not anymore AFAIK.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#35

Post by yongjik »

BizarreByte wrote: post #22
victorbjorklund wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big political enemy of the saudi family that been a pain in their ass (rightly so since they are an evil dictatorship) vs random student that just took a poster as a souvernir. Not the same thing. Anyone can be killed in North Korea. 99,99999999999% of people are not on the saudi familys enemy list.

> random student that just took a poster as a souvernir. Let's not mince words here, he stole government property in a country with some of the harshest laws on earth. Did he deserve to die for it? No, but it was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

One might even argue that the stupidity began when he decided to visit NK.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#36

Post by spitfire »

ceejayoz wrote: post #24
ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just diplomacy.

Long history of it, too. The US made special clear coke in nondescript bottles for Marshal of the Soviet Union Zhukov so he could look like he was drinking vodka instead of the illegal Western drink. https://www.businessinsider.com/us-secret-clear-coca-cola-fo... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Coke

So thats where crystal Pepsi came from!

Bloody Commie soda!

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#37

Post by jawilson2 »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #27
unixhero wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if you could get in. I tried for 5 years in a row to get into my country's service. It failed. Pivoted to information security, hey at least I am a millionaire now.

may I ask if you have any career advice?

Try 5 years to get into foreign service, then pivot to IS?

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#39

Post by sevensor »

gwbas1c wrote: post #6

Years ago, I was lucky enough to listen to a talk from an American who got to be a tourist in North Korea. Ever since then I've been fascinated with stories like this. North Korea is on my bucket list, but hopefully after the state loosens up.

Or, you can visit South Korea today, and if you want to go off the beaten path, leave Seoul. The east coast is a beautiful and fascinating place. Go to Gangwon, ride a cable car up Seoraksan, eat the best seafood of your life.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#40

Post by __s »

thriftwy wrote: post #31
dheera wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder who works in those embassies. Are there some British dudes just living there that go to the embassy every day for work? Where do they buy food? What do their residences look like? Do have spouses and children? Where do they work and go to school? Do they enjoy life there?

They likely go to specialized shops for foreigners where you may only pay with US$-backed coupons, and can purchase most of stuff you can commonly buy in Japan.

> There were a handful of shops that catered for foreigners. All transactions had to be in Euros as possession of local currency by foreigners was forbidden. A lot of the items were imported from China and from time to time, local fresh produce would make a rare appearance. Meat was always in short supply.
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