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Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

mydiplomaticlife.com

41–50 of 307 posts

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

#41

This was fascinating! If I could do it all over again, I'd have gone into the US Foreign Service. Maybe not to places like North Korea (which we don't have a presence in anyways), but I'd have loved to travel the world. Maybe in the next life...

> Maybe not to places like North Korea (which we don't have a presence in anyways)

Sure they don't ;)

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

#42

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.

His fellow travelers say this was impossible, the “recording” was fake, and the timestamps are at a time when he wasn’t even in the hotel. Why would you assume n. Korea is being honest here?

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

#43
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,...

A clue about the time might be

> The World Food Programme (whose Head at the time was an American called Reagan!)

But I can't find him here or elsewhere:

https://www.wfp.org/previous-executive-directors

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

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

may I ask if you have any career advice?

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

Yes. Or more general: work hard to get something. Even if you will never reach it, you might still improve enough in general, to be ready to do and get something else instead.

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

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North Korea can take you with whatever justification they feel like and return you as a vegetable. I know the mass games look cool and people like to go to weird places, please avoid North Korea

> North Korea can take you with whatever justification they feel like and return you as a vegetable. That’s most/all countries (or their embassies) you visit, no? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Jamal_Khash...

Other countries have a larger denominator to reduce the proportion of visits vs arbitrary detention and torture.

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

#47
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.

Gimjang week is pretty common in SK as well, especially among the elders

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimjang

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

#48
post #43
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,...

A clue about the time might be > The World Food Programme (whose Head at the time was an American called Reagan!) But I can't find him here or elsewhere: https://www.wfp.org/previous-executive-directors

Sounds like this person: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ragan

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

#49
post #43
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,...

A clue about the time might be > The World Food Programme (whose Head at the time was an American called Reagan!) But I can't find him here or elsewhere: https://www.wfp.org/previous-executive-directors

That must be a misspelling of Richard Ragan. He headed the North Korean World Food Programme from 2003 to 2005 according to Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ragan

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

#50
For someone who wants to read more in-depth stories about this topic I highly recommend the book "Only beautiful, please" by John Everard.

He was another British Diplomat (I think he was ambassador even) and he often would go on unscheduled biking trips freaking out his security escort. Though this was in less tense times, I doubt this would be possible in the days of Kim Yung-Un. Anyway, highly recommended, really.

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