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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)

#141

Post by RegnisGnaw »

xenospn wrote: post #56
FrancoisBosun wrote: post #12

I'm mostly surprised about the free admission of bribery: > However, I soon found that a bottle of Johnie Walker Black Label handed out at particularly frustrating moments made things miraculously happen a lot quicker. Oh how the North Koreans loved their whiskey.

When I went there (2005-6), we were told to bring foreign cigarettes. And this is how I ended up importing Israeli into North Korea. Hopefully they liked them!

I went in 2014. I was told Marlboro cigs. For a country that hates the US officially everyone loves those Marlboros.

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

#142

Post by snicky »

why_at wrote: post #96
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,...

Curious if anyone knows of any more recent descriptions about what life is like in North Korea, like in the last 5-10 years. Most things I've read including this article are decades old. How much have things changed there in terms of technology, food security etc?

After the famine in 90s both the party and the people realized that the state can't really guarantee any food security so it's mostly taken care of by free market as anywhere else in the world now. Trading goods may not be entirely legal, but is widely accepted.

Check "North Korea Confidential" by Daniel Tudor and James Pearson from 2015.

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

#143

Post by [deleted] »

waterTanuki wrote: post #110

> 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 This stood out to me in the article, as most countries incentivize foreign visitors to use local currencies to boost its strength. However, NK seems to have long ago come to terms it's currency will never hold value, so perhaps they instill this rule to boost the…

[deleted]

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

#144

Post by unixhero »

tptacek wrote: post #137
unixhero wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you have broken software and hardware since the 1990s or 1980s, and then gotten a degree in management or engineering, my path is hard to replicate. But I certainly can offer some advice: 1. Be hardcore and really interested in security. Read everything. Deep diving into networks, software, vulnerability, risk management. 2. Get a CISSP certifiaction, then maybe an ISO 27001 cert and then also something juicy…

If you're interested in someone else's take on this: don't get a CISSP, and ISO 27001 is generally something a company gets, not a person.

True, it would be more toward security leadership in things like CISO roles or equivalent.

Yet if one takes them, they will certainly help.

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

#145

Post by MIC132 »

why_at wrote: post #96
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,...

Curious if anyone knows of any more recent descriptions about what life is like in North Korea, like in the last 5-10 years. Most things I've read including this article are decades old. How much have things changed there in terms of technology, food security etc?

This is from 2019:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpdYcy8JtiisXTMb4zug_oCIB...

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

#146

Post by gambiting »

killingtime74 wrote: post #114

After reading how they use human waste as fertilizer, I'm not sure not having access to local produce is so bad

I mean...... I'd need to look up sources to tell you the exact dates, but I know this still happened even in some European countries in the 90s, maybe it continued even later than that. And of course manure is still used to this day, nothing strange about it.

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

#148

Post by sagasu007 »

waterTanuki wrote: post #110

> 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 This stood out to me in the article, as most countries incentivize foreign visitors to use local currencies to boost its strength. However, NK seems to have long ago come to terms it's currency will never hold value, so perhaps they instill this rule to boost the…

Why Euro? And not USD? LOL

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

#149

Post by Klonoar »

chgs wrote: post #65
thriftwy wrote: post #38

https://www.tema.ru/travel/north-korea-1/ Artemy Lebedev, a known Russian web designer, visited North Korea and posted his notes with pictures (in Russian, should not be an obstacle these days). There are three more sections with the selector below.

My favourite NK blog is the trip in 2008 from Austria to North Korea via the unexpected route from Russia https://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/2008/10/vienna-pyongya...

To this day I direct people to read this whenever the topic of NK comes up. It’s so fascinating and feels like a bit of Internet lore to boot with how much it’s been passed around.

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

#150

Post by odysseus »

why_at wrote: post #96
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,...

Curious if anyone knows of any more recent descriptions about what life is like in North Korea, like in the last 5-10 years. Most things I've read including this article are decades old. How much have things changed there in terms of technology, food security etc?

Check out the 2023 documentary Beyond Utopia for a glimpse. It’s currently on Hulu.
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