The Hidden People of North Korea Read Online Free Page A

of the Korean Worker’s Party who know better than to say anything other than what they have been instructed to say.
    An intriguing account of the life of foreigners in Pyongyang has been provided by Michael Harrold, a Brit who went to North Korea in 1986 to work as an English-language editor for seven years. Being young and adventuresome, he often went to places that foreigners were not supposed to go and struck up acquaintances outside his approved circle of workmates. Yet, according to his account, in all that time he was never able to gain a satisfactory understanding of his immediate social environment, much less the society as a whole:
For seven years I was shielded from North Korean reality. I learnt the language up to a point and I had friends, but still I barely scratched the surface of what North Korea was all about, what the people really thought. The explanation of how this could be achieved was simple enough. On the one hand, restrictions and surveillance were imposed, preventing me from meeting ordinary North Koreans. On the other hand, it was a privilege, one they were anxious not to jeopardize, for North Koreans to be in a position that brought them into contact with foreigners. . . . In a country where even living in the capital city was a privilege, everyone was careful about what they did and said, particularly around foreigners. The result was a population obsessed with casting themselves and their country in a faultless light. It was as if the propaganda became a part of their everyday life. 16
    Harrold made some good North Korean friends, or at least so he thought. But it sounds as though he could never be sure who was a friend and who was a spy (in many cases, they were probably one and the same). When he became involved in a brief physical altercation after a few drinks at one of the tourist hotels and was asked to leave the country (he declined a later invitation to return), he seemed to be in equal parts confused, ashamed, and angry as he replayed the fateful incident that ended his career in North Korea: “For once I felt grateful for the lies and deceit that were such a part of everyday life in North Korea. I’d learned the hard way not to believe or trust anyone, and now I could argue quite reasonably, to myself at least, that there was no particular reason why the Koreans should have been telling the truth in this any more than they had at any other time.” 17
    Andrew Holloway, another Brit who went to Pyongyang as an English-language editor, in this case for a year in 1987, had even less opportunity to get to know the country. Holloway thought the North Koreans were the nicest people he had ever met but admitted that because of the controlled nature of the society, he was unable to form any close friendships. He believed the masses were “contented with their simple lives,” almost childlike in fact, but for himself, he expected something more from life and could not wait to get out of the country. Most visitors to the country would almost certainly echo his matter-of-fact evaluation of North Korea: “It was not the type of society of which I would ever wish to be a member.” 18
    On rare occasions, foreign media, including a couple of American television networks, have been allowed into North Korea, in addition to the press corps that accompany high-level foreign delegations. To their credit, a few foreign filmmakers have even managed to negotiate permission to make short documentaries. The documentary that comes closest to the subject matter of this book is titled North Korea: A Day in the Life . Directed by Dutch film-maker Pieter Fleury and released in coordination with the DPRK Ministry of Culture in 2004, the film is available in the United States for purchase or rental. Needless to say, the director had little freedom to choose whom, what, where, or when to shoot. The authorities provided him with what they claimed was a typical family living in Pyongyang and allowed him to follow