n. korea, are you there?

going to n. korea any time soon? well as of today, thanks to google, "everything from Pyongyang’s subway stops to the country’s several city-sized gulags, as well as its monuments, hotels, hospitals and department stores" is on google maps.

according to the washington post, "North Korea was the last country virtually unmapped by Google." before today, n. korea appeared as a white space on google maps, as if it didn't even really exist. they must have very good paper maps there.

so the great news is that you can now find directions to some of the most sought after tourist destinations asia has to offer. for example, the juche tower, dedicated to the Juche philosophy, the set of ideas that have made n. korea the vibrant place it is today, is an easy drive across the taedong river in Pyongyang. 

juche tower

don't think you will feel the n. korean spirit there? there's also the Victorious Fatherland Liberation Museum, and just south of pyongyang is the Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities. you can learn about how during the korean war sinister looking american doctors stepped on babies while priests dropped pieces of hot metal on them, and how american soldiers put planks of wood across children and stood there until they went bye bye. ridiculous you say? think again, these exact incidents were meticulously captured in paintings.



yes, what was once a white blob on the map between china and s. korea is now chock-full of information, right at your finger tips. next time i go to dandong, china, i won't be afraid to cross the sino-korean friendship bridge into n. korea like i was last time.

since i was there, i thought it would be interesting to compare an aerial view of dandong, china (left) and the n. korean city of sinuiju (right), which are separated by the yalu river. china must really get a lot out of that friendship with n. korea...

not that dandong is totally off the hook either. there has been some weird stuff going down there lately...

but seriously, you can do guided tours of n. korea--it even has it's own wikitravel page. these were the best pointers they had on there:

"It is generally safest to at least appear to take everything they say seriously, even if it contradicts everything you were ever taught in history class or defies even the most basic human reasoning" 

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"Most, if not all, tour groups to the DPRK are asked to solemnly bow and lay flowers on one or two occasions in front of statues of Kim Il Sung when visiting monuments of national importance. If you're not prepared to do this, do not even try to enter North Korea."

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"Interestingly enough, North Korea has three amusement parks, two of which are abandoned due to mutual lack of interest and electricity. Sadly, the Kaeson Youth Fair has now closed, taking the infamous "Roller Coaster of Death" along with it.  Please note that power cuts may hit without warning in the middle of any activity. Whilst you might welcome this if the jukebox is starting to get to you, this is not a desirable outcome if you are in the middle of an amusement-park ride, particularly as these blackouts can last for hours at a time."

so what do you say, let's go to n. korea!!  *jumps in air and pumps fist*