A photo tour of North Korea

[Doug]

I saw this linked from another website, pretty interesting and depressing (at least for me) pictures.

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=82755

[Gregory Matthews]

I found this set of pictures very interesting. I enjoyed them.

Some of the photos were not specific to North Korea. Rather, they reflected similar norms to what one would see in South Korea:

a) The "tank traps" are exactly what one would see in South Korea. That whole region is fortified. Remember, that a "state of war" still officially exists between the two countries. Each has prepared well for an invasion of the other.

A man standing an urinating into the river: In South Korea the traditional restroom are coed. Both men and women take care of such needs on the public streets. Once when my family and I were living there, we were on a trip during the Winter. As we were traveling on the central North to South highway, traffic came to a stop, and we stopped beside a large bus. Immediately the door opened and the passengers began to get off, and our car was surrounded. My young son spoke up: Dad are these girls doing what I think they are doing? My answer was yes.

My poor Father when he was standing in a bathroom, doing his thing, and a female walks in. He had a hard time with that.

c) Men and women wash their clothes, and their bodies in the rivers in South Korea as well as in North Korea. By the way it is considered a great insult for an American soldier to remove his shirt, and go bare-chested on a hot summer day in the mountains!

d) Typical Korean homes, to include Seoul--the capital, do not have any kind of window covering on their bedroom windows. This is true in South Korea as well as in North Korea. The reason has nothing to do with finance, and the ecconomy. It is simply a part of the Korean culture. Both North and South Korea share that same culture.

All in all, I enjoyed the photos, and the memories that came back. I enjoyed Korea very much, and I would like to spend time there again.

[Gregory Matthews]

Let me share one item that I find very interesting:

The 100th day of a male child's life is very important. That comes from previous days in which many children died prior to the 100th day. So, on the 100th day, parents will celebrate by taking theier male child to the photographer. The child will be stripped naked, given a royal crown, and posed sitting in a chair. The childs legs will be spread for the world to see that this male child has reached the 100th day of his life! All reputable photo shops will openly display such photos for the pulic to see, and to advertise that they take such photos.

While we were there, a SDA missionary couple from the USA gave birth to a child. On the Sabbath that they first took the child to church, a couple of Korea women asked to hold the child. The request was granted.

Immediately the two women undressed the child and then held it aloft for all to see. Then they gave it back to the parents.

[Pockey]

Gregory, not all the similarities you describe are there any more. S. Korea is totally hi tech now, but DPRK is stuck in a time warp.

These photos are seriously depressing.

[Pockey]

I was just thinking, you know how God is preparing place for us? I think He is making an especially nice place for them. DPRK has got to be one of the worst places to live on earth.

[Gregory Matthews]

How about telling us about the Seventh-day adventist connection to Kim Il Son?

[Michelle]

So what is the connection?

I've seen DPRK only from the middle of the Yalu River in a tourist boat from Dandong, PRC. I know that there are a couple of "tourist" agencies taking foreigners into DPRK. When the boys and I were in Beijing last summer, we overheard several parties of British travelers who were going to go in, just to say they'd done it. But I haven't talked to anyone who had gone in. Not necessarily a place I'd choose to go as a tourist.

M

[Pockey]

Yeah I have no idea either, but am interested in the connection.

[Pockey]

I've heard others comment that in DPRK, people think they're living the dream (from all the brain washing) in that other countries are far worse off then they are. But I don't think so. I mean, in a way I hope so, just to alleviate the oppression and mind control that's going on, but I think they're really suffering. The starvation alone is horrible. Not only that, but a lot of outside influence (dvds, magazines etc) have been smuggled in and that's only going to make them realize what kind of twilight zone they're living in.

[Gregory Matthews]

Kim Il Sung's grandmother was a faithful, committed Seventh-day Adventist. During the "reign" if Kim Il Sung that fact was well known by North Korean Communist Party leaders. This fact is well known by SDA leaders in South Korea, today, and it was published several years ago in English media, and circulated in the United States. If my memory is correct, the article, written by a South Korean SDA leader was published in an ADRA publication.

This reminds me of the SDA connection to Fidel Castro in Cuba. While he is not known to have any SDA family members, he was once quite favorable to the SDA Chruch. During the early days of his revolution, before he came to power, his soldiers knew that they could always seek medical help from the SDAs. As a result, in the early years, after he came to power, the SDA Chruch did not have the problems that other denominations had as he turned Communist and tightened down on religion.

[whbae]

You can see what the communism will do to the people. Misery, misery, and more misery. I lived under North Korean government control during the Korean conflict(they do not call the call here) in the south for three months. At the end of three months occupation there was no single communist or symphatizer left in South Korea. They are cruel people, they do not care for family ties, or friendship, all they care is about their ideology.

My maternal grand father was the one who brought the adventist message from Japan way back to now North Korea, town called Soonahn, suberb of the Capital city of North Koea, Pyungyang. As some one said this terrible dictator president Kim's grandmother was a SDA. He did not learn much from his grandmother, I think.

whbae