On the road again: North Korea

We drove from the hotel to the West Sea Barrage. This is an 8-kilometre-long system of dams built on the direct instructions of Kim Il-sung from 1981-86 to prevent inland flooding caused by the advancing salt water from the Yellow Sea.

We were given a tour of the West Sea Barrage Tower monument, where we were shown a film documenting the project's construction. This can be viewed in three sections below. The film has real rarity value and it is worth watching in its entirety to get a better understanding of the mindset of the country.

The immensely wide motorway that took us back the remaining 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Nampo to Pyongyang is known as the Youth Hero Motorway, so named to honour those who built it in a 2-year period from 1998 to 2000. The road surface was covered with over 3 million cubic metres of asphalt in what the North Korean news agency KCNA at the time described as a latter day 'labour of Hercules'. This makes it all the more astonishing that there was scarcely a car or indeed vehicle of any kind to be seen on the road at all.

After lunch we ventured down into the Pyongyang metro system. With the trains running on tracks laid 110 metres (360 feet) below ground, it is one of the deepest metros in the whole world. Construction work on the system began in 1965 and the first stations opened 4 years later.

Our itinerary continued with a visit to the June 9th Secondary School, where we toured the premises before watching the students showcasing their talents in a performance. The name of the school commemorates the date on which Kim Il-sung once visited.

The afternoon continued with a view of Pyongyang from the top of Juche Tower. 'Juche' is the official state ideology of the DPRK and is a term penned by the Great Leader and based on the belief that "man is the master of everything". It is sometimes translated as "spirit of self-reliance" and is used to justify government policies by proclaiming that the Korean masses are responsible for the country's development. Despite earlier contradictions, Kim Jong-il is now officially credited as the tower's designer.

We ended the day with a walk to Kim Il-sung Square which enabled us to take a closer look at some of Pyongyang's renowned traffic ladies en-route. The square is of course well-known as the site of the enormous military parades which are broadcast all around the globe.

Huge mural of Kim Jong-il at the entrance to the West Sea Barrage Tower monument commemorating its construction

Wall displays on view in the West Sea Barrage Tower monument

Wall displays on view in the West Sea Barrage Tower monument. We found the number of enemy soldiers listed as killed or captured during the Korean War made very interesting reading indeed.

Part 1 of the actual film we were shown documenting the construction of the dam

Part 2 of the actual film we were shown documenting the construction of the dam

Part 3 of the actual film we were shown documenting the construction of the dam

Travelling on the 10-lane Youth Hero Highway between Nampo and Pyongyang

Almost every meal we shared in the afternoon and evening was taken in view of a large screen showing attractive women in military uniforms performing stirring tunes in front of an appreciatively large audience

Entering the bowels of the earth on the Pyongyang metro

Signal lady on the Pyongyang metro

Puhung Station

Part of the 80-foot (24 metre) long mosaic mural in Puhung Station called 'Song of a Bumper Crop'. The painting was 13 feet (4 metres) high.

Signal lady on the Pyongyang metro

Yonggwang Station

The Great and Dear Leader looking down on commuters inside the train

Kaeson Station

Part of the Kaeson Metro mural entitled 'Building a new Korea for the People'

An extract from the same mural further along the platform

Robert flirting ominously with the signal ladies

Taking the escalator back up to ground level

Children performing at the June 9th Secondary School

Robert went forward to personally congratulate the performers

Please click on the link to watch a selection of short excerpts from the children's performance. (The melody which can be heard at the start of the film is a live recording of our guide Song singing to us on the coach; hence the quality of the sound.)