Communist Nation

This is a take out pizza bag from the Italian restaurant in Pyongyang North Korea. Who is it that I owe the 10 Euros to for the bag?? (Flickr)

Walter sent me this via E-Mail quite some time ago, and I think it is time to post it. Not only because it is interesting, but because I like this kind of thing. Enjoy!

With a degenerating itinerary our group of seven veterans of the DPRK lobbied the guides to take us to Pyongyang’s Italian Restaurant, opened in April 2009 with much international fanfare.

We were all familiar with the publicity and were curious. Would the food be as good as the propaganda? Because we were being shorted a few stops on our tour they felt an obligation to take us somewhere. I could tell there was some unease on the part of the guides because this was an unplanned stop.

As evening fell the outskirts of Pyongyang became dark – a dark unlike any other city in the world. The streetlights are off and few lights could be seen other than the cars and busses moving commuters. We pulled into what appeared to be a “working class” neighborhood of Pyongyang on Kwangbok Street but it was completely dark. I could make out buildings in the moonlight but with very little detail. The guide said he would go inside and see if it was open. Instinctively I knew it was closed but in the DPRK instinct is useless. The sign flickered on as he told us it was open. We piled off the bus.

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It was very obvious we were not expected. The restaurant was cold and dark – very dark inside. Usually the way this works is they put all the lights on in the restaurant (also in the neighborhood I suspect) to show how lively the place is. We stumbled into the most publicized restaurant in Pyongyang on a regular evening and found it deserted. The video of the opening showed this same restaurant filled.

The group was led into a private room and I spied a small group eating pizza in an adjacent room so indeed the place was open. We were handed a menu and the prices to us were reasonable and the fare attractive. I had eaten pizza in Italy many times over the years and wanted to see if the pizza lived up to the propaganda billing.

We ordered a pizza and enjoyed a small cucumber salad. When the waitress brought the pizza she allowed us all to photograph this work of art. It was most amusing to watch the waitress instruct seven Americans on the proper way to cut and eat pizza. What I found interesting was how authentic the crust and sauce was. This was indeed real Italian Pizza. The guides had not eaten there and we made sure even the driver could taste pizza. The other items on the menu were also authentically Italian but the question of what could be of local manufacture bothered me. When one of our group came back with a photo of the kitchen I soon was heading to the kitchen to shoot some photos. The staff had nothing else to do here so it was fun to look around. They were shy but understanding of the American Imperialist Aggressors taking so many photos. From what I understand everything is imported.

Unintended Consequences of the Visit

We were obviously not scheduled to be in this location judging from the lack of preparation for the visit. Stage management is not the North Korean’s strong suit and I laugh when I hear critics say, “They only show you what they want you to see.” That may be true but we are not blind and how do you stage manage a train wreck?

I see all these foul ups as opportunities to peer behind the curtain. Arriving late or early enables one to see what really happens behind the scenes. Sometimes it is embarrassing for the Koreans and I feel empathy. On the other hand the society is failing miserably. If the successes and accomplishments are because of the Dear Leader, are not the grotesque failures also attributable to his leadership? I don’t think they see it that way.

After pizza (and waiting for several take out pizzas) we were to head back to the bus parked a block away. The darkness afforded us a walk in a neighborhood after working hours and the cover to sneak away from the guides. Several of us went charging out into the night. The Koreans milling about purchasing and shopping could not see that we were foreigners. My first stop was a department store. In the darkness I could see the door was open and on the glass counter was a series of candles. Even the candles were small, similar to birthday candles in the states. The few shoppers seemed to be apathetic about buying and stood around as the clerks had that socialist pallor expression I had seen in so many towns in the Soviet bloc. The goods were not “goods” in any sense but more left over plastic from China. The next store was a shoe store but viewing all black shoes with candlelight was difficult.

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The department store in Pyongyang lit by candlelight.

Moving outside I went over to the kiosks selling fruits and baked goods. One of these actually had a light bulb so we could see what this was. There were goods but no one was buying. I spied a kiosk with a light bulb cooking a dough and cabbage items for a few won that was selling. Unlike the USSR where there was plenty of currency and no goods, this economy had goods but little won chasing the goods. If these were state concerns selling, where were the goods going if this is the surplus? Who gets to eat this way? These pastries looked as good as anything I had seen in China.

We snapped a few photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaruka/sets/72157622512053205/ and made our way to the bus as the guides were not pleased at our excursion but made no mention of the episode.

It appears that the DPRK is a cash poor society as some of the commentators have mentioned this year. This was not the only incident of goods being available but few takers. Kiosks outside Pyongyang had food but few people buying. All were state owned and the only free enterprise I saw were some people squatting by the roadside with fruits. In the USSR you found the same activities mostly tolerated by the authorities. Much of it was stolen but there were occasional surpluses or private produce that would surface at a rail stop. In the DPRK this has now stopped except for controlled market places where surplus from family plots can be sold. When I saw people at intersections sitting with apples or other fruits they were still there hours later and it was obvious what was going on.

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Tags: North Korea, Video