Here is a quick video with my thoughts on some differences between my expectations of North Korea (and those of everyone I know who visited) and experiences.

I’m on the avenue between the Foreign language bookshop and Kim Il Sung Square. You’ll see Kiwi Tom being silly in the background (he does stand-up comedy, among other things) and the usual desolate, sparsely populated city.

Here I shake hands with a North Korean woman on a Pyongyang street corner near the Foreign Language bookshop near Kim Il Sung Square, trying and forgetting how to say the few phrases I learned in Korean — basically hello and thank you.

I shook the hands of many people on this street corner, saying hello and thank you. Sorry, I couldn’t say much more. Anyway, people kept not pressing the button to record on the camera.

I’ll do better next time!

Everyone involved had fun.

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