Today’s pictures were from the bus ride back from the Demilitarized Zone and Kaesong to Pyongyang. The early bus rides featured a lot of very friendly, open, and educational interchange between the guides and us. For some reason Mr. Kim, whom we affectionately nicknamed Crazy Kim for his ebullience and outspoken expression, quieted down after the first few days. Our loss.     I wrote the following about the above[…] Keep reading →

After visiting the Demilitarized Zone we visited the city of Kaesong, the southernmost city in North Korea. WordPress doesn’t always get links in captions, so here’s a sentence in there with some links, “Here’s a video of many to start with and here’s a Wikipedia page.” After the day in Kaesong, we went to a traditional-style hotel, I think this one. I went to sleep early, but others drank and[…] Keep reading →

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me why I chose to go to North Korea. Why I chose to go was different than what made such a positive impression on me, a pattern that happens often in my life and I bet yours. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3[/videofile]

I don’t know what the world would look from the eyes of a North Korean, so I’m just speculating. I just wanted to go point for point on a bunch of yesterday’s points on what I considered weird about them. Just because we think they do some things weird doesn’t mean we don’t. On the contrary, you thinking someone else weird virtually guarantees they will think you weird, but not[…] Keep reading →

Weirdness is subjective, of course. I’m only describing what I consider weird. And I want to stress that I don’t consider nor mean to imply that weirdness is bad. I consider it interesting. As a friend said, “Nobody is normal.” I celebrate individual differences. I put “weird” in the title to get people thinking and asking themselves questions. In particular, I hope people will consider questions like these, which I[…] Keep reading →

EDIT: the updated details are here — but, in short, Sunday, December 4, 7pm, 5 Crosby Street #5H in Soho. I will speak on North Korea at the next Fred Talk, December 4. Fred Talks are riveting and awesome, plus you meet amazing people there. And they get good pizza. The specific time and place haven’t been set, but they are usually at 136 Lawrence Street in Brooklyn, right across[…] Keep reading →

Continuing rules and regulations we faced from yesterday… You may only exchange currency at the official exchange rate, which was about twenty or thirty times worse than the market rate. That is, if we exchanged dollars for North Korean currency at one of the approved sites, we got a certain amount of their currency. If we could walk around the corner and exchange with a private individual, we’d get twenty[…] Keep reading →