Joseph Ferris, who took the most breathtaking and evocative pictures of North Korea I’ve seen — see them on Flickr (I recommend watching the whole slide show) — reviewed my book, Understanding North Korea: Demystifying the World’s Most Misunderstood Country, in his blog, An American in North Korea. He wrote I admit that I was quite skeptical to learn that on his return he wrote a book on North Korea,[…] Keep reading →

Who would have believed a North Korean vegan food blog could exist? And written by someone in New York City, home to no North Korean restaurants. Maybe this means I will get to try some reasonably authentic naengmyeon. Check it out: juchevegan.com: “The world’s first English-language vegan food blog devoted to North Korean cuisine.”

People don’t talk about how much money they have in this country. I wrote the following essay on money for a class I’m taking. I hope it’s not too much or too little information. I don’t remember money concerning my family growing up. Sometimes we had more or less, but I don’t think anyone called us spoiled when we did well. I don’t think we felt hopeless when our block[…] Keep reading →

Kids learn to ski easily, before they learn to fear falling. After I learned to ski in my mid-twenties I asked my mom why they never took us skiing. She answered “We couldn’t afford that” quick enough I could almost hear an unspoken “duh!” following it up. I love skiing so much I suggested my sister take her kids while they were young. President’s Day weekend she told me she[…] Keep reading →

People, left to themselves, don’t seem to care about people on the other side of the planet. They seem to want to pursue happiness and enjoy themselves if they can. My observations in North Korea reinforced this sentiment. It raises the question why North Korea and the United States harbor so much animosity. History answers the question at a low level. My visit revealed to me deeper reasons. In all[…] Keep reading →

I find this picture of the Eiffel Tower beautiful. A guy named Tristan Nitot took the picture and posted it for people to share and enjoy in a post called “This photograph is free.” He posted it in response to some other guy whose name I don’t know who posted a picture he took entitled “This photograph is not free.” I won’t link to him because I’m afraid he might attack[…] Keep reading →

Continuing favorite moments from part 2, yesterday Joseph Joseph said he liked the shooting range most. Here he is at the range. Neil Neil said that the mausoleum holding Kim Il Sung’s body was his favorite moment for the over-the-top rigmarole they put visitors through, making it unintentionally amazing — in particular the giant, full-body blow driers. He described it as over-the-top propaganda and I found it hard to see[…] Keep reading →