Artemiy Lebedev, who is supposed to be one of the best web designers in Russia, was recently in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. (To mimic St Ronald of Reagan’s worldview, that’s not “our” Korea.) He took some photos of life in and around Pyongyang. Some photos were taken secretly, in violation of the instructions of the official “minders.” Some of the photos (such as those in the countryside) are quite picturesque, but point out the abject poverty of the country. Lebedev’s commentary in Russian was translated by an émigré living in Canada.
The authoritarian nature of the regime is obvious from the photos and commentary, and there is a photo of a picture of a village and road in a museum that is poorly photoshopped – apparently something wasn’t to be seen.
Besides the pictures and statues depicting the Socialist Realism form of art, my favoite picture was of a beachfront, with electrified barbed wire along the roadside. The fence was either to keep people in or to keep American imperialist frogmen out - I'm not sure which. That seems to be the reality of North Korea - a country with 10% of the population in the military, and crushing poverty in the countryside. A nation permanently at war.
This website report has nine pages. Lebedev’s photos are on the first two pages; the remaining seven pages have viewer comments and the occasional photo from elsewhere.
There is a second report from a UK citizen who resides in Kyoto, Japan. His report, written in English has more detail.
Comments
Looks like pictures of late 1960's Soviet Union.
As for why the infrastructure is no longer being maintained -- that picture of the tall unfinished hotel is instructive. North Korea was part of the Eastern Bloc economic sphere. When the Eastern Bloc crumbled, they lost access to things like the Czechoslovak trolly cars and subway cars that you see in those pictures. Then when the Soviet Union crumbled, they lost access to oil altogether, as well as to the resources they were using to build that enormous hotel.
That is one reason why they want nuclear power so badly -- the country is literally energy-starved. Clinton did the right thing by saying, "look, stop work on your nuclear-weapons-ready reactors and we'll give you light water reactors that produce electricity but are useless for making nuclear weapons." Unfortunately, the U.S. did not deliver on that promise. So they went back to work building their antiquated and dangerous graphite-moderated reactors, which are also perfect for making nuclear weapons, unlike U.S.-design light water reactors which can't be used to do such without "short-cycling" (and you can only short-cycle once without cutting off your supply of enriched nuclear fuel and rendering the reactor useless... which is why the Iranians are so detirmined to join the world club of those nations with the ability to manufacture their own enriched nuclear fuel). If you leave the fuel rods in there for the full cycle, they have too many higher-order non-fissionable plutonium isotopes to be usable for making nuclear weapons. You might as well just go back to a centrifuge-based uranium enrichment program at that point. (Probably why North Korea moved in that direction after Clinton promised the light-water reactors, since the light-water reactors would be useless for making weapons).
Anyhow, that's why North Korea wants nuclear energy. Without energy, North Korea cannot modernize its economy. Without modernizing its economy, North Korea cannot embrace capitalism. Without embracing capitalism, North Korea cannot join the world economic sphere in place of the Eastern Bloc economic sphere that it once belonged to. Without joining the world economy, North Korea is doomed to be the grey, crumbling country that you saw in those pictures.
It's all about energy. It's not a factor of the leader of the country. The leader could be a genius, but without energy, it is difficult to kickstart the economy to the point where you can join the world economy. You are looking at the future of the United States, once the Western economic bloc crumbles and the United States is deprived of access to oil. Energy is needed to maintain a modern economy. Without a modern economy, you see what happens -- North Korea, a crumbling nation complete with a charismatic personality cult ruling the nation.
Let's see, if GHWB was Great Leader, does that make Dubya the Dear Leader?
-BadTux the Energy Penguin
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