Pyongyang.

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Today, In this thread, I will show you, My fellow simtropolians the most unknown, secure, and strange communist capital in the world today. Since I have never been to North Korea, and don't expect to go there anytime soon, I will get you all some pictures I found from the Internet exposing the bankrupt city most people haven't seen.

Pyongyang Station.

In 1982, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the late President Kim Il Sung, the Tower of Juche Idea was erected in the heart of the capital city, Pyongyang. Made of well-dressed white granite, it was designed in a unique traditional Korean fashion of stone tower construction and executed in a grand yet graceful modern style of formative art.

The Arch of Triumph is larger than the one in Paris, France made from 10,500 pieces of finely dressed white granite.

Grand People's Study House

Grand People's Study House has a total floor space of 100,000 square meters and can house 30 million books, Everyday it can admit in excess of 12,000 people. It has more than 600 rooms including reading rooms with ideal conditions for study, lecture and recording rooms, information rooms and question-and-answer rooms furnished in contemporary style.

This is how most people in the city go to work.

The wide avenues lay empty since no one can afford gas or a car.

Ryugyong Hotel would have been the tallest hotel in the world, but construction was never finished.

This is pretty much downtown.

This is a satellite night image of the Koreas. The dots represent street lights and apartment light.

In pyongyang, Every street has a guard to direct traffic. The guards are usually uniformed women.

The largest stadium in the world, capable of seating 150,000 spectators.

Wide view of the city.

Children are taught to hate the outside world, especially the Americans.

North Korean Housing.

Hungry children look for food from a passing train...

More will be posted later.

[Constantina 5]

I suppose it is the bright side of Pyongyang or simply propoganda?

It seems like the well-nourished children in the picture above is confusing me a bit. I heard someone say that the people of north Korea were starving.

Hey, you can visit north Korea online. Once I thought it was a closed country...

Government of North Korea Online

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Constatina: Most of the pictures I found are propaganda saying how well the country is. Pyongyang has many 'rich' citizens who work for the government. However, I found many pictures of common children starving, They were quite graphic, and I didn't want to post them here. However, here is a link of some of the pictures...

WARNING: LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK, THESE ARE QUITE GRAPHIC.

http://www.valleyofdecision.net/images/nokorea.jpg

http://prisonersoverseas.com/wp-content/thumb-starving_baby.jpg

[MarcosMX 222]

Wow those pics are amazing. Is there electricity on N Korea?

And the streets are so alone.. Thats my place.

[Krio 624]

If someone do NK-bats, they shall not nightlight them.

[Constantina 5]

A programme on the BBC, This World stated, a few years ago that there was electricity, but it gets switched off every night.

[MarcosMX 222]

I only see one light spot in NK. What would it be? The presidents palace.

[plus01 0]

ilikehotdogsalot: The wide avenues lay empty since no one can afford gas or a car.quote>

Just some additional info...I learned from a Geography course I took last year that the reason why the avenues are so wide and large is because they can double as airstrip runways for fighter jets just in case the United States attacks North Korea.  Now that I think of it, do they even have fighter jets .

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Like Constantina said, There is electricity but it gets turned off at night. Here is are a few pictures.

[ledge69 0]

That country has worried me for a long time, did you see the so called celebrations in the city after the nuclear test. They looked chuffed to bits not staged at all. The thing that sticks in my mind is a woman who escaped and talked about how she'd been in one of their torture camps, she was aloud to hand out 20 pieces of lettice, she gave them to those in need most, they were poisioned and the people died horribly. Also what makes a mother leave her baby/child there to escape herself, not one but dozens of women are doing it, thats how happy it is.

That unfinished hotel is really eriee. Oh and according to North Korea they don't rotar their electricity thats a lie lol. They also have bountiful harvests every year and the citizens can't help but to sing and dance in the square to show their appreciation. However there is and underlying granduar to some of those pics but of days long gone now. Is there any oil in North Korea?

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

'That unfinished hotel is really eriee. Oh and according to North Korea they don't rotar their electricity thats a lie lol. They also have bountiful harvests every year and the citizens can't help but to sing and dance in the square to show their appreciation. However there is and underlying granduar to some of those pics but of days long gone now. Is there any oil in North Korea?'

---

The hotel looks like something from a movie.

There was a famine in North Korea in the past 10 years that killed over 2 million people, 10 percent of the population! Yes, There is oil in North Korea, They get it from China, I can't imagine the prices to fill up the tank.

[ledge69 0]

It all does look like a film set to be there for one minute would be the surealist feeling I'm sure. Just like they use to say people in some parts of Russia that people still don't know Communism is over Communist. When it comes to eriee or should I say creepy then Kim Jong-il is like some sort of comic book character. Are there any other Communist countries thats the only one I know of?

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

The only other real communist country I know is Cuba. China and Russia are making the transition to Communism to Democracy right now.

[zachos-prague 0]

North Korea is undoubtedly one fo the most strangest and dangerous states on the world. But, actually is it possible to visit this coubtry as a tourist? Even a communist Cuba encourages tourists from Western world to visit their country, because tourists bring them money, of course. But I've never heard about tourists in North Korea, although this country has a lot of things to offer. For instance, Miohyang mountains had been known for its beauty centuries before break-up of Korea.

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Zachos-prague: Yes, It is possible to visit the country as a tourist. However, A guard follows you everywhere you go and only takes you to the larger, more upscale monuments and they don't take you to the poor countrysidef out of Pyongyang. However, I heard it takes 7 years to get one Visa to go to the county!

[ledge69 0]

I didn't think about Cuba, I would feel fine going there but I don't know of anyone that has gone to NK I could imagine walking to one of those slums and suddenly an army convo turns up telling you that it is not safe to be walking around this part of town and them confiscating your camera, mind not sure how many hotels there I'm sure not many and I'm sure they have vaccancies.

[ledge69 0]

Well I spose they would be, I'm sure most have never seen a non Asian person, for that mattter not seen a lot of things, it's like a mini 1984. I didn't know they had an undergorund network thou.

[PavSek 1]

Tourism in North Korea is possible but not for Americans...They can't even pass the border. People, who live in South Korea can visit it, but only when they have special permission from these two countries.

Here's interesting site of North Korea in Russian, Spanish, French, English, Polish, Italian etc.

Check it out! What's interesting. On Polish site in the gallery there're "vs" photos. Example: Polish hospital ... and Korean hospital (but they choose the best hospital in korea and the worst in Poland) Maybe it's not true but i think it is :-)

edit: sorry...Constantina gave the same link as me...

[LivingInThePast 364]

How depressing.

[SC4Noobie 5]

Yea, those pics are real depressing. Whenever I think "communist" I think China, but NK is really communist. Those pics are real creepy.

[ACEfanatic 7]

Originally posted by: ilikehotdogsalot I heard North Koreans are really racists aswell. When they see someone who's not asian, They'll stare, whisper, and start being afraid to talk to the person so I wouldn't like to go there.quote>

I think "exceeding insular" is probably a better term.  And you really mustn't confuse the North Koreans with North Korea as a whole.  I'm sure that they aren't much different than you or me, except that they were born into an Orwellian society. [/rant]

Anyway, Pyongyang doesn't actually look as bad as you all seem to think... Ever seen any pictures of Soviet Moscow?  It's really similar.

-ACE

[connor_v 3]

Ilikehotdogsalot, referring to what you said, it is impossible to have a country segregated to the point where they can believe they are the last survivor of nuclear war. North Korea does trade with other countries, and also has foreign investments in it. There also is a thing called "underground groups". Look it up.

[marc 13]

Once again, selective and biased pictures/opinions have been shown to influence perceptions. It's ridiculous to say that the North Korean gov't tells their citizens they are the only survivors of a nuclear war- they obviously know the US exists because they bash it, so they know there's at least one other country around. They know S. Korea, China, and Japan are around too, so please don't spread rumors. Don't call North Koreans racist either- we (Americans) as a society are the most xenophobic people on earth. I hate seeing "I hear, I hear..." posts because they simply aren't true.

Sure, their roads have been designed for a dual purpose of serving as runways, but the US Interstate highway system was designed for similar purposes. Sure, their industrial areas and some housing blocks look depressing, but so are inner city US ghettos and housing projects. The entire state has electricity, but the cities go black at night because in a very traditionalist society, they believe once it's nighttime, you sleep. Thus no one keeps their lights on, even though some areas remain lit.

In fact, Pyongyang is known as the "city of willows," or "the city of parks" because it has a very high proportion of parks vs. people in comparison with other world cities. Of course, westerners choose not to display those pictures for ideological reasons...

Let's reverse the tide of pictures shown above to make my point:

Pyongyang:

Behind the glitzy swankiness of American skylines, you can easily find this:

[MarcosMX 222]

N Korea is mentally retarded. First of all, there hasn't been any nuclear war. Second of all, that country seems to be really poor, and the goverment has the money to research and develope nuclear weapons.

Do N Koreans have access to the internet?

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

@marcszar I try not to make my pictures biased, I like your pictures but the pictures of the American Towns are houses in the rural countryside and Pyongyang is a capital city which makes the vs pictures a little unfair. If you were going to Compare Pyongyang to a city in the U.S, You should compare it to Washington D.C or another country's capital city.

also, regarding the 'i hear' comments, well, i don't know what goes on in north korea, and unless you've actually been there, i don't think you know either.

[marc 13]

The "houses in the rural countryside" are not actually in the rural countryside! These are in the CENTER of some of our largest cities- Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, etc. It just looks like they are in the wilderness because so many houses have fallen or burned down, leaving behind large swaths of open land. All the pictures I posted came from urban areas.

Americans should be embarrassed about the masses of homeless people huddled around the parks tourists see when they visit DC.

Originally posted by: ilikehotdogsalot

 If you were going to Compare Pyongyang to a city in the U.S, You should compare it to Washington D.C or another country's capital city.quote>

OK. Here. This is DC:

(how ironic is this last picture- there is no community there!)

What if we forced our senators to live here- think things would change?

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

Heh, can't argue with you there.

[connor_v 3]

It's amazing, behind the Capitol and all the government stuff... D.C. is like a big slum!

[hamsterTK 93]

Excuse but a very tiny minority of americans live in conditions like those while the vast vast majority of North Koreans live like that...

North Korea has nice crap(if you call it nice, its fugly and outdated and heck that lobby for all we know could be from  a hotel in Oklahoma city)  for the purposes of propaganda. That bridge isnt impressive, every city has one of those these days.

Don't call North Koreans racist either- we (Americans) as a society are the most xenophobic people on earth. I hate seeing "I hear, I hear..." posts because they simply aren't true.quote>

excuse my french but man what the hell are you talking about?  don't make assumptions that 300 million people are racist because to you a few forumers at least seem to be.

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

This is pretty much how me and my friends live, lol.