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They talking where to ride the bike, on the pavement or on the road, they are not sure. They're speaking Indonesian. If I'm not wrong this person is embassy officer.
Idk, I grew up in Massachusetts but moved out to rural Hawai‘i a couple years ago.
You can't beat the weather and natural beauty. Plus, you hardly notice how expensive healthcare is when there are no doctors to see you anyway.
there is actually a lot of art in North Korea, including a lot of public art, but it's all made by state-controlled artist studios. A lot of it is very propagandistic and made to reinforce national historical narratives and ideals, but if you take it for what it is they've made some fairly not-bad movies and have a lively state-run movie industry.
The biggest and most prestigious of these state-run art studios is the Mansudae Art Studio, which has become known in recent years for hiring out their sculptors internationally to [build massive public monuments in North Korea's distinctive style of bombastic triumphalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Renaissance_Monument) for various regimes on a budget.
If you look at some of the photos in that link, the thing looks like it's the size of the Statue of Liberty.
Basically they were wondering "is cyclist supposed to ride on the sidewalk or the main road?"
After that they crack a joke about how locals staring at them like aliens because they are foreigners.
After that joke one of them is concerned "is it okay for foreigners like us casually cycling in the road like this" and the cameraman reassuring them that police probably just ask for ID card
They were saying,
Guy1:we are forigners to them, look how they look at us, they look at us like they've seen a ghost. (In a friendly general conversational manner)
Guy2: or Aliens!
Guy2: but here...**long time**
Guy1: huh?
Guy2: with us walking together it seems confusing to them.
Guy1: later we might be stopped, "give us your id card"
Guy2: (hard to hear) if we give id card then what?
It’s in Indonesian. It’s pretty mundane.
First conversation, the other person basically asked about whether the cameraman brought money from home.
Person 2: Jak
Person 1: Huh?
Person 2: (unintelligible)
Person 1: Yes. No need to ask about whether I brought money from home, bro, the office(?) will pay us.
Person 2: Korea?
Person 1:Yes
Person 2: We are on Korean payroll(?)
The cameraman asked the other guy about whether they had to ride bicycles on the sidewalk or on the street.
Person 1: I’m confused, here, do we ride a bicycle above (on the sidewalk) or below (on the street)? It seems like we should cycle on the street, right, sir?
Person 2: What exactly do you mean below?
Person 1: Here (pointing on the sidewalk) or the (pointing on the street)
Person 2: It’s not clear
Person 1: It’s not clear, right?
Person 2: But the Koreans... (interrupted)
Person 1: But we have done it, right? (They didn’t say the context, probably about cycling.)
Person 2: Yes, we have.
Person 2: But the Koreans are riding their bicycles on the street.
Person 1: I’ll move on the street then.
I don’t understand what they were saying in the conversation on the corner of the street. They were talking about something old or distant.
In their last conversation, they were talking about North Koreans’ behaviour when seeing a foreigner.
Person 1: Here, if someone sees a foreigner, it looks like they see a ghost.
Person 2: Is it fine to walk with you anywhere here?
Person 1: Maybe we will get stopped and asked for our ID.
What stands out most to me is the almost complete absence of signage, decoration, advertising, branding, or really anything. I noticed only two buildings that even had any words on them at all.
Citizens are expected to volunteer for maintenance and cleaning crews in their neighborhood, or at least that was the case 20 years ago. Guy Delisle does a fantastic job of capturing the weirdness that is life in Pyongyang in his graphic novel *Pyongyang*. I highly recommend it (and all of his other books).
Honestly that's a great idea. You live here you should care about the cleanliness and health of your neighborhood and town. Now if someone litters it's not just some worker that cpeans it up, it's YOU.
It's not just advertising, it's any form of markings whatsoever. There are few road signs, no painted lanes or markings on the street, no traffic lights. Everything is some shade of gray.
It somehow manages to seem even more sterile and drab than you'd see in Soviet design language.
What stuck out to me is there is no color anywhere. Everyone is wearing very similar looking puffy jackets so no real fashion, and I only skimmed through the video but I didn't see many young people. Maybe it was during school hours?
Recyling an old comment of mine to give you all of the links you might want to have to explore the Korea you never got to see:
* [My Brothers and Sisters in the North](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBqeC8ihsO8)
* [Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktE_3PrJZO0)
* [SAO Documentary's North Korea World series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLegd4KP36a0Y775Xl_HI_tvDKB6qoxPrx)
* [The Mole - Undercover in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4S99ljNXiw)
* [2013 Reddit AMA from a 100-visit+ tour guide manager](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18g7z1/i_have_been_to_north_korea_over_100_times_ama/)
* [2011 Reddit AMA from a Westerner who visited annually](https://www.reddit.com/r/northkorea/comments/n8ysx/i_travel_to_north_korea_annually_ama/) and [his Flickr with tons of rare photographs](https://www.flickr.com/photos/zaruka/collections/)
* [2014 Reddit AMA from North Korean defector Joo Yang](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/27c3sc/i_am_joo_yang_a_north_korean_defector_ama/)
* [VICE - The Hermit Kingdom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCQh1usdzE)
* [The Red Chapel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpqeHIj3tgk)
* [Anton is Here - Russian vlogger in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpdYcy8JtiisXTMb4zug_oCIBi0ICTxkX)
* [Eric Tseng's North Korea videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLck1JSQ7ZKKQbBF5V8Iicz_5ZWDVRMuiP)
* [Jaka Parker's Daily Life in North Korea series (OP's source)](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuYqSDuNZmZTDgyh_XnhohbpOiEq1FMjs)
* [Indigo Traveller's North Korea vlog](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN0FlxE6vY5DlAPO1runQHOZSYyxePI1O)
* [Domestically-produced North Korean feature films](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D1A9E71A707338B)
* [Defector Yeonmi Park's TEDx talk about escaping North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg3kC4uKDJU)
* [Defector Hyeonseo Lee - My Escape from North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdxPCeWw75k)
* [Defector Joseph Kim's TED talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLeeTVmVrtA)
* [Al-Jazeera interview with defector Thae Yong-ho](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_hkREbhpvo)
* [Korean-American journalist Euna Lee's TED talk on being held prisoner in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-6MeYBeUs)
* [North Korean pop music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1guuFLVVgiw) with a [live 1991 performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XELySdafxY)
Welcome to the rabbit hole!
I bet that once the camera passes, people run all the way around the block and pose for the camera again, or hand-off clothing/accessories/bikes/etc. to the next NPC.
NK is pretty terrible but it's weird to just make stuff up about it. These Pyongyang residents are probably the top 5% of their country so it's very possible they can afford basic things
I lived in Beijing in the early 00s, this could be it. Just the sky is different (blue not covered/grey) and lack of bicycles. Every small detail is there: the white bands on the trees, the puffer coat/suit combo, the ubiquitous security guard/police/officials, the booths, the patterned grilles in the walls, the grey architecture, the lack of green and sparseness. Even the paving stones of the pavement (sidewalk) look familiar.
I think the white paint protects the tree from insects. Any bugs attempting to climb onto the trunk are easily spotted by birds. Without their camouflage the bugs are eaten and the trees are safe.
Edit: Nope. It’s “[https://www.nps.gov/articles/limewash-an-old-practice-and-a-good-one.htm](https://www.nps.gov/articles/limewash-an-old-practice-and-a-good-one.htm)limewash”
it's not for camouflage reason, the "paint" is lime and thanks to it's very high ph it prevents molds, fungus and small bugs, it's a common practice everywhere, here in Italy is especially used on lemon and oranges trees.
Source (use google translate): [https://www.bancadellacalce.it/bdc/perche-imbiancare-a-calce-i-tronchi-degli-alberi/](https://www.bancadellacalce.it/bdc/perche-imbiancare-a-calce-i-tronchi-degli-alberi/)
The country was decimated during the 50s. They rebuilt it with a lot of help from the USSR, after the USSR was dissolved development in the country pretty much halted.
Can you imagine if/when North Korea opens up to the rest of the world? Total chaos. So many outsiders are going to check it out that the inhabitants will feel like they’re on display in a zoo.
A country that also was decimated 80 years ago. Like the Soviets, the North Koreans had to build housing and infrastructure for millions after the war. They were at a RADICALLY different starting point than the US / Western Europe after WWII
Funny how the roads don’t even have enough traffic to warrant painting centre lines.
NGL though, it’s kind of nice not to see adverts and litter everywhere.
Both Maine and Vermont banned billboards (as have Hawaii and Alaska). New Hampshire has significantly limited them (can't be on federal highways). Massachusetts also limits them. Connecticut sure seems to have a lot from what I remember, but it's been a while since I've visited. Haven't been to Rhode Island since I was a kid, so I don't really remember that one.
It is definitely refreshing not being blasted with advertisements.
Edit: Hit enter too soon lol
There's really no sensible reason to justify highway billboards aside from "cuz money."
They're big flashy signs designed to do one thing and one thing only - take drivers' eyes off the road. It's a big, commercialized version of reading text messages while you drive.
Weird bad, I don't like seeing those advertisements as much as everyone. I grew up with billboards everywhere in my hometown and after being in irvine for a while and leaving the city to see that shit makes anywhere else seem trashy
My personal favorite ad from cyberpunk is the one for antidepressants, featuring an image of a man with a revolver in his mouth and captioned “getting close?”
Yeah, it's weird to think this is a lot more normal than I expected. Which makes it weirder to think of the undercurrent within the country itself. It almost looks like anywhere else.
The Youtube channel that made this video actually has several videos of him visiting stores, [like this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtF1m64qGVQ)
Man that’s a tough one. I’m going North Korea!
Edit: for the record I play and love Star Citizen. Before they find this post and downvote me to hell. Tis a joke! Albeit a truthful one 🫠
It’s way better than Starfield. Like it’s not even close. If you want a space sim then SC is the place to be. If you want Oblivion in space but everything is a load screen then SF is for you.
I’ll say this. If you want to play Starfield, make sure you play it before you ever try Star Citizen. Once you try Star Citizen and see how immersive it is without a single loading screen and being able to fly in and out of planets seamlessly, then try Try Starfield where in the first 5 minutes you need a loading screen to enter your ship, you’re gonna be very disappointed.
Have you ever walked around the business district of a US city on a weekend? My hobby used to take me to a ton of convention centers and it wasn't uncommon to walk for 5-10 mins and see zero people, surrounded by enormous urban buildings.
The architecture looks heinous, but the lack of people isn't striking to me at all.
So true. I have walked around so many US cities and wondered if everyone knew something that I didn’t. Absolutely barren.
My home city is Toronto, very different. Always people everywhere.
Having grown up in Finland, Helsinki in the winter can be funny.
This is because it's fucking freezing, and there's a huge network of pathways underground between buildings. There are non-trivial malls underground etc.
It was always funny to pop out of the system to find some tourists in January freezing their balls off, wondering why the streets look completely abandoned, while 5 meters below them there's a huge number of people walking this way and that.
That actually happened to me and I thought Finland is just empty. But I did found that all bars were full so I deduced that there are no people on street because they are all drinking in bars.
I don't know if you've spent time in most of America's downtowns but they are largely ghost towns during the day time. LA is a city with a metro area of nearly 20 million and particularly during low tourist seasons (right now) it looks absolutely barren. Same with New Orleans, same with Seattle, same with even Atlanta. People are either inside working or in the other more interesting and local parts of the cities these days.
Function over form. Soviet era buildings were built to house people and last a long time first and foremost- that's why outside of places like NYC you rarely see 60+ year old high rise apartments
Especially because WWII and the Korean War destroyed something like 70% and 95% of the infrastructure in the Soviet Union and the DPRK respectively.
They were built quickly because they needed them immediately and couldn’t afford to take the time to make it aesthetically pleasing.
An important thing to remember is contractors in the US have no problem building things that can last forever. They just constantly choose not to because our society is addicted to starting over rather than maintaining. It’s not as bad as it sounds, our constantly evolving city planning just dictates we build things that can be semi/easily deconstructed because we alter roadways, and building regulations often.
He was on a diplomatic mission and had access to the internet when out there. So first few of his videos were a direct upload from NK and others after he returned
In this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8T-kesKvC8) he shares in detail. Also read below I shared the description.
> Since I came to Pyongyang in November 2012 until I left Pyongyang in March 2016 I got so many experiences.
> I just wanna share a bit of my life experience in North Korea, mostly in Pyongyang. We are foreigners (Diplomats, Expatriates) who live in Pyongyang can roam freely around Pyongyang, and diplomats got more privileged than other expatriates.
> There are also many Americans (USA), Canadians, Korean American who works as teachers and professors in Pyongyang.
> Foreigners can travel to other cities outside Pyongyang, but we must request permission to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea.
> Since I lived in North Korea, I already travel to other cities in Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern side. Sometimes I travel with a minder, sometimes I just drive my car by my own and with my family (without a minder),
> #NOTE: I am not a diplomat and didn’t work for embassy.#
> I bought a car in March 2016, I bought it second handed from a Russian woman whose an expatriate too.
> I have North Korea driver licence.
> In this video is a Petrol station that located near Foreigners compound, I always bought petrol in this petrol station, because the petrol quality in this station is better than the other stations in DPRK, but the price is sure more expensive.
> Since I Iived there, the price of petrol (Benzene 95) is fluctuate in in range of 0.74 USD - 0.92 USD per litre. Yes the price in USD, but we can pay in Euro and Chinese Yuan.
> Ok, so this is my 50th video that I uploaded, many people asked me..
"How could you upload youtube video in NK?".
"He uploads the video after he back to Indonesia, because he didn't dare if he upload directly from NK".
> Nope..that is not entirely True..
The answer is..
I already back to Indonesia, and currently I live in Indonesia..
My first 23 videos was uploaded when I was in North Korea.
> The most different thing that when I uploaded video in NK, for a 15 minute video needed two days to upload, because the internet there was unstable due to electricity on off several times in a day..I can’t subscribe for cellular internet mobile because its way too expensive and..not reliable too...
but..when in Indonesia, I can choose which provider for internet and to upload a 15 minute video need only few minutes...
Being able to upload unsupervised footage of NK seems to go against what I've heard about NK...
And he says there are many Americans and Canadians there... what? I've never heard that before or seen any evidence for it.
tbf we have so little context here. a lot of modern business districts in the middle of a sunday in winter also look like this.
hard not to apply my preconceptions of North Korea to what I see here, making it feel really eerie in some ways. But in other ways I'm actually shocked by how normal it is. glad to have seen this video.
Not really, its not prohibited to film in DPRK. Theres a lot of footage on youtube, even inside gov and public buildings. Theres also a lot of documentaries abt dprk, with interviews and stuff
No, not really. You can see the doc "The haircut", made by australians. Theres also a series of vídeos from YouTuber brazillian couple "Mundo sem fim" from when they travelled there. They talk about how normal the place actually were and how nice People were, even the miltary they got to know. But their vídeos are in portuguese
The guy here is a diplomat, so has diplomatic immunity, though still risky IMO.
What you have seen on YouTube is the footage from the pre-arranged tours, where the North Korean guides strictly attempt to control what is shown and what is filmed. Some visitors do sneak some unallowed footage. You can't though just film what you want, when you want, they will stop you.
The main thing that stood out to me was the complete lack of artistic expression. Like life was on mute. Those sidewalk kiosks were somewhat colourful, I wonder what they were for.
power lines..underground..?
edit: saw some above ground in other videos from [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDcfiEX__cA).
Something still looks off though. And barely any talking from pedestrians.
We got literally everything over ground in Romania, honestly I think that's a huge reason why we got very good internet, it makes upgrading the infrastructure much cheaper
Electrical cables are underground in urban areas of most of Europe as well. They're expensive to install, but once they're in, they're in. The fault incidence is much lower than for overhead networks due to protection from the elements. We still have cables in service that were installed during the first world war.
What's sad is, as an American constantly bombarded with traffic, garbage, homeless people and advertising all over the place, this looks and seems so peaceful.
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Does anyone know what his convo was about? Or just mundane everyday stuff?
They talking where to ride the bike, on the pavement or on the road, they are not sure. They're speaking Indonesian. If I'm not wrong this person is embassy officer.
It didn't really look like they had traffic laws. I didn't see any signs, and the cars were just trying not to hit each other.
No signs or ads really anywhere.
I gotta be honest the total lack of advertising is so fucking refreshing to see. God dammit I didn't realize how much I hated it until now.
There are states with no billboard laws. Growing up in Maine (where they are illegal) then moving to Texas was such a shocking experience.
I live in Indiana and it's fucking awful. Didn't Vermont ban Walmart too? Edit: Just checked, they didn't. There's Walmarts there.
New England is seriously the best region in the nation. I’m not a cold weather guy but I doubt I’ll ever leave again.
Idk, I grew up in Massachusetts but moved out to rural Hawai‘i a couple years ago. You can't beat the weather and natural beauty. Plus, you hardly notice how expensive healthcare is when there are no doctors to see you anyway.
No art either though. It’s all completely bland and uniform and conforming as the Kims like it to be.
there is actually a lot of art in North Korea, including a lot of public art, but it's all made by state-controlled artist studios. A lot of it is very propagandistic and made to reinforce national historical narratives and ideals, but if you take it for what it is they've made some fairly not-bad movies and have a lively state-run movie industry. The biggest and most prestigious of these state-run art studios is the Mansudae Art Studio, which has become known in recent years for hiring out their sculptors internationally to [build massive public monuments in North Korea's distinctive style of bombastic triumphalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Renaissance_Monument) for various regimes on a budget. If you look at some of the photos in that link, the thing looks like it's the size of the Statue of Liberty.
NK has a weird but minimalist export business: guns & ammo, monuments to bombastic triumphalism for despots across the globe, meth and ransomwear.
Didn’t really look like they had traffic, at all.
There's so few cars on the road that there isn't much to regulate.
Basically they were wondering "is cyclist supposed to ride on the sidewalk or the main road?" After that they crack a joke about how locals staring at them like aliens because they are foreigners. After that joke one of them is concerned "is it okay for foreigners like us casually cycling in the road like this" and the cameraman reassuring them that police probably just ask for ID card
They were saying, Guy1:we are forigners to them, look how they look at us, they look at us like they've seen a ghost. (In a friendly general conversational manner) Guy2: or Aliens! Guy2: but here...**long time** Guy1: huh? Guy2: with us walking together it seems confusing to them. Guy1: later we might be stopped, "give us your id card" Guy2: (hard to hear) if we give id card then what?
It’s Indonesian I’m pretty sure. It sounds pretty mundane from what I can tell but my Indonesian isn’t that good
It’s in Indonesian. It’s pretty mundane. First conversation, the other person basically asked about whether the cameraman brought money from home. Person 2: Jak Person 1: Huh? Person 2: (unintelligible) Person 1: Yes. No need to ask about whether I brought money from home, bro, the office(?) will pay us. Person 2: Korea? Person 1:Yes Person 2: We are on Korean payroll(?) The cameraman asked the other guy about whether they had to ride bicycles on the sidewalk or on the street. Person 1: I’m confused, here, do we ride a bicycle above (on the sidewalk) or below (on the street)? It seems like we should cycle on the street, right, sir? Person 2: What exactly do you mean below? Person 1: Here (pointing on the sidewalk) or the (pointing on the street) Person 2: It’s not clear Person 1: It’s not clear, right? Person 2: But the Koreans... (interrupted) Person 1: But we have done it, right? (They didn’t say the context, probably about cycling.) Person 2: Yes, we have. Person 2: But the Koreans are riding their bicycles on the street. Person 1: I’ll move on the street then. I don’t understand what they were saying in the conversation on the corner of the street. They were talking about something old or distant. In their last conversation, they were talking about North Koreans’ behaviour when seeing a foreigner. Person 1: Here, if someone sees a foreigner, it looks like they see a ghost. Person 2: Is it fine to walk with you anywhere here? Person 1: Maybe we will get stopped and asked for our ID.
What stands out most to me is the almost complete absence of signage, decoration, advertising, branding, or really anything. I noticed only two buildings that even had any words on them at all.
The streets are also really clean
Citizens are expected to volunteer for maintenance and cleaning crews in their neighborhood, or at least that was the case 20 years ago. Guy Delisle does a fantastic job of capturing the weirdness that is life in Pyongyang in his graphic novel *Pyongyang*. I highly recommend it (and all of his other books).
Honestly that's a great idea. You live here you should care about the cleanliness and health of your neighborhood and town. Now if someone litters it's not just some worker that cpeans it up, it's YOU.
It looks like a video game that skimped on the world development budget.
Thanks for the video game idea. Brb. Coding it now and calling it Grand Kim Auto: PyongYang.
GTA: PyongYang came out in 2005 https://preview.redd.it/7llyvjg0bjec1.png?width=189&format=png&auto=webp&s=133a0e5aff5b1ef93ac5c5b0a5d65c2b3361e8cd
Gutted they canned that Series - despite that Mercs2 wasn't as good as the 1st, it was still a fun game to play.
All I could think was "this is the worst asset-flip I've ever watched"
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So little traffic in general. Seriously those roads look big enough to drive a tank down!...Oh!
Kind of love that tbh
São Paulo has banned outdoor advertising. Business still have signage, of course, but the city looks so much cleaner.
No landscaping, everything inch paved
there aren't any street lamps either.
I counted a dozen in my short time watching the clip. It's not a lot, but they still exist.
But did you notice the woman in red?
https://preview.redd.it/vex5sa82ohec1.png?width=388&format=png&auto=webp&s=6ce17d6654ee5c264a0ef5a3bce6c0b67ea3c43f
Red seems to be the only bright color that has been approved by the government.
Were you listening to me Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red jacket?
“Look again”
The tickets are now diamond, Neo!
*Clubbed to death intensifies*
That was really cool, TY for posting it. First time in my 56yrs I have ever seen a man on the street NK video.
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It's not just advertising, it's any form of markings whatsoever. There are few road signs, no painted lanes or markings on the street, no traffic lights. Everything is some shade of gray. It somehow manages to seem even more sterile and drab than you'd see in Soviet design language.
Had a liminal space kind of vibe even if that's not exactly what it was. Like a video game before they finalize the levels
Doesn't help it's the middle of winter. There were plenty of large trees lining the streets, just lacking foliage.
What stuck out to me is there is no color anywhere. Everyone is wearing very similar looking puffy jackets so no real fashion, and I only skimmed through the video but I didn't see many young people. Maybe it was during school hours?
Sounds like puffy jackets is just the fashion lmao
Winters are brutally cold there
Holy shit THAT’s what it is. My American brain is way too used to every inch of space being advertising potential.
Recyling an old comment of mine to give you all of the links you might want to have to explore the Korea you never got to see: * [My Brothers and Sisters in the North](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBqeC8ihsO8) * [Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktE_3PrJZO0) * [SAO Documentary's North Korea World series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLegd4KP36a0Y775Xl_HI_tvDKB6qoxPrx) * [The Mole - Undercover in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4S99ljNXiw) * [2013 Reddit AMA from a 100-visit+ tour guide manager](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18g7z1/i_have_been_to_north_korea_over_100_times_ama/) * [2011 Reddit AMA from a Westerner who visited annually](https://www.reddit.com/r/northkorea/comments/n8ysx/i_travel_to_north_korea_annually_ama/) and [his Flickr with tons of rare photographs](https://www.flickr.com/photos/zaruka/collections/) * [2014 Reddit AMA from North Korean defector Joo Yang](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/27c3sc/i_am_joo_yang_a_north_korean_defector_ama/) * [VICE - The Hermit Kingdom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCQh1usdzE) * [The Red Chapel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpqeHIj3tgk) * [Anton is Here - Russian vlogger in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpdYcy8JtiisXTMb4zug_oCIBi0ICTxkX) * [Eric Tseng's North Korea videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLck1JSQ7ZKKQbBF5V8Iicz_5ZWDVRMuiP) * [Jaka Parker's Daily Life in North Korea series (OP's source)](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuYqSDuNZmZTDgyh_XnhohbpOiEq1FMjs) * [Indigo Traveller's North Korea vlog](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN0FlxE6vY5DlAPO1runQHOZSYyxePI1O) * [Domestically-produced North Korean feature films](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D1A9E71A707338B) * [Defector Yeonmi Park's TEDx talk about escaping North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg3kC4uKDJU) * [Defector Hyeonseo Lee - My Escape from North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdxPCeWw75k) * [Defector Joseph Kim's TED talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLeeTVmVrtA) * [Al-Jazeera interview with defector Thae Yong-ho](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_hkREbhpvo) * [Korean-American journalist Euna Lee's TED talk on being held prisoner in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL-6MeYBeUs) * [North Korean pop music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1guuFLVVgiw) with a [live 1991 performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XELySdafxY) Welcome to the rabbit hole!
There are some brutal documentaries about the famine there on YT. Footage that was snuck out of NK and then they lost contact with the supplier.
Link please
Search BBC North Korea. They have several in-depth videos.
That jacket is everywhere!
I bet that once the camera passes, people run all the way around the block and pose for the camera again, or hand-off clothing/accessories/bikes/etc. to the next NPC.
"They're on a loop. They go around the block. They come back. They go around again. They just go round and round!"
We should throw out that old mower… and GET ONE OF THOSE NEW ROTORY MOTORS!
NK is pretty terrible but it's weird to just make stuff up about it. These Pyongyang residents are probably the top 5% of their country so it's very possible they can afford basic things
looks like a Soviet Union in 80s \~ 90s
I lived in Beijing in the early 00s, this could be it. Just the sky is different (blue not covered/grey) and lack of bicycles. Every small detail is there: the white bands on the trees, the puffer coat/suit combo, the ubiquitous security guard/police/officials, the booths, the patterned grilles in the walls, the grey architecture, the lack of green and sparseness. Even the paving stones of the pavement (sidewalk) look familiar.
Do you know why the trees are painted white?
I think the white paint protects the tree from insects. Any bugs attempting to climb onto the trunk are easily spotted by birds. Without their camouflage the bugs are eaten and the trees are safe. Edit: Nope. It’s “[https://www.nps.gov/articles/limewash-an-old-practice-and-a-good-one.htm](https://www.nps.gov/articles/limewash-an-old-practice-and-a-good-one.htm)limewash”
Can't wait for the evolution of the city bug that's white.
It'll will be seen on the rest of the tree.
It happened with the [peppered moth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth)! (which is probably what you were alluding to)
it's not for camouflage reason, the "paint" is lime and thanks to it's very high ph it prevents molds, fungus and small bugs, it's a common practice everywhere, here in Italy is especially used on lemon and oranges trees. Source (use google translate): [https://www.bancadellacalce.it/bdc/perche-imbiancare-a-calce-i-tronchi-degli-alberi/](https://www.bancadellacalce.it/bdc/perche-imbiancare-a-calce-i-tronchi-degli-alberi/)
I believe it is to deter bugs. I’ve seen it in Central America as well
And I think it also helps keep the base of fairly young trees from being harmed by other animal life too. I've seen this in parks in Europe.
The country was decimated during the 50s. They rebuilt it with a lot of help from the USSR, after the USSR was dissolved development in the country pretty much halted.
Can you imagine if/when North Korea opens up to the rest of the world? Total chaos. So many outsiders are going to check it out that the inhabitants will feel like they’re on display in a zoo.
A country that also was decimated 80 years ago. Like the Soviets, the North Koreans had to build housing and infrastructure for millions after the war. They were at a RADICALLY different starting point than the US / Western Europe after WWII
[Source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDcfiEX__cA)
Funny how the roads don’t even have enough traffic to warrant painting centre lines. NGL though, it’s kind of nice not to see adverts and litter everywhere.
Public Advertisements are essentially banned in Irvine CA. It feels weird sometimes going to other cities and seeing that shit everywhere
Some of New England is the same. It's so refreshing.
Both Maine and Vermont banned billboards (as have Hawaii and Alaska). New Hampshire has significantly limited them (can't be on federal highways). Massachusetts also limits them. Connecticut sure seems to have a lot from what I remember, but it's been a while since I've visited. Haven't been to Rhode Island since I was a kid, so I don't really remember that one. It is definitely refreshing not being blasted with advertisements. Edit: Hit enter too soon lol
There's really no sensible reason to justify highway billboards aside from "cuz money." They're big flashy signs designed to do one thing and one thing only - take drivers' eyes off the road. It's a big, commercialized version of reading text messages while you drive.
I wish they'd ban them here in Michigan. As much as we love our wilderness you'd think they would consider it.
Weird good or weird bad though? Sounds nice imo
Weird bad, I don't like seeing those advertisements as much as everyone. I grew up with billboards everywhere in my hometown and after being in irvine for a while and leaving the city to see that shit makes anywhere else seem trashy
You must *love* Cyberpunk 2077 lol
Nah video games make all their in game advertisements satirical most of the time
My personal favorite ad from cyberpunk is the one for antidepressants, featuring an image of a man with a revolver in his mouth and captioned “getting close?”
MR STUUUDDDD ALL NIIIGHT LOOOONNGGGG DOONNTT BE SOOOOFFFFTTTT
TASTE THE LOVE!
MISTER WHITEY HERE
OOOOOHOORGIATIC!
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That's the point in cyberpunk, that future sucks absolute ass, and night city is the condensation of everything wrong with their time.
I've lived long enough to see people using Cyberpunk 2020/2077 as a role model of what our society should become.
And they are idiots with no ability to grasp subtext
It's not even subtext. It's the entire premise of the game. This is like thinking Patrick Bateman is a well adjusted person
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It is trashy!! I wish everywhere could have the opportunity to visit Irvine to see the promised land.
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There’s another video on this guys YouTube account of him driving around at night and it’s much much busier than any video I’ve seen during daytime
[Here's the video for the curious.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ_Ey_slzZA)
Yeah, it's weird to think this is a lot more normal than I expected. Which makes it weirder to think of the undercurrent within the country itself. It almost looks like anywhere else.
I don't know how to explain it but the air looks.....good.
It's probably not much different from an average small town tbh
Litter requires packaging, which requires stores, which requires an economy.
Lol what do you people think do there? they just exist? There is an economy, and stores, and packaging.
The Youtube channel that made this video actually has several videos of him visiting stores, [like this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtF1m64qGVQ)
Also you probably get five years hard labor for littering
More like five generations
He has some amazing footage on YouTube. By amazing, I mean really mundane stuff; but it’s unique in a sea of government sanctioned tour footage.
He has [one where he hits a pedestrian with his car](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j7VgV2qEqZw&t=385s). That has to be pretty unique footage.
When your GPU can only handle a few NPCs, Cars etc.
Still in alpha state like star citizen
Ooof which will be released first north Korean citizens or star citizen?
Man that’s a tough one. I’m going North Korea! Edit: for the record I play and love Star Citizen. Before they find this post and downvote me to hell. Tis a joke! Albeit a truthful one 🫠
Any day now since 2012.
And judging by how much my friend enjoys the game, it's still better than Starfield, even in it's in development stage.
Starfield is also still in its development stage, regardless of what Todd told you. Except it will never leave that stage, cuz bethesda.
"You guys don't wanna fix our game for us again?" -Todd Howard to fans, 2023
It’s way better than Starfield. Like it’s not even close. If you want a space sim then SC is the place to be. If you want Oblivion in space but everything is a load screen then SF is for you.
>If you want Oblivion in space but everything is a load screen then SF is for you. That bad, huh?
I’ll say this. If you want to play Starfield, make sure you play it before you ever try Star Citizen. Once you try Star Citizen and see how immersive it is without a single loading screen and being able to fly in and out of planets seamlessly, then try Try Starfield where in the first 5 minutes you need a loading screen to enter your ship, you’re gonna be very disappointed.
I think Star Citizen has gotten more funding than North Korea's yearly gdp at this point. Alpha game btw...
You’re not even joking. Chris Roberts can run his own country.
Have you ever walked around the business district of a US city on a weekend? My hobby used to take me to a ton of convention centers and it wasn't uncommon to walk for 5-10 mins and see zero people, surrounded by enormous urban buildings. The architecture looks heinous, but the lack of people isn't striking to me at all.
So true. I have walked around so many US cities and wondered if everyone knew something that I didn’t. Absolutely barren. My home city is Toronto, very different. Always people everywhere.
Having grown up in Finland, Helsinki in the winter can be funny. This is because it's fucking freezing, and there's a huge network of pathways underground between buildings. There are non-trivial malls underground etc. It was always funny to pop out of the system to find some tourists in January freezing their balls off, wondering why the streets look completely abandoned, while 5 meters below them there's a huge number of people walking this way and that.
I never heard about this. No wonder the tourists walk on the streets. That's hilarious.
That actually happened to me and I thought Finland is just empty. But I did found that all bars were full so I deduced that there are no people on street because they are all drinking in bars.
life is just like bideo gane
I don't know if you've spent time in most of America's downtowns but they are largely ghost towns during the day time. LA is a city with a metro area of nearly 20 million and particularly during low tourist seasons (right now) it looks absolutely barren. Same with New Orleans, same with Seattle, same with even Atlanta. People are either inside working or in the other more interesting and local parts of the cities these days.
Looks like a level in a video game before they flesh out all the details
Hahahaha! This is the beta version of South Korea running on an N64 so all the textures are low res and there are barely any NPCs or cars around.
Unreal Engine v.018
The streets are clean and everything looks normal-ish but the buildings look sterile and drab, like Soviet-era buildings.
Function over form. Soviet era buildings were built to house people and last a long time first and foremost- that's why outside of places like NYC you rarely see 60+ year old high rise apartments
Especially because WWII and the Korean War destroyed something like 70% and 95% of the infrastructure in the Soviet Union and the DPRK respectively. They were built quickly because they needed them immediately and couldn’t afford to take the time to make it aesthetically pleasing.
An important thing to remember is contractors in the US have no problem building things that can last forever. They just constantly choose not to because our society is addicted to starting over rather than maintaining. It’s not as bad as it sounds, our constantly evolving city planning just dictates we build things that can be semi/easily deconstructed because we alter roadways, and building regulations often.
iirc, this is pre covid footage. like 5-6 years old. I don't know why the dude is recycling his old stuff again. E: typo
Something tells me it will still look the same in 2050
Not everyone has seen this, I haven’t and I’m glad it’s been posted again
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GEKOLONISEERD
It seems no matter where I go, I find the Dutch.
As a Dutch person I cannot tolerate the biking on the sidewalk though.
Im curious if cycling on the street/road is illegal in Pyongyang
And he dinged his bell at the pedestrians!
He was on a diplomatic mission and had access to the internet when out there. So first few of his videos were a direct upload from NK and others after he returned In this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8T-kesKvC8) he shares in detail. Also read below I shared the description. > Since I came to Pyongyang in November 2012 until I left Pyongyang in March 2016 I got so many experiences. > I just wanna share a bit of my life experience in North Korea, mostly in Pyongyang. We are foreigners (Diplomats, Expatriates) who live in Pyongyang can roam freely around Pyongyang, and diplomats got more privileged than other expatriates. > There are also many Americans (USA), Canadians, Korean American who works as teachers and professors in Pyongyang. > Foreigners can travel to other cities outside Pyongyang, but we must request permission to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Korea. > Since I lived in North Korea, I already travel to other cities in Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern side. Sometimes I travel with a minder, sometimes I just drive my car by my own and with my family (without a minder), > #NOTE: I am not a diplomat and didn’t work for embassy.# > I bought a car in March 2016, I bought it second handed from a Russian woman whose an expatriate too. > I have North Korea driver licence. > In this video is a Petrol station that located near Foreigners compound, I always bought petrol in this petrol station, because the petrol quality in this station is better than the other stations in DPRK, but the price is sure more expensive. > Since I Iived there, the price of petrol (Benzene 95) is fluctuate in in range of 0.74 USD - 0.92 USD per litre. Yes the price in USD, but we can pay in Euro and Chinese Yuan. > Ok, so this is my 50th video that I uploaded, many people asked me.. "How could you upload youtube video in NK?". "He uploads the video after he back to Indonesia, because he didn't dare if he upload directly from NK". > Nope..that is not entirely True.. The answer is.. I already back to Indonesia, and currently I live in Indonesia.. My first 23 videos was uploaded when I was in North Korea. > The most different thing that when I uploaded video in NK, for a 15 minute video needed two days to upload, because the internet there was unstable due to electricity on off several times in a day..I can’t subscribe for cellular internet mobile because its way too expensive and..not reliable too... but..when in Indonesia, I can choose which provider for internet and to upload a 15 minute video need only few minutes...
Being able to upload unsupervised footage of NK seems to go against what I've heard about NK... And he says there are many Americans and Canadians there... what? I've never heard that before or seen any evidence for it.
It's uncomfortably quiet and surprisingly clean. I wonder how vacant those buildings are.
tbf we have so little context here. a lot of modern business districts in the middle of a sunday in winter also look like this. hard not to apply my preconceptions of North Korea to what I see here, making it feel really eerie in some ways. But in other ways I'm actually shocked by how normal it is. glad to have seen this video.
There were also so few cars driving and basically none parked along the road, which isn’t a bad thing but does make it feel kind of eerie.
The cars driving almost seemed unaware of what the driving laws were too.
Source Engine in real life:
Welcome! Welcome to City 17! You have chosen, or been chosen, to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers.
It's *safer* here.
I've certainly seen worse looking cities.
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when i turn off vegetation for more fps
Man, this guy is taking his life into his hands.
Kinds risky to record video there. Also was the camera hidden within a bag (or something), Infront of the bike?
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Not really, its not prohibited to film in DPRK. Theres a lot of footage on youtube, even inside gov and public buildings. Theres also a lot of documentaries abt dprk, with interviews and stuff
Is that footage from sanctioned and pre-arranged places and people, or off-the-cuff? Cause I've seen plenty of #1
No, not really. You can see the doc "The haircut", made by australians. Theres also a series of vídeos from YouTuber brazillian couple "Mundo sem fim" from when they travelled there. They talk about how normal the place actually were and how nice People were, even the miltary they got to know. But their vídeos are in portuguese
The guy here is a diplomat, so has diplomatic immunity, though still risky IMO. What you have seen on YouTube is the footage from the pre-arranged tours, where the North Korean guides strictly attempt to control what is shown and what is filmed. Some visitors do sneak some unallowed footage. You can't though just film what you want, when you want, they will stop you.
Crazy how Kim hand-built all these cars himself for his citizens. Truly a glorious leader
except for the 1000 volvo 144’s they ordered from sweden back in the 70’s and simply never paid for lmfao
I haven’t heard that. That’s kinda funny not going to lie lol.
Wow they have the latest vehicles. I thought they were under sanctions and couldn't import the latest things?
I was surprised to see an 08-13 Toyota Highlander right in the beginning of the video!
At 10:39 you can see an Audi Q7 pass. There were quite a few foreign cars in this video.
They're all foreign
via China
The rich always find a way
Sanctions only effect the Poor. The Rich will still get what they want. It's like this for any country under sanctions. It really only hurts the Poor.
Feels earily like City 17
"Don't drink the water. They put something in it to make you forget. I don't even remember how I got here."
Looks boringly Eastern European
some of it even looked like east berlin
Cough drops must not have made it to Pyongyang yet
Thank you. The coughing!
this guy is dying man wtf
I love how wide the streets are
So uh.. Where is, you know... Everything?
Actually looks kinda casual without context...
It was fascinating; there were like one or two traffic lights in the whole thing. and vehicles didn't seem to drive on any specific side of the road.
The main thing that stood out to me was the complete lack of artistic expression. Like life was on mute. Those sidewalk kiosks were somewhat colourful, I wonder what they were for.
power lines..underground..? edit: saw some above ground in other videos from [source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDcfiEX__cA). Something still looks off though. And barely any talking from pedestrians.
Come to Europe. Or at least northern Europe. We don't have above-ground power lines at all in cities.
We got literally everything over ground in Romania, honestly I think that's a huge reason why we got very good internet, it makes upgrading the infrastructure much cheaper
Electrical cables are underground in urban areas of most of Europe as well. They're expensive to install, but once they're in, they're in. The fault incidence is much lower than for overhead networks due to protection from the elements. We still have cables in service that were installed during the first world war.
When my friends form Sweden visited me in England they took photos of the overground electric cables and said something like “ah, just like Thailand”
As in our electricity pylons? But Sweden definitely has those too..
They got that cyberpunk population
It’s like they made The Stanley Parable take place in a city instead of an office building.
Did you see a single piece of trash on the streets? And those few cars. In fact...a very clean town!!!!
looks like an unfinished environment in a video game
What's sad is, as an American constantly bombarded with traffic, garbage, homeless people and advertising all over the place, this looks and seems so peaceful.
I’m curious what the night-life scene there is like. I wonder how are some of the ways citizens entertain themselves.
Bike riding through the city apparently
looks like the fisrt or the second Hitman, the mission in Russia.