Underground Enlightenment

One of the fun little bits of touring to be done while in Pyongyang is to ride the subway. What would otherwise be a pretty mundane event of watching locals ride public transit becomes a peek inside the everyday lives of those who live in the hermit kingdom when it comes to North Korea.

Believe it or not, there is actually a possibility to interact with local North Koreans when you ride the subway. On my first visit to Pyongyang, I tried to get a little girl next to me in the subway to say hello, but she was a bit too shy. On my second visit to Pyongyang, a guy actually came up and started speaking in English! That was kind of shocking since most North Koreans tend to just go about their business and not come up to foreigners. I took this small interaction as a positive sign that peoples' views towards Westerners is warming, even if it would not appear that way from the government mouthpieces.

Speaking of mouthpieces, inside the station there were some stands like this one showing the news from the Rodong Sinmun, the official daily newspaper of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. The Rodong Sinmun should not be confused with the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which is the state news agency of North Korea. 

As you can see, both the former and current Supreme Leaders of Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un are featured prominently in the paper. A little bit of trivia for you - anything that has the image of the Supreme Leader on it should be treated with the utmost respect. This means, you can't fold a printed image so that the fold goes across the face or dropping the newspaper with the image face down.