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Related: A YouTube channel [0] dedicated to videos of "everyday life" in North Korea, from an Indonesian expat living there. Couple of random examples: * Walk

Related: A YouTube channel [0] dedicated to videos of "everyday life" in North Korea, from an Indonesian expat living there. Couple of random examples: * Walking around Pyongyang in the winter. [1] * Going to a computer store in Pyongyang. [2] [0] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2ZkXz_1U8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2ZkXz_1U8 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtDWYzwwuUs

Keyframe 10y ago
Well, that was unexpected. How is this even possible?
- snackai 10y ago
  Look in the comments of the computer store video, he is a Diplomat so he can "roam freely" as he puts it. Somewhat interesting anyway!
  - Keyframe 10y ago
    Yeah, I don't know what to believe. Anyways, streets that aren't littered with advertising is certainly an interesting sight!
    - clubm8 10y ago
      >...streets that aren't littered with advertising is certainly an interesting sight! Personality cult propaganda doesn't count as "advertising"?
  - genkaos 10y ago
    https://youtu.be/A8T-kesKvC8 https://youtu.be/A8T-kesKvC8 "#NOTE: I am not a diplomat and didn’t work for embassy.#"
- 4ad 10y ago
  I am curious as well. I have no doubt that a small number of foreigners live and work in North Korea, move around freely without minders, and are allowed to have cameras and make videos, but how do they get the footage out? Even if they work at some university and have access to the internet, I very much doubt it's unrestricted like that. I am willing to believe some of them might smuggle it out, but this guy walks around and behaves like it's nobody's business.
  - gambiting 9y ago
    I'd bet on the fact that if he has a gopro strapped to his chest, most people won't even know what it is.
    - sangnoir 9y ago
      Any person on earth who is familiar with a camera can identify a gopro as one on first sight (rectangular parallelepiped + lens). Unless you're suggesting most North Koreans don't know what a camera looks like, your statement is likely false.
    - ionised 9y ago
      North Koreans aren't idiots.
blhack 10y ago
Whoa. At 2:59 on [2] (https://youtu.be/FtDWYzwwuUs?t=179 https://youtu.be/FtDWYzwwuUs?t=179), it looks like that camera is 100,000 won? Thats $111 according to google. Any idea what's up with that? Am I interpreting the price wrong?
- tuna-piano 10y ago
  Actually, Google is quoting the official rate.. but the official rate is basically impossible to convert at. You'd need to convert at the black market rate, which is supposedly about 8,000 north korean Won to $1. If it's actually priced in North Korean Won, that would make it $12? I think we're missing something. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/north-korean-economics-101-how-much-is-dollar-worth.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/north-korean-e... https://www.nknews.org/2015/04/north-korea-the-most-expensive-place-in-the-world/ https://www.nknews.org/2015/04/north-korea-the-most-expensiv...
  - pandaman 10y ago
    In the USSR there was a chain of stores ("Березка" - "Birch tree") where imported goods were sold for restricted currency. The currency was denominated in "rubles" but could only be obtained in exchange for a hard currency. The rate of the exchange has been arbitrary and the prices were too. The whole system had been set up to incentivize citizens who earned foreign currency (sailors, touring artists, diplomatic corps etc) to give it to the government. Giving it to the government had been mandatory, of course, but if they got nothing in return (or something as useless as regular rubles) they would be trying harder to hide their earnings. I'd imagine something like that could be going on here. It's hard to imagine an imported camera being offered for sale to regular citizens.
    - helb 9y ago
      More on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka We had something similar here (former Czechoslovakia, Tuzex shops) and probably in most of the other socialist countries (eg. Poland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex). The only way to pay in these stores was to use special cheques. These were obtainable only in exchange for "western money", typically US Dollars, British Pounds, or German Marks. And of course, there was a black market for them, with prices going as much as five times their nominal value (80s in Czechoslovakia, don't know about Poland and others, but I imagine it was quite similar).
bhauer 10y ago
Thanks for sharing these. They're fascinating. In the winter video, a few things jump out at me: - The environment seems depressingly spartan and utilitarian. Everything is drab. And yet this it he capital city. - Virtually no one is walking with anyone else. There are a few exceptions, but it looks as if conversation is essentially absent when out and about. - In a manner, it's boggling to consider where all of these people are coming from and going to. With no commerce, every building looks like it might as well be an apartment building. The feeling I get is like watching the rote movement you would see in a computer simulation of a city. A lot of movement, but with what purpose? - Even though there is only very minimal traffic, it seems like crosswalks are not common, so the Youtuber keeps using pedestrian underpasses.
- Mindless2112 10y ago
  > Virtually no one is walking with anyone else. They're walking for transportation. Consider that in the US most cars on the road have only one occupant.
Mindless2112 10y ago
The cigarettes section of the "Privileged Store" [1]. At least Kim Jong-un cares about your lungs. (Also, the electricity goes off and nobody bats an eye [2]. They must have the POS computer on a battery.) [1] https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=245 https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=245 [2] https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=505 https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=505
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Wow. I'm surprised, it all looks so... normal. If not for lack of advertising noise, this could easily pass for a small city in Europe.
- dullgiulio 9y ago
  Not really, more like some ex-soviet city suburb. Big roads with lots of space between high rise building blocks. Not a lot of shops or other activities on the side or roads designed to move people, not keep them "idling."
orblivion 10y ago
Nice to see the winter biking craze has reached Pyongyang.
gambiting 9y ago
Regarding [2] - in Poland during the communist times, there were government-ran stores called PEWEX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex They used to sell imported goods like TVs, bicycles, cameras, typewriters etc etc, but only in exchange for American Dollars. You couldn't legally buy American Dollars in Poland - the only way to legally obtain them was to have them sent over from abroad by a relative(you could buy them from the national bank for business, but it was a massive pain to get the necessary permissions). I just think it's interesting, as the experience looks similar, except that the korean store takes korean won. On the other hand, I imagine only members of the korean elite are allowed in that store, while anyone could at least enter a PEWEX and marvel at the imported goods.

Keyframe 10y ago

Well, that was unexpected. How is this even possible?

snackai 10y ago
Look in the comments of the computer store video, he is a Diplomat so he can "roam freely" as he puts it. Somewhat interesting anyway!
- Keyframe 10y ago
  Yeah, I don't know what to believe. Anyways, streets that aren't littered with advertising is certainly an interesting sight!
  - clubm8 10y ago
    >...streets that aren't littered with advertising is certainly an interesting sight! Personality cult propaganda doesn't count as "advertising"?
- genkaos 10y ago
  https://youtu.be/A8T-kesKvC8 https://youtu.be/A8T-kesKvC8 "#NOTE: I am not a diplomat and didn’t work for embassy.#"
4ad 10y ago
I am curious as well. I have no doubt that a small number of foreigners live and work in North Korea, move around freely without minders, and are allowed to have cameras and make videos, but how do they get the footage out? Even if they work at some university and have access to the internet, I very much doubt it's unrestricted like that. I am willing to believe some of them might smuggle it out, but this guy walks around and behaves like it's nobody's business.
- gambiting 9y ago
  I'd bet on the fact that if he has a gopro strapped to his chest, most people won't even know what it is.
  - sangnoir 9y ago
    Any person on earth who is familiar with a camera can identify a gopro as one on first sight (rectangular parallelepiped + lens). Unless you're suggesting most North Koreans don't know what a camera looks like, your statement is likely false.
  - ionised 9y ago
    North Koreans aren't idiots.

blhack 10y ago

Whoa. At 2:59 on [2] (https://youtu.be/FtDWYzwwuUs?t=179 https://youtu.be/FtDWYzwwuUs?t=179), it looks like that camera is 100,000 won? Thats $111 according to google. Any idea what's up with that? Am I interpreting the price wrong?

tuna-piano 10y ago
Actually, Google is quoting the official rate.. but the official rate is basically impossible to convert at. You'd need to convert at the black market rate, which is supposedly about 8,000 north korean Won to $1. If it's actually priced in North Korean Won, that would make it $12? I think we're missing something. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/north-korean-economics-101-how-much-is-dollar-worth.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/north-korean-e... https://www.nknews.org/2015/04/north-korea-the-most-expensive-place-in-the-world/ https://www.nknews.org/2015/04/north-korea-the-most-expensiv...
- pandaman 10y ago
  In the USSR there was a chain of stores ("Березка" - "Birch tree") where imported goods were sold for restricted currency. The currency was denominated in "rubles" but could only be obtained in exchange for a hard currency. The rate of the exchange has been arbitrary and the prices were too. The whole system had been set up to incentivize citizens who earned foreign currency (sailors, touring artists, diplomatic corps etc) to give it to the government. Giving it to the government had been mandatory, of course, but if they got nothing in return (or something as useless as regular rubles) they would be trying harder to hide their earnings. I'd imagine something like that could be going on here. It's hard to imagine an imported camera being offered for sale to regular citizens.
  - helb 9y ago
    More on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka We had something similar here (former Czechoslovakia, Tuzex shops) and probably in most of the other socialist countries (eg. Poland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex). The only way to pay in these stores was to use special cheques. These were obtainable only in exchange for "western money", typically US Dollars, British Pounds, or German Marks. And of course, there was a black market for them, with prices going as much as five times their nominal value (80s in Czechoslovakia, don't know about Poland and others, but I imagine it was quite similar).

bhauer 10y ago

Thanks for sharing these. They're fascinating. In the winter video, a few things jump out at me: - The environment seems depressingly spartan and utilitarian. Everything is drab. And yet this it he capital city. - Virtually no one is walking with anyone else. There are a few exceptions, but it looks as if conversation is essentially absent when out and about. - In a manner, it's boggling to consider where all of these people are coming from and going to. With no commerce, every building looks like it might as well be an apartment building. The feeling I get is like watching the rote movement you would see in a computer simulation of a city. A lot of movement, but with what purpose? - Even though there is only very minimal traffic, it seems like crosswalks are not common, so the Youtuber keeps using pedestrian underpasses.

Mindless2112 10y ago
> Virtually no one is walking with anyone else. They're walking for transportation. Consider that in the US most cars on the road have only one occupant.

Mindless2112 10y ago

The cigarettes section of the "Privileged Store" [1]. At least Kim Jong-un cares about your lungs. (Also, the electricity goes off and nobody bats an eye [2]. They must have the POS computer on a battery.) [1] https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=245 https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=245 [2] https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=505 https://youtu.be/uLvJgOgW4hk?t=505

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Wow. I'm surprised, it all looks so... normal. If not for lack of advertising noise, this could easily pass for a small city in Europe.

dullgiulio 9y ago
Not really, more like some ex-soviet city suburb. Big roads with lots of space between high rise building blocks. Not a lot of shops or other activities on the side or roads designed to move people, not keep them "idling."

orblivion 10y ago

Nice to see the winter biking craze has reached Pyongyang.

gambiting 9y ago

Regarding [2] - in Poland during the communist times, there were government-ran stores called PEWEX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex They used to sell imported goods like TVs, bicycles, cameras, typewriters etc etc, but only in exchange for American Dollars. You couldn't legally buy American Dollars in Poland - the only way to legally obtain them was to have them sent over from abroad by a relative(you could buy them from the national bank for business, but it was a massive pain to get the necessary permissions). I just think it's interesting, as the experience looks similar, except that the korean store takes korean won. On the other hand, I imagine only members of the korean elite are allowed in that store, while anyone could at least enter a PEWEX and marvel at the imported goods.