First Impressions of DPRK

My first impressions of North Korea were dark, gloomy, and cold. The country is exactly how you think: eerie and creepy. Our Air Koryo plane – a vintage 1970s Soviet passenger plane – landed at the Pyongyang International Airport in the early evening of 12 April. We were greeted with an intensely dark sky, icy rain, thrashing wind, and cold weather. The weather, the atmosphere, the setting was exactly what I had imagined. At first I could not believe that my imagination met the reality, but it did tenfold. I looked out of the Soviet plane’s window with a view of the desolate tarmac, angry skies, and rain hitting the concrete below.

Exiting the plane, we were greeted by the harsh weather and the North Korean military and airport staff, the latter of which might as well have been military themselves insofar as their dress, demeanors, and attitudes were concerned. We were presented with the main airport building, a massive structure designed in a fascist-Communist style: intimidating, brutal, gigantic, but impressive as a result.

At the top of the building was an imposing propaganda picture, which I soon discovered are placed everywhere in Pyongyang and across the countryside. The huge picture was of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung smiling down onto the airport tarmac. Kim Il Sung as the official host of DPRK to all foreigner visitors! Beside the picture, written in massive letters, was 'Pyongyang' to the right side and 'Pyongyang' in Korean on the left. Framed by dark skies and rain, this building was an imposing sight that looked all the more dreary and uninviting as the bad weather.

With the exception of one day, the weather remained dark and cold. And even on the exceptional day there were grey skies and cooler weather.

Ironically, one imagines DPRK to be dark, gloomy, and cold, but I did not expect the country to literally be those things. I thought that those things were just my own imagination from all the negative and scary press on DPRK. It is such an isolated, mysterious, and ‘evil’ place that is must be dark, gloomy, and cold. But the country lived up to this wild imagination. It’s as if the North Koreans staged the weather to meet Western perceptions.

My second impression of North Korea was of intense blackness. It took a couple of hours to get through North Korean security at the airport, and a lot of time hanging around the cold and empty corridors of the aforementioned building. It was shocking to look at the flight agenda in the main lobby and the only incoming flight was our Air Koryo flight from Beijing. There was no outgoing flight either. The board was empty. Additionally, the board was literally an old board where one manually places the information onto it. It was not modern or electronic like the ones you see in every other international airport.

The group of us watched the sun set and turn an already dark landscape into pitch blackness. By the time we boarded the bus the icy rain had become worse and the darkness was overwhelming. The airport had minimal lights on.

The half-hour drive into Pyongyang is imprinted on my memory. To be redundant, it was overwhelmingly dark. Pitch black. There were no highway lights or lamps along the roadway leading into the city. All I could see was the rain hitting the large bus windows as well as a few trees that were close to the bumpy roadside. At times there were some lights emanating from deep within the darkness; apparently these lights came from some buildings on the outskirts of the city. North Korea’s infamous lack of electricity was noticeable right from the outset.

The following is a picture taken from my hotel room's view on the 38th floor. We were in the centre of Pyongyang, a metropolis of 3 million people. Our view was spectacular during the day. Our view was a thrilling snapshot of the imposing Juche Tower, the May Day Stadium, Socialist Apartment blocks, skyscrapers, and the wide Taedong River. But, around ten o'clock at night, this is what Pyongyang looks like: