Impressions From a Visit to North Korea
Gert G. Harigel 
Upon the invitation of the Korean National Peace Committee, I, together with four friends, had the rare chance to visit North Korea from 8 to 18 June 2002. I was given the opportunity - as the first Westerner - to deliver four lectures for the scientifically educated public and specialists at the People's Grand Study House. During a visit at Kim Il Sung University, I gave another talk on CERN's activities to the faculty members of the Nuclear Energy department.
The impressions from the trip were overwhelming, some having positive and others scary aspects. The DPRK can be seen as "a Stalinist theme park", "a dictatorship par excellence" or "too surreal to be believable", to quote descriptions of the country from a travel guide. The situation of this country, factually isolated on its own will from almost all the rest of the world, and also being named by the United States a country belonging to the "axis of evil", thereby putting it into the category of outcasts, is deplorable and untenable.
I believe the DPRK has (presently) no intention to attack South Korea or any other country, in particular not with weapons of mass destruction (WMD), or with intercontinental ballistic missiles. The launch of a 'peaceful' satellite in 1998 caused a lot of anxiety in South Korea, Japan, and elsewhere. Some further tests are scheduled. Missile technology provides for dual use, no doubt. But does the DPRK intend to use it for hostile purposes to transport WMDs? Does the country have already or need a nuclear warhead? And if it possess one, I would not worry too much. This statement may be surprising; coming from me as a person involved in the campaign for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. It needs an explanation.
First, one warhead in the North compared to the - supposedly - about 100 stationed by the US in the South is marginal. North Korea's use of its nuclear weapon would be suicidal.
Second, the DPRK does not need a nuclear warhead to produce a nuclear holocaust. Its 600 km range missiles with conventional explosives can damage the nuclear power reactors in the South (numbering 11) and those in Japan (now 51). Why should she try to attack the US with an expensive intercontinental ballistic missile, costing some $50 million a piece, when there are easier and cheaper ways for hostile acts, like clandestinely shipping explosives into harbors or using cruise missiles?
Third, why should the DPRK use relatively inefficient chemical or difficult-to-handle biological agents, taking the risk of inflicting harm to its own citizens when used close by?
Fourth, why should the government put into jeopardy the infrastructure of its country, painstakingly rebuilt, for no obvious gain?
Convincing answers to these questions need to be found before accusing the DPRK of hostile planning. Border skirmishes should not be overemphasized; they happen almost regularly in other parts of the world.
Still, as a matter of principle, one nuclear weapon anywhere is one too much!
North Korea - Past and Present
To better understand the situation in the Koreas, one has to go back in time. There was the Japanese imperial conquest of Korea (1905-1945). North Korea's history as a separate political entity begins with the end of World War II. The USA, the UK, and the USSR made a deal immediately after the Yalta Conference - the USSR was to temporarily occupy Korea north of the 38th parallel, while the USA would occupy the south, with the purpose of disarming surrendered Japanese troops and sending them home. In February 1946, a de facto separate northern administration was established in Pyongyang with quiet Soviet backing; a revolutionary Korean Workers' Party was founded. On 9 September 1948 the DPRK was proclaimed as sole legitimate government on the peninsula.
Governments in the North and South were eager for the outbreak of war to reunify the peninsula. During the entire war, the US Air Force relentlessly bombed northern territory in an unsuccessful attempt to force surrender, targeting anything and everything, military or civilian. Pyongyang claims that at the end there was hardly a building left standing in the entire North. The bombing campaign was in fact even heavier than either Japan or Germany had endured in World War II. The North Koreans still recall it with deep bitterness, as a war crime of the worst sort. I did not see any building that dated from the time before the war. The Korean War resulted in over two million deaths, a million separated families, and devastation of both countries' economies and infrastructure - without leading to a resolution of the political problem at heart.
The occupation by Japan is still the origin for high tension between the DPRK and Japan. A hatred of the United States still remains. The will for re-unification of North and South Korea appears to be strong. The DPRK's Korean National Peace Committee was founded in 1947 and is trying to find compromises between the demands of the two sides.
A Glimpse Within - And Yet from the Outside
Our group came from Beijing with the North Korean National Airline, Air Koryo. The entry declaration contained the unusual questions on the possession of a radio and a mobile. At Pyongyang airport we met our official guides, who both spoke excellent English. It was explained that they are responsible for our safety. And they did not leave us on our own for any extended period of time.
We were brought to the de luxe Pyongyang Koryo Hotel in the center of the 2.2 million capital. The accommodation could not have been better. The price of US$ 100 per day included full pension, all the trips we made through the country, the fees for the guides, entrance tickets to exhibitions, the circus, and parks. The Korean food and beverages in the hotel and in some other restaurants were just delicious and plentiful. We had the impression that there was no shortage of food, at least not for visitors from abroad. However, one guide told us gently that we should not order more food than we could actually eat, since there were hungry people elsewhere in the country. This was the only hint that the food production and trade was not as its best, to put it mildly.
Some Western newspapers claim that the country is starving and almost bankrupt. Two years of disastrous flooding followed by a crippling drought were the triggers that left parts of the country in famine and brought about the arrival of the aid agencies. We saw no undernourished, badly dressed, handicapped people or beggars on the street. But each society has disadvantaged, troubled, poor people. Where are they hidden from our view in the DPRK? We learned more about the actual situation when we met the German Ambassador, who is involved in the distribution of meat from Germany and in the United Nations Food Program.
The perhaps greatest surprise is the squeaky-clean appearance of the streets and of the buildings; we crossed no shanty town. The entire capital has been rebuilt from scratch. It had been destroyed completely during the Korean War (1950-1953). It is claimed that more bombs were dropped on the city than it had inhabitants at that time (428 000). The reestablishment of the infrastructure and the building of many skyscrapers can be admired. However, I am unaware of the price that had to be paid for it. Many of the streets are wide like the Champs-Elysée, perfectly suited for large military parades. There are on every major corner either pictures or giant statues of the Great Leader (the late Kim Il Sung) or the Dear Leader, his son (Kim Jong Il). Loudspeakers in the center of the city, turned on at seven o'clock in the morning, broadcast paroles of the achievements of the regime, interrupted only by folksongs.
Any official visit includes the - almost sacred - birthplace of the Great Leader. He was from humble descent and became "the greatest man who ever lived on the planet!" - Looking back in history other people got similar attributes posthumously. Examples are founders of religions, their prophets, and in recent times Hitler, who towards the end of his life was called "The greatest military strategist of all times". This is not much different from the above 'title' for late Kim Il Sung, who supposedly single-handedly evicted the Japanese from the peninsula.
The People's Grand Study House, where I gave my talks, has a huge library. There are rooms equipped with electronic terminals, where students can surf the Korean Internet, which is, however, not linked to the outside world. There is no foreign newspaper available, and no e-mail access. No radio station other than the DPRK's can be listened to. Mobile phones are not allowed.
As the audience(s) wished, I talked about nuclear energy, new methods in the construction of reactors, fusion technology, Tokamak, radioactive waste burning, Carlo Rubbia's 'Energy Amplifier' idea, and in particular on renewable energies. Foreign scientific literature is not available in the country. Probably, there is not enough foreign currency available to buy those books.
During the lectures I had to say a couple of sentences, which were then interpreted, although not always completely. Even the slightest critique of the situation in the DPRK was ommitted from the translation. When I talked to members of the physics faculty, our personal guide took over translation. He was a bit at loss with technical terms and asked one of the physicists who knew English well to help out. The physicist refused, pointing out that he has no permission to translate.
We visited the Student's and Children's Palace, a large, modern building. It covers a usable floor space of 50,000 mē. Here children can pursue extra-curriculum activities of their choice, like dancing, doing gymnastics, needlework, calligraphy, playing harmonicas or guitars, or sitting in front of terminals to improve their language skills.
We went to the Grand Mass Game, Arts, and Gymnastic Performance 'Arirang', that praises the past, present, and future of the Korean Nation with many thousands of performers. It is shown daily and uses folk songs as background music. 18 000 schoolchildren display flash cards. In my mind, I relived the mass assemblies of a Reichsparteitag in Nuremberg at the time of the Third Reich.
On our way to the lovely central mountains we saw hamlets with nicely painted houses off the main road. I could not help but wonder what life might look like behind the facades. Unfortunately we never had a chance to look inside. On the way we stopped at The International Friendship Exhibition. It consists of two palaces (six-storey building, 28,000 mē) to display all the gifts the two leaders received from foreign dignitaries or companies. If there was anyone who outdid Stalin or Mao Zedong in their cults of personality, then it was Kim Il Sung. Almost everyone wears a Great/Dear Leader badge. Close-by we visited the well-kept Buddhist Pohyon Temple, built in 1042, a sign for tolerance of religion.
Nampo City is known for the impressive, eight kilometers long West Sea Barrage. The Storage Lake helps to irrigate large regions of the low lands and makes it agriculturally productive for urgently needed rice and vegetable growing. The approx. 40 km long road to the West Coast has 10 lanes, 5 in each direction, but only occasionally did we pass a car or meet oncoming traffic.
The public transportation system in large cities seems to work satisfactorily. However, transportation appears to be almost non-existent in the countryside. There we saw people walking along the street for miles or they stood packed on open trucks. Even bicycles seem to be a luxury item. In Pyongyang, the stations of the two subway lines are as beautiful as those in the Moscow Metro.
I saw shocking parallels between Hitler's Germany and the DPRK, but also fundamental differences. There are no large racial minorities to beat upon, and small religious groups seem to be spared from persecution. There are tiny signs for change aside from the Sunshine policy. Some West European countries, led by Italy, established diplomatic relations and could open embassies in Pyongyang. The United Nations Food Aid Program got on the way to alleviate hardship. I did not encounter the expected large gap between poor and rich people nor overall poverty or visible signs of famine.
The untenable situation of isolation of the North and the division of the peninsula should be changed through peaceful efforts by inside and outside actors. The developed world should help, materially, politically, and in a humanitarian way. Most Westerners, living in affluent conditions, put high value on democratic behavior of institutions, on freedom of speech, on human rights. People in the DPRK may set priorities differently.
