“Amazing impressions” of tourists from Vladivostok from visiting the DPRK
98 skiing enthusiasts from 11 regions of Russia returned from North Korea. This first group charter trip in the history of the two countries was organized by one of the travel agencies in Vladivostok.
Athletes-tourists.
The first results of the trip were promptly shared by the head of this group (ordinary Russian tourists could not do without him in the DPRK), the head of the Primorsky Territory International Cooperation Agency, Alexei Starichkov. He emphasized that after visiting the capital of this country, Pyongyang, and the Masikryon ski resort, all the guests who arrived from Vladivostok are “overflowing with amazing impressions.”
At the same time, the tourists themselves noted the main and most memorable thing for them. These are the streets of Pyongyang that are almost completely free of pedestrians and cars, and the complete absence of any other skiers on the slopes of Masikren.
A skier on an empty slope in Masikryon. Photos are from open sources.
“There are 25 million people in the DPRK, and where are they all? Ilya Voskresensky, one of the participants of this tour, was surprised. “The streets are empty, the lights are not on in the houses in the evenings…”
A street in Pyongyang. Photos are from open sources.
But this, as explained by the local guides and instructors who constantly accompanied the group with the obligatory badges of the leader Kim Jong-un on the lapels of their jackets, clearly shows that all residents of the DPRK are engaged in creative work for the benefit of their native country, and they do not have time for other activities.
A street in Pyongyang. Photos are from open sources.
Some questions of Russian tourists, however, were caused by the inability to walk around the city on their own, unaccompanied. To which they received competent explanations: for this, you need to be fluent in the Korean language. Otherwise, it is easy to get lost and create problems for the group leader.
And by mid-March, the next such trip is already being formed in Vladivostok. In which much more time, compared to the previous one, will be devoted to the “cultural program”. This is a trip to the Arc de Triomphe, an excursion to the Museum of the Victory over the Japanese Occupiers in 1945, a visit to the Juche Idea Monument, which is one of the main attractions of the DPRK, as well as a large patriotic concert of young North Korean talents in the republican Palace of Pioneers.
Juche Monument. Photos are from open sources.
Well, you can’t go skiing in the DPRK without serious ideological support. This, by the way, is confirmed by a number of other significant events. coinciding with this ski and tourist trip.
Skiing is skiing, and war is war?
After all, it was during these days that Kim Jong-un decided to explain why his country’s destruction of South Korea would be legal.
Supreme Leader of the DPRK, President for State Affairs, Chairman of the State Commission, General Secretary, member of the Central Committee and Presidium of the Politburo of the Workers’ Party, Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Marshal, as well as “Outstanding Successor and Leader of the Revolution”, “Symbol of the Power of the State”, “Banner of All Victories and Glory”, “Symbol of the Power of the Country” and simply “Respected Comrade and Leader”, “Beloved Father of the Peoples” (all these titles and titles are in one person) Kim Jong Un, along with his daughter, visited the Ministry of Defense of the DPRK. Where he stated that “puppets from South Korea have rejected Pyongyang’s cooperative efforts and also intend to absorb the DPRK.”
Supreme Kim Jong-un.
Therefore, according to Kim Jong-un, South Korea deserves the title of “main enemy,” and this gives the DPRK “legitimate grounds to destroy it at any time” — “to ensure the eternal security of its country, as well as peace and stability in the future.
Kim Jong-un. Photos are from open sources.
And immediately after this epochal statement, the Central News Agency of the DPRK (KCNA) reported on the next launch of a new class of surface-to-ship missile intended for the country’s Navy. It flew over the Sea of Japan for 23 minutes and 20 seconds and successfully hit the target boat.
“Aurus” – to help cooperation between Russia and the DPRK
In the meantime, “Moscow and Pyongyang are agreeing on specific dates for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the DPRK through diplomatic channels,” Ivan Zhelokhovtsev, director of the First Asian Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with RIA Novosti on February 11, 2024.
He added that Vladimir Putin received an invitation for this visit from Kim Jong-un in September last year during the visit of the leader of the DPRK to the Russian Far East.
And a week after this statement, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, announced a modest gift to Kim Jong-un from Putin of an executive car “Aurus Senat” worth 450 thousand dollars. As a guarantee of a future fruitful meeting?
AURUS Senat. Photos are from open sources.
In the meantime, the media leaked information about the arrival in Vladivostok by rail of 300 North Korean workers, mainly construction workers. Which are designed to make up for the shortage of workers in Primorye, perhaps due to the ongoing well-known events in Ukraine.
At the same time, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik, who is clearly “unfriendly” to both the DPRK and Russia, suggested during a briefing on February 27, 2024 that in the recently sharply more frequent rail container transportation from North Korea to Russia, “there may be more than three million artillery shells of 152 mm caliber or 500 thousand shells of 122 mm caliber.” Russian officials, of course, left these fabrications without comment.
These are the options for Russia’s contacts with the DPRK. Almost according to Lenin: three sources and three components. As the saying goes, choose what you want. And who likes what more. It depends.
Author: Evgeny Kozub, veteran journalist, documentary filmmaker and author of books.