Our next stop on the “the Eternal Sun of Mankind” tour was the Mangyongdae Native House, where Kim Il-Sung was supposedly born and raised. While this small, simple cottage was of little interest to the majority of our tour group, the North Koreans who flock to it consider it a holy site. It [...]

When I returned home from my first trip abroad to Russia in 2002 I arrived at LAX loaded down with a duffel bag full of souvenirs. With my subsequent travels to Russia and other European countries, I began accumulating massive amounts of stuff. Much to the dismay of my mother, my room back [...]

More footage from our North Korea tour DVD. Here we are at the Mansudae Grand Monument to Kim Il-Sung, where we had to lay flowers and bow in unison. Or attempt to bow in unison, anyways. We kinda screwed it up, as you can see.

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Here is the North Korean Tourism DVD clip of us wandering around Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang and taking lots of photos.

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Designed by the Dear Leader himself, the Tower of Juche Idea was completed in 1982 to commemorate Kim Il-Sung’s 70th birthday. That’s quite a gift to present to your father for his birthday. By comparison, the books and t-shirts I send my dad now appear to be quite inadequate.
At a height [...]

Following an evening of Mass Games, drinking North Korean beer, and exploring our bizarre hotel, we were up bright and early for our first full day of touring Pyongyang. The first stop on our itinerary was the obligatory visit to the Mansudae Grand Monument, a 65 foot bronze statue of the “Great Leader” Kim [...]

Kim Il-Sung Square was the second site we visited soon after our arrival in North Korea. While Kim Il-Sung Square is incredibly impressive, it is far from the largest in the world. The Chinese, with Tiananmen Square in Beijing, are the current record holders for largest square in the world. Kim Il-Sung [...]

Here’s a short video I shot of some schoolchildren marching and singing their way through Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang. As I don’t speak Korean, I haven’t the slightest idea what they are singing, so if anyone out there does, let me know.

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