Órækur vitnisburður

Um þessar mundir á Verkamannaflokkur Kóreu 60 ára afmæli. Af því tilefni er mikið um dýrðir í Pyongyang. LA Times flytur frétt:

At an ostentatious floral display in Pyongyang [...], a man was pulled aside and asked his opinion of the show.
"It was very wonderful and excellent — it is just as the Korean people feel," Kim Sung Il, 33, an army officer, said. Daily life was fine, he said.
"Thanks to the wise guidance of the Great Leader it has greatly improved and the army and the people are all roused in the struggle for a prosperous country."

Órækur vitnisburður, ha?
Ég, snillingurinn mikli, var að átta mig á því að kvikmyndasýningin áðan, frá hátíðahöldunum 9. september 2003, hefði auðvitað átt að vera auglýst með þetta tilefni í huga. En það er víst of seint.
Nokkrum fjölda bandarískra og annarra erlendra túrista var hleypt inn í landið vegna hátíðahaldanna. Hér er stutt frásögn bandarískrar konu. Sjitt hvað ég öfunda hana. Ég væri meira en lítið til í að heimsækja þetta forvitnilega land. Smávegis úr ferðasögu hennar:

Though North Korea has been labelled the Axis of Evil, the people there didn't fit the stereotype - in fact they shared many of the same values as we hold; concern for family, politeness and courtesy. [...]
In fact the only remaining anti-American propaganda I found was at the Kaesong Youth Park.
There, you could throw darts at an outline of a long-nosed American, or toss a ball into a hole in a picture of an American soldier with his hands cut off. [...]
each window in the apartment buildings had a light that was on, which was not only beautiful but also quite eerie. When was the last time everyone in your apartment complex was home at the same time?

Hljómar hálf fríkí ... það er satt.

there wasn't a single moment that I didn't feel safe

Ísland er það land sem er kallað vera næst-öruggast í heimi fyrir hryðjuverkamönnum - Norður-Kórea er sögð vera öruggust.

But having been, I highly recommend that others take any opportunity they can to go and see for themselves what Pyongyang is like - as soon as they can, as it won't be the same forever.

Hún hefur lög að mæla. Eftir hverju er maður að bíða, með að skella sér? Norður-Kórea hefur lengi verið efst á listanum yfir lönd sem ég verð að koma til.