Can there be a country more shrouded in mystery and fear
than North Korea?
It's a brutal dictatorship.
Many say it's intent on nuclear war.
A dystopian land of military parades, repression,
and barbaric prison camps.
But I've been given an unprecedented opportunity
to go beyond the politics
and visit the country 25 million people call home...
CHEERING
..to travel 1,300 miles across a land of colourful cities...
Wow.
..and epic landscapes...
The Rockies or North Korea? Take your pick.
..to understand the so-called Hermit Kingdom.
I want to engage with its people...
My name is Michael, Michael Palin.
..at a unique time in the country's history.
There may be a change in relations between your side and America.
Filming under supervision,
I'll need to tread carefully.
A good leader should be able to deal with criticism.
That's why we are so different from you.
But this will turn out to be the most revealing journey
of my life.
My journey begins in Beijing.
China is one of North Korea's few allies in the world.
And more importantly for me,
it's the place where you can catch an overnight train
to its capital, Pyongyang.
But first, I've come to a quiet backstreet
to meet the man who's made my trip possible.
Michael, this is the visa, the most important piece.
This is the visa just for North Korea. Yeah.
So I call it that, or...?
DPRK. DPRK. They prefer DPRK.
Which is the Democratic... ..People's Republic of Korea.
Nick Bonner has been getting people in -
and more importantly, out -
of the DPRK for 25 years.
Journalists are normally barred,
so this trip is something of a first for the North Koreans,
and for me.
I don't think there's any other country
that I've been less prepared for visiting.
I think the problem is if you load up with your preconceptions,
you will sort of fit everything into that box,
so you'd better, sort of, almost open up your mind.
What are the things that I really shouldn't talk about?
Erm, things you don't mention
would be the prison camps that were reported in the West.
The Koreans will just have a way of answering it,
saying, "Look, in every country there is a penal system," etc.
When it comes to offence with the leaders,
that's where you have to take great care.
Fully briefed but probably not wholly prepared,
we head to Beijing station,
the starting point of my North Korean adventure.
I have to find K...
K27 is the platform.
Oh, there we are, I see it.
Two, four, five, six, seven.
Oh, two must be down there.
We've lost platform two.
Let's find another one like it.
Just follow everyone, I think.
I presume they're all getting the same train.
Most of my fellow passengers are Chinese,
and are travelling to Dandong,
a city on the border with North Korea.
The train is down here now.
It was two, it was four, it's now six,
and coaches 1 to 16...
Oh, blimey.
There we are.
Number 11.
INDISTINCT
OK.
Phew!
Well, that was quite an ordeal, actually getting on to the train.
We're on the move, and dead on time.
I've even got a spittoon.
They never think of that on Virgin.
This train will take me 500 miles to the North Korean border.
After a quick change of train,
I'll then travel a further 200 miles to Pyongyang.
I'm about to enter a country
that has essentially been cut off from the outside world
for 70 years.
Well, it's quite different going to North Korea, I think,
than anywhere else I've been.
I've never been to one country where there's been
quite so much of a sort of blackout on information,
so what I hope is that although we'll be controlled, I know that,
all our movements and all that,
but we'll get beyond that
and actually get to know or meet or just observe
the people themselves, the North Koreans,
who live there and work there and play there,
and bring up their children there, and go to school there.
You know, if we can do that,
if I can get beyond the politics,
beyond, if you like, a very strict regime,
I want to find, hopefully, the people who live there
see us as fellow human beings.
Because that's the point of travelling
and going around the world, is to see that
people actually are much closer to us than we think.
That was an odd night's sleep.
Odd cos I don't think I slept more than about three minutes.
I'm not sure, but I probably did.
It was reasonably comfortable,
but the train was doing all sorts of things as trains do -
juddering, stopping, shaking, rattling, banging.
But I get up this morning and it's just wonderful, suddenly...
I mean, this is what I just love about travelling.
I mean, Beijing was OK, but it was another city,
but look out and this is just a totally different landscape -
the buildings, the architecture, everything,
and you want to know about it, you want to get out there.
So, sod the sleep, I'm really awake now.
Soon, the train pulls in to Dandong station.
We are now only a few hundred metres from the border.
After clearing Chinese Customs,
it's time to board the North Korean train
that will take me to Pyongyang.
Right, a lot of merchandise being loaded on.
WHISTLE BLOWS
I think we're going.
This is it.
The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge is all that separates us
from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
As we cross the Yalu River,
the stark difference between these two countries becomes clear.
I mean, you can just see
the Chinese shore is full of tall blocks.
So it is an extraordinary contrast -
this amazing sort of high-rise Chinese northern shore,
and the southern shore...
It's a completely different feel to it, much more open, low-rise.
I suppose now we are more than halfway across the river,
so we're in North Korea.
Immediately, everything looks different.
It's as if we've stepped back in time.
High security.
North Korean military guards on the platform of Sinuiju station
remind me that I'm entering a country under totalitarian rule.
And as they prepare to board the train
to check our visas and passports,
we get our first taste of North Korean authority.
We're told to turn off the camera.
One hour later, I'm allowed onto the platform.
A lot of papers had to be gone through and signed.
One man would come in and take down all the details.
People in very impressive, big hats, would come in
and ask for exactly the same details.
Some questions I didn't expect, like, did I have a Bible with me?
I'd normally say, "Oh, yes, absolutely, I'm a good Christian,"
but no, that's the wrong answer here.
If you say, "I have a Bible," no, they don't want to know about that.
So, you know, it's a little unsettling,
but it's intriguing at the same time.
I mean, they have my passport, so I can't leave,
and I'm just being kept slightly unsettled,
and this is probably deliberate.
From now on, my fate lies in the hands of the North Koreans,
but, after a tense wait,
we're allowed on our way to Pyongyang.
People are simply washing their bicycles in the river
and alongside here, by the railway line,
everywhere seems to be sort of cultivated, people have...
It looks like even inhospitable ground
has been dug and something has been planted.
With no internet or international phone signal,
I'm now effectively cut off from the outside world,
and the world I've entered seems rather strange.
I haven't seen a car.
In all this development, it's all bicycles.
There we are. A road, empty, completely empty of cars,
but it seems of a different time, in a way.
Korea was divided in 1945, after the Second World War,
and has been largely governed on communist principles ever since.
Closed off from the outside world
and now under strict international sanctions,
it's seen little economic development.
When it comes to the dining car,
it looks like nothing has changed since the 1950s.
Table for one. Lunch, please.
Thank you. Thank you.
Gamsa...ham...hamnida.
Gamsahamnida. Gamsahamnida.
Oh, good, first word I've used.
Hello.
Gamsahamnida.
I've said it twice,
and look what I've got as a result of speaking Korean!
It's beautiful, isn't it?
Mmm.
Well, I think this must be kimchi.
Made from fermented cabbage and chillies,
kimchi is a staple of the North Korean diet.
Wow, it's quite fierce.
After the kimchi, I think you need something to put out the fire.
There's a sort of video playing,
and there's mainly missiles on it.
Various shots of the great leaders and applause.
Lunch, with a side order of North Korean propaganda.
Eventually, after six long hours, we trundle into Pyongyang.
I'm told this is where I'll be met
by the two guides who will be making sure
I don't step out of line for the next two weeks.
Ah, hello. Excuse me, are you Mr Michael Palin from Britain?
I am Michael Palin, yes. Oh, nice to meet you.
Hello. Nice to meet you. Yeah, yeah. Hello, how are you?
Nice to meet you. Annyeonghaseyo. Annyeonghaseyo.
I've been learning that on the train.
Yes, you're a good student. Thank you very much.
Hardly the threatening minders I was expecting.
My name is Li Soo-young.
Li is surname. Yeah.
Soo-young is given name, so you can call me either way.
What would you prefer to be called?
If you want to be more friendly, then Soo-young.
Soo-young, I'll be more friendly then, with your approval, Soo-young.
And what? Li Kyung-chul.
Oh, Soo-young and... Kyung-chul. ..Kyung-chul.
OK. Michael, just Michael.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Michael. Yeah, yes.
As we drive to the hotel,
I find it hard to believe I'm finally here.
I know that there will be restrictions on what I see,
but, despite this, I'm hoping Pyongyang will give me
a greater understanding
of a country once described as being on the axis of evil.
LOUDSPEAKERS PLAY SYNTH BALLAD
My first morning in Pyongyang
and the world's most unusual wake-up call.
I first heard this, I think, at five o'clock this morning.
It's like music emanates from the whole city.
I don't know where it's coming from,
the source of speakers,
it's just this suffusion of sound.
It was quite menacing at five o'clock.
Now the sun has come out, it's just rather strange.
It sounds vaguely Brian Eno.
Oh, there he is.
Hi, Brian.
The thing is
that there really aren't any of the other sounds
you think of in a city - screaming sirens, cars rushing around,
none of that at all.
So that's why this sound can really... You can't avoid it.
I suppose that's the thing, you can't avoid it.
This is the sound of Pyongyang,
which is not the sound of any other city I've ever been in in my life.
The track is called "Where Are You, Dear General?"
referring to the first leader of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung.
And after breakfast, it's time to head out
for my first appointment of the day,
with the great leaders themselves.
While our growing group of minders are nervous
about us filming on the streets,
it gives me my first sense of daily life in Pyongyang,
and it's all very normal.
But I do notice one significant difference.
That's interesting, that's the first poster I've seen,
kind of propagandist poster.
All clutching...
Clutching their weapons.
Cos there's no advertising here,
you never see any sort of consumer goods, just ideas.
Hello.
The Pyongyang metro system was built in the 1970s,
but its grandeur is from a different age.
That's quite something, that's quite something.
This view of urban life is very different
to what I saw from the train yesterday.
Possibly because Pyongyang is much more prosperous
than the rest of the country.
You could just stay here, really.
Why bother to catch a train?
Just watch the world go by.
I've arrived in the DPRK at an historic time.
State-controlled newspapers are covered with photos
of a meeting between the current leaders of North and South Korea,
one that heralds new hope for peace.
WOMAN WAILS
Ever since Korea was divided in 1945,
North Korea has been ruled by the Kim family.
Their images are everywhere.
And everyone seems to be wearing badges featuring their faces.
I've been told that to understand North Korea
you need to understand the role of the leaders.
So I'm heading to the Mansudae Grand Monument,
one of the most sacred places in the whole country.
These 22-metre-tall bronze statues
depict the first two leaders of North Korea.
Kim Il-sung, on the left,
was supported by the Russians
to lead the newly-formed country in 1945.
After he died, his son, Kim Jong-il, took over,
until his death seven years ago,
leaving his son, Kim Jong-un,
as the current leader.
Well, there they are, the biggest leaders I've ever seen,
and there's something about the size and the scale
which is undoubtedly incredibly impressive,
and yet there are very few statues to great leaders around the world
where they're smiling,
they're looking accessible,
they've got their specs on,
they've got their gear on, they're sort of embracing the country.
I think that's what -
although it seems very grand and overpowering -
they are actually trying to show the love,
embrace the love of the whole country,
by smiling and making themselves like the benign fathers
rather than the sort of stern rulers.
That's how I read it, anyway,
but judge for yourself.
In the West, the Kim dynasty is known as a brutal dictatorship,
but here, the great leaders cannot be criticised,
so I've been warned to tread carefully.
I notice that you wear the badge,
the party badge, there,
with the two leaders on.
So I would say our Korean nation is Kim Il-sung,
Kim Jong-un nation, and we are all members of the nation,
so it's the symbol of that
and the reason why we have them on our left-hand side
is that it's...
Where your heart is. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes.
Is it significant that they're smiling?
Is that important that they are seen to be smiling?
Yeah, so when you are smiling, they look very happy and very alive,
so we, Korean people, we think they are still alive.
They are alive in our hearts, even though they passed away.
They are more like fathers than just political leaders.
We call it single-hearted unity,
the popular masses united around the leaders and the party,
and with one will and one idea.
And presumably when you're growing up,
from fairly early on in school,
you're learning about their work and what they represent.
At school, of course, we learn what they have done.
But we all have got our own outlook on the world,
and so it's not like what you call...brainwashing...
OK, yeah. ..it's not like... Yes.
So we learn from our hearts that they have done really great things
to our Korean people.
The people who come here,
I see people getting married,
how many times a year should you come here?
Is there a time everyone should come or anything?
It's voluntary, it's open for everyone,
and there is no, like...
Yeah, no-one tells us to do, what to do -
"You should go there," or, "You should go here."
It's more like a tour
of our own volition. From your heart, OK.
There are many more questions I'd like to ask,
but now is not the time.
It is made apparent by our minders
that I've already crossed a line.
North Korea claims to have no religion,
but it's hard for me not to think that for many people
the great leaders are filling that void.
And in a country that has a widely reported
appalling human rights record,
I worry that they've put their faith in those
who do not always act in their best interests.
After lunch, it's a quick walk to the east side
of the Taedong River
and a place that offers me the best view of the city -
the Juche Tower.
Tower, up?
Annyeonghaseyo. Annyeong-hasimnikka. That's right, I'm learning.
Annyeong-hasimnikka. Annyeong... Annyeong-hasimnikka.
Annyeong-hasimnikka. Mm.
Annyeong-hasimnikka. Annyeong-hasimnikka.
Yes. Annyeong-hasimnikka.
Annyeong-hasimnikka. Yes. Annyeong-hasimnikkeh.
Hasimnikka. Hasimnikkeh.
Hasimnikk-a. Hasimnikka.
Ka. Ah, annyeong-hasimnikka.
Yes. Annyeong-hasimnikka. Good!
It's a good thing it's a high building. Yes.
All that just to say hello.
OK. Please. Yes.
Wow.
The stunning view from this 170-metre-tall tower
gives me my first proper sense of the size and scale of Pyongyang.
I shouldn't say wow,
but that is the only thing you can say up here.
It's astounding.
The west side of the city is dominated by grand buildings -
stadiums and new developments
that look like something from a science fiction movie.
The east is a sea of Soviet-style concrete apartment blocks.
They used to be grey,
but Kim Jong-il instructed
that the buildings be painted in bright colours,
transforming the skyline.
One thing I do know is that Pyongyang
was just bombed flat in 1953, during the Korean War,
so what we're seeing here has,
with I think the exception of one building,
all been built in the last sort of 60 years.
That's quite impressive.
The name of the Juche Tower refers to Kim Il-sung's ruling ideology,
one which has perpetuated the idea of self-reliance and isolation
from the rest of the world for almost 70 years.
Funny how cities all have a sort of name,
a ring about them,
and very often countries are known by their cities.
Paris, France and all that.
This is Pyongyang, North Korea, which is a name I've known,
a lot of us know, in always slightly threatening context.
This is Pyongyang, what comes out of here is vaguely sinister.
What does it mean, a city is threatening us?
A city is sinister.
A city is a city and this has its own grandeur, in a way.
Pyongyang also has a bizarre charm.
And on my way back across the river,
I find it hard not to be transfixed by the traffic police,
stationed at busy intersections.
SHE BLOWS WHISTLE
Their choreographed, robotic movements
are strangely hypnotic.
They also, I notice, all appear to be young women.
There's a rumour that Marshall Kim Jong-un
hand-picks them himself.
It's Sunday...
..the one-day weekend in the DPRK.
THEY CHEER
Volleyball, a big thing here?
Yes. A big sport. Very popular here. Yeah.
Soo-young and Kyung-chul are keen to show me
what they would be doing
if they weren't having to look after a British film crew.
SOO-YOUNG: Have you ever shot a pistol?
Well, not often, but I have, yeah.
I'll have a go. Shall we?
OK.
He's going to show me, first of all, what a hotshot he is,
and why he has earned the name
of the Wyatt Earp of the Korean peninsula.
Oh, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oops.
Yeah, I keep aiming at the yellow bit behind!
I hit that every time.
Very close. Almost!
Last one, OK?
Because I don't think I'm destined to...
..get one.
Wow!
Bravo!
On camera or not? GUIDES LAUGH
HE MOUTHS
To unwind after our efforts at the shooting range,
we find ourselves somewhere I really wasn't expecting...
..a North Korean health spa.
This is the state-run Changgwang Health Complex.
It's about as far from prison camps and nuclear missiles as you can get.
It includes a hair salon,
which has a rather prescriptive approach to hairstyles.
Ah, these, I think,
are the recommended haircuts.
All the styles you can have here, are up there.
And they actually look remarkably similar.
No, you know, mullets or ponytails
or anything sort of disorderly like that.
Very neat and tidy.
Hello.
Can you do me a sort of massage, not haircut?
No hair cut, but massage, OK?
Thank you.
Ooh, already I feel the pressure slipping from my shoulders...
..down my back and into this chair,
which is vibrating slightly.
That's just what I want.
Mmm.
Hope it doesn't come off!
Thank you.
This is a relaxing end to a long day.
Thank you very much.
And my hotel room gives me a rare moment
away from prying eyes and ears.
Well, at least, I hope it does!
Filming isn't easy here.
Everywhere we go, we're accompanied by an entourage
of about five or six men and women in suits,
who watch our every move, and check everything we're seeing
and everything we're doing,
and everything we're saying.
But, you know, they do things completely differently here.
That's the way it is.
You can't just come blundering in and say, we are from the West,
we want to see this and we want to see that.
If you're going to learn anything at all, I think, about this country,
you've got to prise the door open very, very gently.
We need to keep their trust
and it's a slow process,
but if we step out of line and shoot things we shouldn't shoot,
then the door will be slammed shut and that'll be the end of it.
So it's really all about us trusting them and them trusting us.
I mean, so far, it's working quite well
but we'll see in the end.
Day two in Pyongyang,
and it's time to go back to school.
From a young age, children in North Korea
are taught the revolutionary history
of their country's battles against Japanese occupiers
and American aggressors,
and the heroic deeds of the great leaders.
Do you know London? PUPILS: Yes.
What is more surprising
is that learning English is also compulsory.
Annyeong-hasimnikka.
PUPILS AT DIFFERENT TIMES: Hello, how are you?
My name is Michael, Michael Palin.
I live in Britain.
Anyone know London?
TEACHER: London. PUPILS: Yes. That's it. Very, very good.
I'll tell you what I've got.
I've been to lots of places in the world
and I travel, with me, with this, a globe.
HE BEGINS TO INFLATE GLOBE
THEY COUNT BLOWS: One, two, three...
I'm intrigued to know how well these kids
know the world around them, especially as international travel
is effectively banned for all North Koreans.
..eight, nine, ten...
Yes!
THEY APPLAUD Very good.
Who wanted to show me where Britain is on this map?
Who would like to have a go?
It's in Europe, good. Yes, it's in Europe.
And it is...
No, that's... There we are!
Yes, that bit there, yes.
Now, throw it around, have a look at the world.
That's it.
OK.
You've got to name a country. India. India, very good.
Now you can throw it very hard at anyone you don't like!
Russia.
Russia, OK.
Who are you going to throw it to?
Japon. Japan.
Ooh, that's to me.
OK...
America!
Canada. Canada, good, yep.
Well done.
Now, if there's anything
they would like to ask me about my life?
How many children in your family?
I've got three children.
How many in your family?
Four. Four?
What do you want to do when you grow up?
I want to be a scientist.
Anyone else?
I want to enter the Korean People's Army.
Good.
Very good.
I want to be a famous writer.
You want to be a famous writer? Yes.
That's good.
Have you got a poem? Can you remember a poem that you've written?
Say it in Korean.
TRANSLATION:
Aw-w!
Mount Paektu is a sacred volcano in North Korea,
which Kim Il-sung allegedly used as a hideout
while plotting against the Japanese in the 1930s.
It's a beautiful poem, but I get the distinct impression
that critical thinking is probably not on the school curriculum.
But excelling at sport most definitely is.
I'm told by my guides that Kim Jong-un
wants North Korea to become a sports superpower.
And judging by this lot, table tennis may be the way to go.
It's like a factory farm for ping-pong champions.
I was quite impressed first of all that they were learning English
but also the ideology was there, underneath everything,
but not pushed absolutely all the time.
And yet the poem was about Mount Paektu
and the boy wanted to be a physicist
to do things better for Kim Jong-un.
So it's kind of there, very much embedded -
the feeling of working together for one leader -
but it wasn't pushed at me that hard.
And the ping-pong was just incredible.
The speed, the ferocity with which they played,
and the determination to be world-beaters.
What I'm learning is that the sense of unity and togetherness
is incredibly strong here,
if a little disturbing.
After all, this is the land of mass military parades.
Mmm.
Now, that's a really, really good cup of coffee.
About the best I have had in Pyongyang.
This rather nice sort of intimate, almost Austrian-style cafe.
This all feels rather pleasant,
and yet it's in quite an odd location, really.
This intimate little place
is actually right on the corner of...
..Kim Il-sung Square.
The place where those vast processions of military might...
It all takes place on this amazing,
amazing area here.
You can see, when they do these enormous ballets
with thousands of people, all doing the same thing at the same time,
there are the dots,
the little positions where people stand.
So you've got somebody here doing all that sort of stuff
and then you've got somebody here doing all that sort of stuff.
So you've got to sort it out.
It's incredibly difficult, when you see it done,
to actually get it done properly
without bashing the person next to you.
Of course, when the parades come along,
it's along this roadway
that the weapons and the missiles will come.
It's just so...
It's such a strange sensation to walk across it.
And here we are.
At the moment, there's not many people here.
Just me at the moment,
doing my own display of synchronised television presenting!
It's never going to catch on. It's never going to catch on.
The billboard showing a Korean soldier
is just one of the many pieces
of military propaganda I've seen in Pyongyang.
Most of it is produced behind closed doors,
here at the Mansudae Art Studio.
But, for the first time,
we are being allowed to film one of the country's
leading propaganda artists at work.
Can you tell me what this painting,
what this work is about?
TRANSLATION:
This picture of pan-Korean peace and unity is very timely
and might be just for my benefit,
but I think there's more to propaganda than missiles.
It's another way to keep people united to the cause.
What is the secret of making a good propaganda poster?
There are over 1,000 artists here producing art for the state.
In this studio, a painter is working on a canvas
celebrating the fishing industry.
And this man has been responsible
for sculpting the giant statues of the great leaders.
I'm aware everything I'm being shown
is designed to give me a positive image of North Korea.
But what I'm also realising
is just how tightly everything is controlled.
There is no internet, no international phones,
no freedom of the press.
The government controls it all
and there are no voices of dissent.
And after a few days,
you start to feel the propaganda seeping into your soul.
There's so much that is so different about North Korea
that I find the offer of dinner and a few beers
with my friendly guides refreshingly familiar.
Have you ever done barbecue?
No, I haven't had Korean barbecue, not like this.
It's messy, is it?
Is there going to be a lot of spray flying?
Yeah, yeah. Oh!
I think that she's tied me to the chair!
I can't... You look great in it.
Do I? Is this my colour?
So, this is the raw meat, this is...? Yeah, raw meat.
Koreans like meat.
We love. You love meat, OK, I got the wrong verb.
You love meat. You wrap...
Oh, you wrap it up? Yeah. OK, OK.
Mmm.
How is it? Mmm.
It's very, very good.
Mmm.
North Koreans enjoy a drink.
Apparently, each man is given weekly beer coupons by the state,
which provides them with five litres of beer a month.
Thank you. In Korean, geonbae. Geonbae.
Geonbae. Choonpay! Geonbae. Geonbae. Geonbay.
Geonbay. Geonbae.
It's nice to see the guides relax,
but I'm told tomorrow is the day
I'll really see the North Koreans at play.
It's my last day in the capital of North Korea
and it's May Day,
the international workers' day,
and it's a holiday.
The parks of Pyongyang are filling up
with the city's three million residents.
WHISTLE BLOWS/ CHEERING AND YELLING
WHISTLE BLOWS
YELLING
The game is... You have to pick up bits of paper
and then the bit of paper will tell them
they've got to take something and run round the ring.
It might be a ball, it might be a hat, it might be a jacket,
it might be man, woman or child,
and they race round with it.
There's also music and dancing.
I suspect this gentleman is a frustrated Fred Astaire.
Office manager by day, who knows what by night?
May Day seems to be giving me what I've been hoping for -
an opportunity to mix with ordinary North Koreans
when their guard is down.
THEY SHOUT IN KOREAN
Mmm, that's good food.
THEY CHAT AND LAUGH
MUSIC PLAYS
HE SHOUTS HAPPILY IN KOREAN
And as the day goes on, so does the dancing.
HE CONTINUES YELLING
And, I suspect, the drinking.
To an inhibited Englishman,
a sort of mass fun day like May Day in Pyongyang
seems, at first, slightly intimidating.
But actually, you just have to join in.
Everyone's out, and they're all in the centre of the city.
They don't go out to the countryside.
And they start with lots of little parties that become bigger parties,
then become these huge occasions of spontaneous dancing
and a bit of drinking, the rice wine, to keep you going.
After a bit, the whole sort of hill is just humming.
Are singing and dancing quite important?
Everyone seems to have a song or a dance.
Yeah, every Korean knows how to sing and dance, except me.
I have a poor voice. Well...!
MUSIC CONTINUES BLARING
OK!
THEY LAUGH
Thank you!
These people might live in a repressive system
that I find hard to understand,
but there's a joy and humanity to this that's undimmed.
This goes on all day.
You know, we're only kind of, well...
It's about half past two.
What's it going to be like here at night?
It's going to be, you know...
What is it going to be like here at night?
I ask myself.
Oh!
Thank you.
PEOPLE CHEER AND APPLAUD NEARBY
Thank you.
Oh, dear.
Being dragged back by the family.
Well, I'm off to be a tree somewhere else!
May Day,
and my time in Pyongyang
has left me with more questions than answers.
Much of me wants to take everything at face value,
to accept the North Korea that I'm being shown.
But I know there's another side,
and I've seen enough to realise
this is a country with none of the freedoms
we in the West take for granted.
Maybe I'll learn more outside the bubble of Pyongyang.
After much negotiation,
I've been given permission to explore parts of the country
that are normally off-limits to outsiders.
Tomorrow, we start a journey
that will take us into uncharted territory.
Early next morning, we start our road trip across North Korea,
and head south from Pyongyang.
As we leave, we pass under the imposing Arch of Reunification.
Wow!
It's impressive.
Reunification of Korea might be the aim of the leadership,
but the reality is this is still a country divided.
The arch marks the start of the road that will take me directly
to the border with South Korea.
And so far, traffic doesn't seem to be a problem.
This is the Reunification Highway which runs about 100 miles
from Pyongyang to the demilitarised zone.
Well, I suppose sadly,
because reunification hasn't happened yet,
this road is almost empty.
There is hardly a single vehicle on a six lane highway.
Miles of empty road.
I'm heading 100 miles south to the DMZ, the demilitarised zone,
a two and a half mile wide border
that splits the Korean peninsula in two.
With me are my two guides, Kyung-chul and Soo-young.
After three hours, we arrive at the joint security area,
the one place on the DMZ
where you can cross from one side of Korea to the other.
Looking after me is the rather intimidating
Senior Lieutenant Hwang Myong Jin.
The demilitarised zone was created as a result of the Korean War
in the 1950s.
Like most people in the West, I learnt that the war started
when North Korea invaded South Korea, who were then defended
by the UN and America.
But the senior lieutenant sees it rather differently.
But really, nobody won the Korean War.
There's just been a ceasefire for over 60 years.
It's interesting to hear your side of it,
because I was ten years old when the war,
the Armistice ended the conflict in 1953,
and we were told we had won.
And you believe you had won. So, there we are.
Well, I would say there are wolves on both sides, so it's a...
You know...
Neither side won.
Our minders are not particularly happy with me questioning
who won the war, so we walk on to what is probably the most
militarily and politically sensitive area in the whole
of the Korean peninsula.
These blue UN conference rooms are the only place you can walk
between North and South Korea.
The border's marked by the raised concrete line in the middle
of the huts.
I've been here once before, from the other side, in 1996.
22 years ago, while filming in South Korea,
I stood on the other side of the border as part of a tour group.
Escorted by American soldiers,
North Korea seemed an impenetrable land,
but I've always wanted to see it for myself.
If you wish to make a crossing into North Korea,
please do so at that end of the table.
North Korea.
And more than two decades on, here I am.
This time crossing from north to south.
The atmosphere is still tense.
So, this is 22 years later.
I remember thinking then that, you know, I...
It was like it was presented as a blank wall there,
from which you would get no response at all,
and yet I felt I wanted to know more.
You had to know more, you can't just have one side
of the story, you've got to look at the other side of the story.
So, it's rather...
I'm rather pleased that I'm given the chance,
have been given the chance today to see the other side as well.
So, this time I don't have to go back and out the door
as we did before with a large group of people.
I can come in on my own and walk over into North Korea,
and I can stay here for a bit and probably have my lunch here.
And that... I think that's...
I feel that's an achievement of some kind.
For all of us.
Sadly, these huts represent a massive failure of diplomacy,
and since 1953, North Korea has found it necessary to create
one of the biggest armies in the world.
It reportedly spends 25% of its GDP on the military
and its notorious nuclear weapons programme.
None of this makes for good small talk.
Nuclear warheads and nuclear missiles have cost your country
a lot of money to develop.
Hopefully, there are signs that there may be a change
in relations between your side and America.
Is this good news?
Well, I hope that people recognise that we don't really need wars
and armies and weapons.
We should understand each other by meeting each other,
talking to each other, sharing our experience
rather than fighting each other.
It's a simple message and, you know,
I hope one day more people will understand it.
Well, it's good to meet you and I hope you're successful
with no more loss of life, you know?
After this, the guides seemed to relax.
If only the real peace talks could end this well.
A sad legacy of the Korean War is that most of North Korea
was destroyed by American bombing,
leaving few reminders of what was here before.
But just a couple of miles away from the DMZ is a town
that 1,000 years ago was the capital of Korea.
This is Kaesong.
During the Korean War it was part of South Korea,
so was spared American bombardment.
And this 1,000-year-old Confucian University
is a rare reminder of Korea's ancient past.
Something historian Kim Yong-hui knows well.
Don't they feel sad that there are so few places
like this where you can see their history?
Is it important to people of the DPRK
to remember the long history?
Just a few minutes away is my hotel.
Very different to where I've been staying in Pyongyang.
Ah!
That looks nice and cosy, doesn't it?
It's good.
The buildings in the hotel are over 100 years old,
and as night falls, the guides and I are entertained
by a night of Korean traditions.
They are now bashing the boiled rice to make it more sticky.
Ah, this is an old tradition, is it?
Yes.
Go on, show me how you...
It's actually an unusual opportunity for us to do this.
You're in good form, you're in good shape.
Soo-young, be careful.
Kyung-chul, you're fantastic.
There's more on your mallet than there is on the...
Wow!
Lets see how heavy it is.
You have to do it with this hand, OK.
I think that's...
Actually, I've got a doctor's note!
A bad shoulder!
Yes.
Take a bite.
Mmm.
I took great efforts to bash this.
Yes, actually, it's still got the marks of your mallet on this.
Kaesong has taken me back to North Korea's past,
but tomorrow I'll be travelling towards its future.
The next morning it's time to leave North Korea's history behind us.
We're driving 300 miles to the beach town of Wonsan,
a place which could play a large role in the DPRK of tomorrow.
But the roads are getting worse.
Just about sort of halfway now.
This is the main road, and yet it's pretty rough.
The surfaces can be quite bouncy.
I have this slightly...
You were nodding off there, weren't you? No.
No, I do, I do.
I'm surprised you can sleep on a road like this!
Winding through the mountains with the sea at the end of it,
it's quite an adventure.
I associate the sea with holidays.
Do you have summer holidays here as well, holidays when you go
away with your families?
We have... We working people have 15 days vacation
and we can choose any day off.
I go to...
I usually go to the sea or beach with my friends.
Do you go with your family, your mother and father, or...?
Yeah, I got married last year in February, so...
PHONE RINGS Oh, there she is!
That's his wife, he can't get away!
After a few hours we stopped for lunch next to a reservoir,
and for a moment I could almost feel I'm beside a lake in Switzerland.
Well, we've just stopped for lunch at this rather idyllic spot.
It's halfway between Pyongyang and Wonsan,
and it's turned into a beautiful day.
A strong breeze cleared the skies, lovely mountain scenery
and we've got about halfway to go now.
About another 80 or 90 K,
so I'll be on my way with my team of constant attendants.
After a few more tortuous hours on the road,
we finally arrive in the coastal town of Wonsan.
A city at the centre of Kim Jong-un's plans
to transform the North Korean economy.
Palin. Mr Palin.
Thank you.
I'm hoping the ping-pong won't keep me up!
North Korea might be a country that has closed itself
from the outside world, but paradoxically, it's also trying
to restyle itself as an international beach destination.
A few miles away from my hotel,
Kim Jong-un has ambitious plans
to turn Wonsan into the Costa del Korea.
There is a huge construction project here in Wonsan to create
a new resort and a massive amount of workers have been brought
into the city.
And these women here are here every morning, and other groups
all over the city, to encourage the workers to build
this extraordinary place in extraordinarily fast time.
I can't see it happening for HS2,
but maybe they'll learn a thing or two.
Holidays to North Korea might sound unlikely,
but it's already a popular destination for the Chinese,
and international tourism is seen as a potential future growth area.
This huge development of luxury beach hotels, conference centres
and golf courses should be completed by the end of 2019.
Book now to avoid disappointment.
And visitors won't have to endure a four hour drive to get here,
because they've already built an international airport.
It's all ready to go.
There's even the first advert I've seen here.
But there's a distinct lack of passengers...
..or planes.
But what makes this Mary Celeste of airports even more bizarre
is that all the shops and bars are fully staffed,
despite there being no customers.
I suspect they're here for our benefit.
Nothing has confounded my expectations of the DPRK
as much as this gleaming new airport,
and it seems to me it's a statement of intent
that DPRK is going out to the world.
Come here.
In order to fill this place, they've got to have people
from all over the world coming to the country, so it means
that the country itself will have to be seen by the rest
of the world as the benign and welcoming host rather than the,
you know, possible bad boy.
But I wonder if international tourists will want to travel
to a country that is renowned for food shortages,
famine and poverty.
With a landscape that is three quarters mountain,
North Korea has always struggled to produce enough food for its people.
This is the Chonsam Cooperative Farm, a few miles outside of Wonsan,
and I'm joining farmer Kim Jang-hui in the fields.
Annyeong-hasimnikka.
Michael. Thank you.
You show me?
OK.
Is it rice that you grow mostly?
Due to a lack of machinery and fuel, most farm work is done by hand.
You put it on top, yes.
Ah...
How am I doing, all right?
Well, well, that's honest.
That's honest!
North Korea's food shortages hit their peak in the mid-1990s
thanks to a fatal combination of flooding and the end of food imports
from the collapsing Soviet Union.
Aid agencies estimate more than a million people starved
to death, and it's something I've been warned not to bring up.
We...
We remember hearing in the West that you had very bad shortage
of food in the 1990s.
Are things much better now?
I'm starting to get used to North Koreans shutting down
when I ask uncomfortable questions.
Food supplies might be getting better,
but malnutrition is widely reported.
And though the government may not like to admit it, the country
still requires tens of thousands of tonnes of food aid each year.
Ah, this is your house.
It's very nice. Very good...
Ah.
Is this your son?
Annyeong-hasimnikka.
Nice to meet you.
Very nice to meet you.
Very good!
English, yeah.
Thank you, thank you.
Very nice and comfortable.
Oh, really?
Yes, there they are.
So, that's your older brother? Yes.
What do you want to do?
Army?
Yeah.
Jang-hui offers to make me some food,
so I offer up my services as an English teacher.
And what's that? Clock.
Clock.
Brilliant.
And...
..what's that?
Hand. Hand.
Put out your hand. Hand.
There you are, hand. Hand.
Yeah. My hand, your hand.
Hand. That's good, yeah.
And let's see...
What's that?
Tree. Tree.
Brilliant.
That's great.
Before I leave the farm,
my host is very insistent I try some local food...
Oh, this is your kimchi?
Yeah, kimchi.
Ah, lovely, yes. Thank you.
..under the watchful eye of the great leaders.
Mmm. Tell me what...
Mmm.
It's very good.
But it's very fiery, very fiery.
It's like eating fire.
A lot of chilli in here, I think.
Yeah.
Thank you.
I've been charmed by this family home, but I can't help but think
this generous hospitality is partly to give me the impression that food
is in plentiful supply in the DPRK.
It's been a busy day.
So busy that it's easy to forget it's my 75th birthday!
But the guides and my crew are not allowing me to forget.
SINGING
CHEERING
Wow! That is wonderful! Thank you.
Happy birthday. You know, I never thought I'd make it to my 75th!
Let alone see...
Happy birthday.
..do some planting in a field in...
Happy birthday!
However old you get, there's always a job for you in the DPRK!
Thank you. Oh, that's lovely.
The next morning, it's time to leave Wonsan and head to a place
that some say is the most beautiful in North Korea.
We're on our way to Mount Kumgang,
and the weather has sort of changed completely from yesterday.
In fact, Korean weather is a bit like British weather.
You get one day of sunshine
and the next day of gloom and drizzle.
But it's rather attractive along the coastline here.
We're driving to the Mount Kumgang region.
It's just 80 miles away, but with North Korean roads
it's another backbreaking three hour journey.
Now we're suddenly into the mountains.
I say fairly suddenly,
we have in the last few miles climbed a lot.
As we arrive in Mount Kumgang,
the rain clears allowing us to begin
a hike up the Kuryong waterfall.
After two weeks, Soo-young feels much more like a friend
than an official guide.
The colour of those boulders,
they're so white compared to all this.
It's beautiful.
The rocks are very unique.
They are, aren't they?
Do you like doing this, hiking?
Yes. I like to get some more fresh air
and relax and thinking of nothing else but nature, it's good.
For the first time since I arrived in the DPRK,
I feel a great sense of freedom.
Wow, look at that. I mean, you know...
The Rockies or North Korea?
Take your pick.
Kumgangsan means Diamond Mountain.
And even on this cloudy day, it is stunning.
That's nice, we'll stop down here. Shall we?
Whoops! Oh...
Ah!
I'm hoping this is a good place to have a more open conversation
about our two countries.
I find your country so very different from ours,
and yet sometimes very similar.
I mean, how do you get your news of what's going on in the country?
By mass media, TVs and radios and by newspapers as well.
What do they tell you about Britain?
How we live?
Be honest, you can be honest.
The British...
We feel...
Yeah, I mean...
By appearance, you look so different, but...
I was thinking about, you know, our way of life
which is really based on freedom of speech and freedom of thought
and people can wear what they want and they can dress what they want,
and they can be as rude as they want about their leaders, you know?
Presumably you think that's not a good thing.
It's your freedom, it's your freedom,
you can do what you want.
And we have got our own style
and you have got your own style.
And your citizens can do what they want,
and, yes, and...
And your citizens can do what they want, too?
Yes.
I mean, at home, one difference between I suppose your culture
and ours is that we can be very rude about our leaders.
Here, I feel you just have a different way
of looking at things.
Because our leaders are very great
and the leaders are not individual.
They are...
They represent us, the masses.
So, we cannot criticise ourselves, can we?
Criticising our leaders is offending.
It's like offending, criticise ourselves too.
What do you think?
Well, I think my leaders, that sometimes they're good,
sometimes they're bad and I think they make some wrong decisions
and occasionally some right decisions.
And, you know, they're...
That's the way they are.
Your leaders, if I may respectfully say, are very different
and I absolutely respect the respect that you have for your leaders.
Respect our feelings. Yeah, absolutely.
Our feelings on respect.
I wouldn't want to change your feelings at all.
But it's just been nice to talk about them, really.
I wouldn't want to change your feelings.
That's what you feel, and you're an intelligent person.
And that's why we are so different from you.
If you find...
Yeah. But you and I are not that different.
I mean, we can talk about things and we have a similar intelligence
about things, but that's good too.
So, I absolutely respect the respect you have for them and the way
you feel about them. OK?
Yes. I really do.
I know these conversations are not easy for Soo-young,
but what it has shown me is how every North Korean
ties their identity to that of the great leaders.
Although I've had many discussions,
and Soo-young, my guide, is very chatty
and she's very funny and we've had quite uninhibited discussions,
but it's so difficult whenever you get on to any subject
concerning the leadership.
I mean, they just stop.
I think it's just a very, very difficult thing for them
to talk about, because you don't talk about the leaders.
As soon as you talk about them, you demean them in some way,
I think that's what it is, and I'm finding that quite tricky.
But having said all that, we have been able to film every day,
we've picked up a lot of material, and I'm a great believer
that sometimes just seeing the way people look, the way people talk,
the way they eat, just little glimpses of that, and the way
they cultivate the farms or whatever,
it gives you a real insight into what's happening in the country.
The next morning, we make a speedy return to Wonsan.
Thankfully, this is my last North Korean road trip.
After this, I hope to catch a plane from Wonsan Airport
up to Mount Paektu, the place where the story
of the Kim dynasty began.
And when we arrive at the ghost terminal building,
things seem to have changed.
Ah...
There are people everywhere, and a gate.
Hey, a boarding card. Boarding pass.
Thank you. Thank you.
Bye-bye.
But after checking in, things seem to grind to a halt.
Well, there's been a bit of a hiccup here, because the mist you can see
is cloaking Wonsan Airport.
The plane that's taking us up to Mount Paektu cannot take off
from Pyongyang to come here until this has all cleared.
So, we don't quite know when we are going to actually
be seeing the plane and getting on board.
So, meanwhile, we just hang around the airport.
At least it's not going to get too crowded, because this is
the only flight of the day.
After our slightly awkward conversation yesterday,
I'm hoping Soo-young is not too annoyed with me.
Fish slapping dance. Fish slapping...
Maybe this might make amends.
This is what I used to do, a long time ago before I became...
..a serious person.
That's it.
So is it a live fish or a dead fish?
Well, it was a dead fish, yes!
But a live human being.
I was alive, the fish was dead. It really hit?
Yeah. It hit quite hard.
It was a big pike.
So funny!
But suddenly the airport manager, who frankly has little else to do,
has some news.
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
Not yet taking off, but...
Yeah, it'll be 40 minutes.
After hours of inertia, there's a sudden rush of activity
and the plane arrives from Pyongyang.
Air Koryo, the country's national airline,
has one of the oldest fleets in the world.
This one was built in 1967.
Well, it's happening.
Here's our plane.
We think it's an Antonov, a Russian plane.
It says 6F, but there's no 6F.
So I think I'll just sit here.
Finally, we're on our way.
This 50-year-old plane is taking me 500 miles north, to Mount Paektu,
close to the border with China.
It's very comfortable.
I wouldn't say the seats are functional.
That's the wonderful thing about them, they've got
all these nice surfaces, it's carpet on the floor.
Look at this sort of wallpaper which is, you know...
This is 1960s travel, not 21st-century travel.
You actually feel quite comfortable here, in economy,
flying to Mount Paektu on Koryo airlines.
After a while, the landscape below becomes increasingly mountainous.
I'm relieved when the wheels eventually touch down.
As we disembark, I find myself in a very different looking part
of the country.
Well, Mount Paektu, the mountain we've come all this way to see,
is just there, just below where the sun is setting.
It's not one great peak, it's a sort of group of mountains.
But it's out over there, just where the sun
and the dark clouds are gathering.
So you can't actually see it.
But you can sort of feel it.
But as the sun sets, the clouds clear,
and the snowy peaks reveal themselves.
Ancient Korean legend has it that the mythical leader Dangun,
who created Korea, was born at Mount Paektu
thousands of years ago.
But this area is also home to a slightly more recent legend.
After we arrive at the hotel,
our taste buds are tantalised by a barbecue dinner.
Mm. Oh, good.
It's basically a potato that's been toasted on the fire.
So it's quite dark. You can see that.
Well, you can't see that, and I can't see it.
I could be eating a dead mouse.
But actually, I'm told it's a potato.
It's rather good.
Thank you.
It's hard to believe that these rustic surroundings
gave birth to the ruling Kim Dynasty.
The next morning, I wake up in the far north of the DPRK
and at a hotel which I'm not sure often sees actual guests.
But those who make it this far are probably here to see Mount Paektu,
a place where Kim Il-sung, the first leader of the DPRK,
made a name for himself.
Just a few miles away,
there are the remains of the camp where he lived with his family.
I'm given a military guide to show me around the rebuilt camp.
During the first half of the 20th century,
Korea was under hostile occupation by Japan.
Kim Il-sung first gained a reputation
as a heroic resistance fighter in the 1930s.
It was also here that the future leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-il,
was apparently born.
Miraculous moment.
It's a great story, but it's widely thought
that Kim Jong-il was actually born in Communist Russia.
And how much fighting Kim Il-sung did here is up for debate.
But while the West sees the Kim Dynasty as a dictatorship,
here they're worshipped as heroes, defending their country
against Japanese and American invaders.
And it's this version of history that has helped them to hold on
to power for 70 years.
Well, that's a pretty sensational view of Mount Paektu.
This is a place where a lot comes together.
Thousands of years of Korean history, symbolised, enshrined
by Mount Paektu itself, and then just behind me here,
the monument of the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il-sung.
The past and present, coming together here.
As I look at Mount Paektu, a place that has been sacred to all Koreans
for thousands of years, I can't help but wonder if the great leaders
and their giant statues will be around for quite as long.
But it's time for me to leave.
Our plane is ready to take us back to the bright lights of Pyongyang.
A city that is starting to look towards the future.
It's my last day in North Korea.
For 70 years, this country has been hidden from the world.
But with international relations improving,
the DPRK is starting to reveal its talents on the global stage.
No more so than in one of its national sports, taekwondo.
Invented in Korea in the 1940s,
North Korea's taekwondo team has rarely been allowed
to compete at international events.
But in February, teams from North and South Korea
performed a joint demonstration of taekwondo
at the 2018 Winter Olympics, under a unified Korea flag.
It's not just self-defence, it's demolition.
Predictably, I've been offered a lesson in the basics.
My teacher is Kim Yong-sim.
Hana, dul.
Hana, dul. Hana, dul.
It's going to be a long time before I start
smashing boards, I tell you.
I can't even stand up properly.
Have you ever broken any bones or fingers, or toes?
How important is it to you that the skills of taekwondo
here in the DPRK are shown to the rest of the world?
I can see it's going to take a long time for me to learn.
It might be too late for me,
but hopefully taekwondo may yet help to open up the world
for the people of North Korea.
That's properly nuts!
During this trip, I've sometimes thought that Pyongyang
has a slightly dated feel to it.
But there's one area I've yet to explore -
A brand-new development of apartments, shops and restaurants
on the bank of the Taedong River.
This is the North Korea of the 21st century.
And it's changing.
This is called Mirae Street, which means, I think,
Future Scientists Street.
And it's one of the sort of miracles of the DPRK, because this street,
which contains these amazing blocks, was all built in a year.
It takes me about a year to get the bedroom painted,
let alone build an entire modern city street.
But even just to build this stuff that quickly
shows ambition and a kind of sense of national commitment.
Commitment to making this look like a modern city.
Since becoming leader, Kim Jong-un has promised to revitalise
the economy of the DPRK.
Many people say that free market forces are slowly taking hold
as the old ideals of communism slip away.
Maybe in five years' time,
this street will be full of McDonald's and adverts for iPhones.
If so, I'm glad to have seen it
before it becomes like everywhere else.
When I first looked out over Pyongyang,
I can remember feeling very wary, apprehensive.
It was all very unfamiliar and slightly threatening.
But now, two weeks later, I must say I feel much more relaxed.
I feel almost part of the city.
I feel I know it much more.
I certainly feel less threatened.
I know that the ideology here
permeates every single aspect of life.
And I know that we've not seen everything.
And yet, what I have seen feels...
Well, it doesn't feel grim.
It doesn't feel brutal as some would have us think.
It's actually, I would say, not an unhappy place.
But it feels to me this country is at a crossroads.
On the one hand, it wants to open up to the wider world,
to expand culturally and economically.
But on the other, the system here seems intent on keeping
the population under the type of authoritarian rule
that can only persist in a closed and repressive society.
At some point in the near future,
I feel the DPRK will have to decide which way it wants to go.
All right, thank you.
Thank you for everything.
Yes, yes, I'm sure you'll be a film star.
And you have been brilliant
My lovely companion.
I wish you all the best.
Thank you for looking after me.
You made an old man very happy.
Anyway, lovely. Hope to see you again.
See you again. See you.
Come to London.
We will.
I would love to show the guides my world,
to see what they would make of it all.
For now, that's not possible.
But events are moving fast
and I hope positive change is coming to the people of North Korea.
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