KUALA LUMPUR: CONTRARY to popular belief, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is a country very much misunderstood and misportrayed by the media and the world.
For freelance tour guide Sasi Kumar Kaliappen, travelling to the isolated country was a chance of a lifetime, aimed at satisfying his curiosity about the much shunned country.
“At first, I felt scared, no thanks to all the horror stories by the media and other people. But, I refused to believe what they said, and sure enough, North Korea is the opposite of what people say it is.”
Despite its oppressive political system, North Korea was a beautiful country with undulating flat terrains in some parts and snow capped mountains in another, said Sasi Kumar.
Speaking to the New Straits Times, he said he visited the country last September as part of a 12-member tour group led by a Thai national and three North Korean tourist guides.
“The locals were at first wary and curious about me.
“I guess they have never seen an Indian Malaysian before, but I managed to break the ice by speaking a few Korean words.
“The locals understood and greeted me and the rest in my group, who were mostly Westerners.
“They even shook my hand and took pictures with us,” said the 28-year-old Kuala Lumpur man, who entered the country via train from Dandong, China.
Sasi Kumar said the country had the perfect landscape as its terrains were a photographer’s dream come true, adding that the place held many stories for travel writers as well as the media.
However, he said during his train ride, he was able to see the ugly side of the country when he observed how North Koreans went about their lives.
“I could see that they were poor and lived in dilapidated houses. They wore the same drab clothes — sometimes, for days — toiling on their rice and corn fields.
“But, as far as I could tell, they were happy. I saw schoolchildren playing gleefully in school compounds.”
He dismissed scare stories that foreigners were stalked by shadowy undercover agents.
He said he was held up for two hours at the China-North Korea border for inspection, but was not subjected to intense interrogation.
He said he stayed at a three-star hotel in Pyongyang, which accepted Chinese yuan, euro and Korean won, for five days.
“You can’t take home the Korean won or risk being locked up in their jail for three months.”
He said during his sojourn, he felt safe, adding that threats of lurking kidnappers were not true.
“I would not be surprised if the crime rate is zero,” he said.
“I ate their food, which I’m afraid, was stale. But I got to try their dog meat soup, which was very tasty.”
He visited the demilitarised zone from afar and could feel the tension between the north and its southern neighbour.
“Once I entered South Korea, the contrast was undeniable, and how I felt for the North Koreans. But, I guess, that is how it is.
“Given a chance, I would love to go back, but definitely not now,” he said.