A look inside the reclusive country of North Korea on the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung. Much of the world considers the "Hermit Kingdom" a pariah state focused on developing a nuclear program.
On the 13th of April 2012, the North Koreans launched a three-stage rocket. Seconds later it exploded. The launch was no doubt timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary festivities celebrating the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). News of the failed launch was unusual in that it was broadcast to the people of North Korea without the usual spin, no scapegoating or attaching blame on those south of the 38th Parallel or Washington.
Is this a signal of the new leader Kim Jong Un’s leadership style? I wanted to travel for the eighth time north of the 38th Parallel to see the country for the first time since Kim Jong Il’s passing last December. On April 14 I arrived at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport where I had first stepped foot in the reclusive country seven years earlier.
I have witnessed a sea change since 2005. In the capital, thousands of cars now travel on the once barren streets. An Italian restaurant complete with red and white-checkered table clothes and Italian clothing garbed women tossing and serving pizzas, a Helmut Sachers Austrian coffee house, and a microbrewery named Paradise have opened. This is of course in Pyongyang, the showcase city of the North. But having traveled throughout the country on numerous occasions I am witness to historic changes that cannot simply be passed off as propaganda created for foreign eyes.
While the North Koreans may have trouble with their rocket program, they do know how to put on a military parade to honor the late “Great Leader.†I was able to mix among the locals to witness an almost endless procession of mechanized armor rumbling down the road from Kim Il Sung Square.
That night, the birthday celebrations were capped off with fireworks that were timed to go off at the exact same time in major cities across the country. I had made it down to Kaesong to witness them in this beautiful town near the DMZ (The Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean peninsula along the 38th Parallel).
While spectacular, the fireworks did remind me of my time on the South Korean island of Yeongpyeong-do soon after it was shelled by the North in November 2010, a stark reminder of how miscalculations can unravel all the positive moves forward in a matter of moments.
June 2013 will bring yet another milestone, the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that stopped the Korean War with a ceasefire but did not officially end it. To this day no peace treaty has been signed.