Pyongyang’s Younger Generation

Published: October 2, 2007, 9:48 pm

Tags: business economy, east asia, politics, brent choi, dprk, joongang daily, kim jong il, korea, mt geumgang, pyongyang

At first, Brent Choi’s account of his trip to the DPRK sounds like many others, but then there’s his impressions of his 30ish North Korean tour guides as contrasted with tour guides he met at Mt. Geumgang (Note: this is my romanization habit) in 1998: At first the visitors and guides gave basic introductions and began talking about non-contentious issues like the weather. After “testing the waters”, the North Korean guides then began to ask about South Korea’s political situation including the upcoming presidential election, while the South Koreans barraged the guides with questions about nuclear programs. Not everyone was engrossed in politics. Some guys asked about local women. The guides I met this time differed from those I encountered in the past. When I visited Mount Kumgang in 1998, all the guides were over 50 and would start arguments with visitors over things like unification and the presence of U.S. forces. The guides in Pyongyang were much

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