Jamie Lyons reports on his trip to North Korea in the Scotsman (via NKZone):
The air stewardesses on Air Koryo hand out propaganda on all flights in and out of North Korea. One passenger on our plane gratefully accepted the brochures, carefully folded them and placed them in his bag.
The stewardess immediately removed them from his bag, unfolded them and handed them back to him. “You must not fold the face of my leader,” she rebuked him.
It is not compulsory to wear the Kim Il Sung badge. But in three days in Pyongyang I did not see a single Korean without one. Why? I asked our guide/minder.
The answer was obvious. “It is because of the very high esteem in which we hold our Eternal President.”
A similar explanation pervades the country’s voting system. The people here can vote for a deputy to represent them in the Supreme People’s Assembly. Each constituency has a choice of precisely one candidate. The turn-out is 100% and the vote in favour of the candidate, also 100%.
Why?
“Because our leaders have chosen a wise deputy who will represent us.”
Dogma is everywhere. The underground trains stop at stations with names such as “Great and Powerful Nation”, “Liberation” and “Glory”. The train speakers pump out martial anthems.
Similar anthems were played endlessly on our tour bus, songs with titles like “My loved one is away in the trenches fighting the evil imperialist dogs.”
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