A starving man in North Korea has been executed after murdering his two children for food, reports from inside the secretive state claim. A 'hidden famine' in the farming provinces of North and South Hwanghae is believed to have killed up to 10,000 people and there are fears that incidents of cannibalism have risen. The grim story is just one to emerge as residents battle starvation after a drought hit farms and shortages were compounded by party officials confiscating food.
This is pretty horriblehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2269094/North-Korean-parents-eat-children-driven-mad-hunger-famine-hit-pariah-state.html?ICO=most_read_moduleNorth Korean parents 'eating their own children' after being driven mad by hunger in famine-hit pariah state
I kinda like the hotel...
The Google reviews are priceless
richard croninreviewed 5 months ago They tell me I'm having a great time, this is the best place on earth and the food is out of sight (literally). Some people like it so much they say they are never leaving and a nice fat man told me I can stay as long as he want's. It's a little drafty but they say windows will fix that problem,or summer, however it makes going to the bathroom or yelling for help a lot easier.Smiling lady said when I leave here they are taking me camping, I do hope Dennis Rodman gets out of rehab soon.
Overall I considered the trip a success from my perspective. However, I am not a typical tourist. My interest tends towards people rather than monuments and comforts. The fact that I paid a very high price for mediocre accommodations and food (compared to what I had in Bhutan for example) is not a major issue with me. However, I did object to being “nickel and dimed” to death. Below are some examples.1. There were no complimentary tea bags in hotel rooms. Just empty cups. 2. No complementary bottles of water in the room.3. Extra payment if I wanted an extra cup of tea with a meal or an extra bottle of water. (The tea cup provided was often very small.)4. There was never any fruit after a meal. (Even though apples are local and plentiful?)5. The vegetables offered with each meal were minimal in quantity and variety. Never saw a single pea, carrot, or leafy type such as spinach. Only once had a tiny wedge of tomato. We did get some corn, but only through the patient perseverance of our guide.5.There was no snack or refreshments provided during rest stops on long trips.Prices for “extras” were totally absurd. A few examples:$2 for one apple.5 Euro for a few garlic cloves$10 for a packet of biscuits which we needed to pay for in lieu of a lunch when we did a hike.6 Euros for a small bunch of flowers to honour the Leader.40 RMB for an extra small tea with a meal.We were not permitted to buy fruit from the market. “Official” sources of fruit available to tourists were few and far between.One quite disturbing event was to be given bottles of water that were not sealed. Furthermore, the contents were murky. Sealed bottles were provided when we refused the first ones. My son had placed a small water glass in a location which was not readily visible. The staff made a huge fuss over the issue and he was expected to pay for the missing glass immediately. The issue was dropped after the glass was found (in his room). However, the fuss raised over such a trivial item was not a pleasant experience.In another disturbing incident, one of the staff dropped and broke a plate. That resulted in considerable and intense anger by someone. (I assume the manager?) It sounded as if the person responsible was going to be severely punished for that minor accident. I recognize that to work in a tourist restaurant is a highly prized and highly competitive position, and that there is considerable stress, but that outburst did nothing enhance our memory of the country.If North Korea wants more tourists they will need to tone down the intense idolization of their Leader. Being told that we must not crumple a newspaper which “may” have a picture of the great leader inside was over the top. We reached our saturation point after only a few days. I recognize the intense brainwashing the population has been subjected to leads to this. However, if the great leader seriously wants more tourist dollars, he will need to seriously consider showing some respect to the visitors as well.Speaking of tourist dollars, I take great exception to having to pay considerably more for similar food and accommodations than the amount paid by Chinese tourists!I have no criticism of our guides. One was in fact quite excellent. She did the very best the system would allow.A comment re Air Koryo. I read that Air Koryo has been banned from flying in Europe because it did not meet standards. I suspect that one of its failings was the cabins air cleanup system? I, my son, and my wife developed a head cold and chest infection about 3 days after arriving in North Korea. Later we discovered that other travelers were also affected the same way. Incubation time for this type of infection is about 3 days!! It is my suspicion that to save a bit of money, the airline has not maintained the air recirculation system with proper and costly filtration. Someone on the flight coughed and we all got his germs. This leads me to ask what other shortcuts they are taking and how these might affect flight safety??There were two irritating issues regarding currency. I paid for my laundry in dollars. I was given change in RMB. Later when my wife tried to pay for a coffee with these RMB, there was a major fuss over the “quality” of the notes. A second issue was more serious. The lady at the money exchange counter saw that we were leaving. She came over and asked me to exchange a $100 bill she had for one of my $100 bills. The bill that she wanted to exchange had a printing defect. It was an obvious forgery and quite worthless. That she thought that I would fall for that is a serious and uncalled for personal insult.I am sorry to say that for the normal typical tourist, I can not recommend a visit to this country. Unless there is a dramatic change in policy, tourism will be limited to those with communist ideologies, and a small handful of curious persons such as myself. While the Mass Games and the dance we saw were superb, they were not enough to offset the simple basic tourism negatives. In addition, the political issues are far too great to even start to discuss.It was continuously emphasized to us how we have to show respect to the Great Leader as well as to the DPRK system of government. While we were generally treated well, there were many instances where the respect to us as visitors from abroad was at a much lower level than what was expected of us. This was a very noticeable discrepancy, difficult to adjust to in situations when the respect is not reciprocated.Stayed September 2012, travelled with family
People actually tour there?
North Korea let the world look into its secretive state in an extravagant New Year's Eve fireworks display.Fireworks dazzled Pyongyang's skies as the public looked on in amazement.
