North Korea

Something very different now.. I received a bunch of postcards of North Korea from a kind postcrosser earlier this week. They are beautiful, but I can't help thinking about the actual country..



I've always wondered why the official name of the country is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) when it's not democratic AT ALL. Does anyone know? It's pretty freaky anyway, a country where everything is so totally and completely state-controlled. How do you live in a place like that? Due to the government's secretive nature and its reluctance to allow in foreigners, North Korea is today considered the world's most isolated country. North Korea is a self-described Juche (self-reliant) state, described by some observers as a "hereditary dictatorship" with a pronounced cult of personality organized around Kim Il-sung (the founder of North Korea and the country's only president) and his son and heir, Kim Jong-il. It made me wonder during the latest football World Cup, how closely guarded and watched the North Korean players must be. It's scary to think how screwed you must be if you don't agree with the system...





These cards were sent in an envelope from China, but the sender, Stanley, included some stamp sheets. It was such a surprise, I didn't expec them at all! They are great, though, certainly something you don't come across everyday.