♪♪♪ North Korea, one of the most enigmatic
and mysterious countries in the world. Some claim that it is one
of the most dangerous places and that even represents a
threat to the rest of the planet. But how true is
everything that is said? Since I can remember all my
life I had heard news or stories about that country in
Asia called North Korea. In which nuclear weapons
are manufactured, and constantly engages in threats of war with
enemy countries, especially with the US. North Korea, is that mysterious place where
the irreverent basketball player was once, Dennis Rodman, as guest of honor
of current leader Kim Jong-un. But it is also the place
where a couple of years ago an American tourist named Otto Warmbier
was sentenced to 15 years in jail and forced labor allegedly for stealing
a North Korean propaganda poster during his trip as a
tourist in this country. I was used
and manipulated! Please! Act to save me! Please, save my life! And after a series of negotiations
between North Korea and the US, he was released but in a coma
and died a few days later. It is said that because of the torture
he received during his capture. North Korea is a country that shares a border
and a name similar to that of South Korea, but with a social
and cultural contrast that it seems that we are talking about
two completely opposite worlds. In North Korea many
things are prohibited and for many of us
life inside is a mystery because throughout its history it has remained
disconnected and isolated from the rest of the world. And that's why as a travel lover and
despite all the warnings of my followers, friends and family, I made
the decision to travel to North Korea and meet it
with my own eyes. My name is Alex Tienda, I am Travel
Vlogger, and I travel all over the world to share with you
my experiences. 14 years ago, in 2006,
I opened my YouTube channel being one of the first
travel channels worldwide. I have been fortunate to know spectacular
places and live unforgettable experiences. But among so many destinations
we have traveled together, there is one in particular,
which I had wanted to meet for many years but because of fears or difficulties
I had not been able to visit. Until today I made the decision to travel to one
of the most hermetic countries in the world, and get to where no other
Mexican content creator had come. Dear friends...
Welcome to North Korea! ♪♪♪ Minimarkets, I am currently outside
the train station here in Beijing. It's very cold,
I bring my coat down there... But hey, I started recording
and I didn't put it on. I am very excited! In a few more moments,
in 15 minutes, I will meet the group of tourists
with whom I will go to North Korea. Traveling to North
Korea is an experience, an odyssey that begins long before setting
foot in the territory of that country. And if you didn't miss
my previous video, you will surely remember that
for this moment of the trip It had been almost 70 hours since
I left my house in Puerto Vallarta. From there I took a flight to Mexico City,
I had problems with my bank, left alone with a debit
card and some money. I took another flight from
Mexico City to Tijuana City. And after a two-hour stopover another
flight to cross the Pacific Ocean to the city of
Shanghai in China. Upon arriving in China
I found another problem upon discovering that my
suitcase was held in Mexico City And it didn't come
with me to China. I spent the whole day
trying to solve it, and in the end they told me that my suitcase
would arrive in three days to China. But I had to continue with
my trip to the city of Beijing because the next day,
at 5:00 p.m., My train was leaving from
that city to North Korea. So I had to forget about my suitcase
and take the next flight to Beijing. The big problem is that all my
clothes were in that suitcase, and now I had to endure Bejing's cold
at -4 ºC dressed in shorts and shirt. But what
was even worse, is that one of the rules for visiting
certain places within North Korea, it is dress with pants
and collar shirt. And if I was sure
of something is that I did not want to risk
breaking any rule of that country. So hours before taking
the train to Korea, I ran to a mall to buy
some clothes and a coat, spending a portion of
how little I had left on the card, and then I ran back to the station
so as not to lose my train, and so continue with this odyssey
that already had 70 hours of travel but it still had
another 25 more hours. If you want to visit North Korea,
you can do it but you can't go alone, you have to go with
an authorized tour group. And on this occasion I will show you the whole
process, the whole experience, all the details and the weirdest
things we find there. But above all we will learn
a lot from that culture. We will learn a lot
from its history. We will know a place that is one of the
most hermetic and mysterious in the world. We will leave as in two hours
or so that our train leaves. It is a journey of
approximately 25 hours, it is a whole day to reach
the North Korea capital, Pyongyang. And for now we are going to look for something
to eat because it is already hungry. I will give you an explanation,
for when you come with Lupine Travel, which is the agency with which
I am going to do the tour. Your meeting point is going to be here, at the
central station, this is the Beijing train station. And on the right side you will have
this building that is the ticket office. We will enter here and on the right,
there is the meeting point. That's where we are
all going to meet. We have to go through
a security filter. Well, two security filters
before you can enter. You almost always have to go through this
in any transport building here in China, airports, train stations. So, they will
check us right now. Now, here is our
tour group. You are going
to see... Entering the station
here is this store. And here it is... ♪♪♪ This is the place where you buy tickets
to travel by train in China or outside of China, in this case the tour guide that will
take us already went to buy the tickets, he just need our passports,
we already give them to him. Well, right now it will
give us later directions. We leave
as in two hours. I don't know how much we are going
to do right now in two hours... But I said, "Hey, can I have time to buy
something from a pharmacy or something? I don't bring
deodorant or anything. He told me
that maybe not. So, we are probably going to do something very
interesting right now here at the station. As I said, traveling to
North Korea is an odyssey and very different from traveling to
almost any other place in the world. First of all, the only way we as
foreigners can visit North Korea is through a tour agency,
but not just any agency. Since there are only about 10 agencies
authorized by the North Korean government to take tourists to their territory
and only during certain specific dates. In addition to having to do it in a
group and completely guarded at all times by an agency guide and two Korean
guides chosen by the government. So if you were thinking of visiting it
on your own and at your own pace... Forget about it! For my trip I did a whole investigation
and I found the agency Lupine Travel. A UK company that specializes in this
type of travel to exotic destinations around 30 countries and among
them obviously North Korea. But the most interesting
thing about Lupine Travel is that the trips they organize
are very accessible, such as this
of North Korea, which includes
transportation, meals, tours, and six-night lodging,
all for $ 890. Now we have to pass
these things... Every time you go into a
building there is this, it seems that you are
entering a refrigerator, and this is the entrance
to the train station. We have to go through
migration first, they already gave us our
exit stamp from China. And right now, I got lost,
where are the ones on my tour? ♪♪♪ Woao!
It's super good. The central building
is impressive. It's huge! ♪♪♪ Woao! The journey
has not yet begun and this already feels like a very
interesting cultural experience. We are in the waiting
room of the train station, Here is our ticket, and says we
are going in car number 4, bed 4. What I understood,
my wagon has about three beds... Then, I will go
in the middle. There is a person who will
be below me, a person above. Nothing sexual... And right now they are giving
us as the latest indications. We will be approximately
50 minutes here, that will give us
time to go to eat, to go buy some
goodies, if we want. And I recommend you.. Well, in your case, if you are
very open to taste new food... Well, I really
don't do it But in my case I am very
difficult for food... So, it costs me a lot of work sometimes in places
where there is no food that I like so much. And here is the last place where
you can buy things from the West, as well as sweets or things that
you are more familiar with... Well, you have to take advantage
here at the train station. As I had already told you,
not having my suitcase in China I had to go buy clothes
before traveling to Korea. But I also had to buy razor blade, deodorant,
hair gel, paste and toothbrush, since there are no stores in North Korea where
you as a tourist can buy these things. So these stores at the train
station seemed to be my last chance to find these basic
products. But almost all stores
sold Chinese sweets, and unfortunately
I discovered by bad, that deodorant is not such an
popular article among the Chinese. And among everything I was looking for
I could only buy toothpaste, toothbrush, and lots of chocolate
cookies for the trip. Okay, we already packed some portions,
we brought snickers chocolates, I bring about 10 and some Oreo cookies
for the road and for staying there. We are going to buy a little fruit
right now to feed ourselves well. And so, here, I tell you... It is the last place you can
provide for travel provisions, because once you get on
the train all the food... Well, it's like very much from
here, very Chinese. I mean, if you like Chinese
food, go ahead, right? But... You never know
what to expect. So, it's always better to bring
something just in case you don't like it. It was close to 5:00 p.m. and I moved from the waiting
room down a long hallway, to the platforms where
there were different trains with a lot of wagons waiting
for their passengers. This is surreal, it's... A lot of emotion. A lot of nerve. A very
strange feeling. And logically it was
a strange feeling, because despite having already
taken many trains in my life, this time I was going to
a rather mysterious place. And at the time of delivering my ticket
and boarding my car on this train, emotion and nerves were
increasingly taking over me. Friends, we are already in the wagon where we are
going to travel from here to Dandong, China... That is like the last point
before crossing to North Korea. Look, I'm going to show you, here we have
this which is the wagon with the beds and you have three beds, three
levels, here we will be sleeping. I'm going to sleep in the middle bed,
I will be in this, and we are going to have a person
above, we have below. And if you look, it's like a wagon full
of pure rooms with bunk beds. So obviously we
bring things of value Surely that can make
someone nervous. So, in those cases I recommend you
sleep very hugged of your things and always have locks
so you can close them. What I'm going to do is that
my main suitcase, which is where I have all
the cameras and my equipment, I'm going to sleep with that
suitcase hugged on that side. And this, which is pure clothes,
we are going to put it here. Right now, in about 20
minutes we will be leaving... It's great because
we have a window there and I'm going to
show you all the way. Well, it's night, but tomorrow I'll be
showing you more about the train journey. ♪♪♪ Friends, the train movement
is already beginning. We are already starting
this trip to North Korea. I have many
things in my head. I am excited, I am somewhat
nervous, I am anxious. It's complicated in my case because
I came with a recording plan, but there they don't allow
you to do many things, they don't allow you to record many
things, take photos, and so on. So, I go with that nerve to
see how much we can achieve, and see how much
we can share. I am very excited, really. It was 5:30 p.m.,
the sun had already set, and our train to Dandong, China,
on the border with North Korea was already leaving Beijing, and from
the window I admired the huge skyscrapers and endless residential buildings that
gave me an idea of the immense population that lives in the capital of one of the
countries with more inhabitants in the world. But I also wanted to show you
the train we would be traveling on. So I set out to explore
and recorded it for you. I'm going to show you
the bathroom now, it's interesting. Look... It is not the bathroom
we are used to in Mexico... It is a bathroom, which I had already
seen in India, this type of bath... So, let's pee...
I mean, you won't see how I do it, I went in to show
the bathroom... But hey, right now I just wanted to
show you what the bathroom is like. We have a mirror. We have here a sink
with a bowl. And this
is the toilet. ♪♪♪ Friends, right now we are leaving
the wagon where I am staying. It's so cold! It's that there's no heating here,
it's like the union between two wagons, that's why the outside air
comes in and it's freezing. The wagons do have heating, obviously,
so that people don't die of cold. And now we are going
to look for the wagon. Look, all people
are asleep. We are going to look
for the restaurant wagon. I think, there must be a restaurant wagon,
usually on night trains there is always a wagon where
you can be there and have dinner. And, well, here we see people
who still do not sleep. I am following
this guy. This guy you see here in front is
part of those who come from the tour. He also contacted the tour
to travel to North Korea. ♪♪♪ This wagon is like a
little more luxury. It has carpet,
and the rooms are closed. We arrived! This is the
restaurant wagon. ♪♪♪ Friends, I tell you,
we already left the city of Beijing. Right now it's 7:00 p.m., 6:50 p.m., we left about
an hour and a half ago. And we will travel
to Dandong. Dandong is the city that
borders North Korea, between China and North Korea,
but on the Chinese side. We will get there
at 7:00 a.m. So, practically, this is a train that
lasts about 13 or 14 hours of travel. And we have our
beds there to sleep. We have been here since
we left the house, we are close to completing
72 hours of travel. And now, then, add these 12 hours,
and once we reach Dandong... We will arrive at 7:00 a.m.,
and at 10:00 a.m. our next train leaves heading to Pyongyang,
the capital of North Korea. And we will be arriving there
at approximately 7:00 p.m. So, another 9
hours, train hours. And finally we will be
in North Korea. At approximately 7:00 p.m.,
I began to settle in my bunk, I accommodated my things and started watching
documentaries about North Korea on my cell phone, taking advantage of the fact that in
China I still had access to the Internet. And after a couple of hours like
between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., I prepared to sleep because the next morning
we would be arriving at the border station, very early,
and I had to rest. ♪♪♪ Friends,
good morning. It's already 6:15 a.m.,
it's just dawn. It is already dawn and they just turned
on the lights of the wagons right now. In about an hour we will
be arriving in Dandong, our destination,
where we are going to change trains, and we will take
the next train at 10:00 a.m. now straight to
Pyongyang. You rest a lot,
I want to comment, the beds... At night
they turn off the lights, at about 10:00 p.m., between
10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. So, you have
8 hours to rest. We will go to the bathroom,
and prepare to get off at Dandong. Already by day our approach to Dandong
City was simple, but interesting. At this time of the year because it was
winter, all the vegetation was dead, and sometimes mountains
were seen in the distance, or some small cities that
we were going through. But nothing spectacular. In these last two
hours of travel most passengers take
the time to go to the bathroom, have breakfast or
accommodate his belongings. And I also used to work on my
computer, editing some content and organizing files from
my cameras on hard drives. It was 8:00 a.m., and suddenly we begin to see more and
more civilization through the window, which means that we were already
reaching our last stop of this trip before entering
North Korea. ♪♪♪ It's cold,
it's very cold. We are in Dandong, This city is the border
with North Korea, It is our last point in China,
before entering North Korea. In three hours we left. ♪♪♪ Good morning, joy. We are here already walking to
the exit of this train station where are we going
to meet Brooklyn? Brooklyn is one of the guides that will
take us now from this point to Pyongyang. At this time we are already joining
those who were coming on the tour. Here comes my
friend from Israel. Good Morning!
Did you sleep well? -Yes! Like a baby!
-Like a baby. You can sleep comfortably
on the train, it's relaxing. ♪♪♪ And we arrived... Brooklyn?
What's up? ♪♪♪ Again, this is like entering
a butcher's refrigerator. We are right now at the ticket office,
we will go through migration. We have to deliver
our passports. And approximately we will
have an hour or so to be here. Already our guide Brooklyn, explained
that around here, there is a Starbucks, there's a Kentucky
Fried Chicken... So, it's going to be the last
thing we can have for food, or western things before
entering North Korea. We have approximately
40 minutes, right now I have
about 10 minutes left to leave the train station
and look here for breakfast. There was in Kentucky Fried
Chicken, there is a Starbucks. And obviously
Chinese food options. Hey!
They collided... I'm looking for a store to
buy deodorant right now. Hello good day. Because I have not
bought deodorant And I don't have
hair gel either. He's worried,
he asks me if I'm cold. I'm well. Is hot. The sun is hot. I like your coat... Regards! He is grabbing
my buttock. No, it's fine,
I'm hot. People are very impressed
that I am in shorts. Greetings. Well, we didn't understand anything,
but he grabbed my buttock... So, why do I say no? No, it's not true. I love that people... Two things I've noticed
a lot here in China. One, I think they are not
very used to tourists, and it seems weird because there are many
people who come from tourists to China. But it is very impressive
to see people from the west. I get anywhere and everyone
looks at me like that, I don't know if it's
because I'm western or because I bring shorts, and everyone is dying of cold
here, we are like at -3 °C. But well... Time passed and my next
train would depart, so I had only a few minutes to try
to find a deodorant and hair gel. Ah! Ok... Yes to comb,
but gel. I think we are not
understanding each other. No, it's like.. Like gel,
is this gel? Okay, well, I think so. Thank you! What else do i need? Deodorant,
do you have deodorant? I don't know why I talk to her
if she doesn't understand me anyway. It seems we already
found deodorant. No, that is a razor blade. No thanks. This, and wait for me,
I'm going to look for something else. Okay, she look at me like,
"I'm not understanding anything." But we are
coming out of this. I mean, we are achieving what we want which
is to buy something for the hair. They are laughing at me,
what a shame. I am looking for
something to eat. Well, we bring some cucumber fries
and some cookies. I believe that with this
we are killing hunger today. Ah! I'm missing
a soda... 23... It's a camera. Hi! Yes, it is a camera. Thank you. Thanks friend,
have a nice day. Ready. Let's go to the station,
which is time to return. And although I failed
to get a deodorant, which meant that I would be
stinky during my trip to Korea. I found a hair spray, so at least
it would look good on the photos. Friends, we already got
our North Korean visa, it's a paper,
it's a very simple sheet. We have to go pick up our bag because
we're going to go for the ticket. The train ticket
is by group. So, now let's all go
pick it up, and with that we all
entered the train. ♪♪♪ They all see me. Everyone looks at me
because I'm in shorts. All the ladies point me out. Once our Lupine Travel guide
handed us our train ticket, he explained to us what our wagon
and bed would be for this last trip. And now we had to go
through migration. Okay, friends, we are about to go through
migration here to leave the country of China and cross the bridge,
by the river, to North Korea. You will need three things,
your passport that obviously you bring, your North Korea
tourist card, That this is like practically
the North Korean visa. Your tour operator is going to give you
this, and finally this, which is the exit card, It's like a country
exit sheet. And you can get it here. Here they are going to give it to you and
you just fill it with your information. You bring pants. The lady is telling me that I bring
shorts, they are very impressed. But it makes
them laugh. Yes, I bring shorts. We are strong. That do I have
nice legs? Thank you! The lady says that
I have beautiful legs. Thank you so much Mrs.
You too! ♪♪♪ We have already
passed migration, right now we are about to board
this which will be our train. We are in wagon 16. Well, here we are
going to leave... Right now we are going to cross that bridge
that you can see there in the background. That bridge crosses the river that
divides China from North Korea. While we are crossing
the bridge we can record, but once we cross the bridge I
have to stop recording because... Well, there we are entering North
Korea, recording is prohibited. And after that, North Korean immigration
officers will go up to check things out. If they find material that I was
recording on the road after the bridge... I can get in
a lot of trouble. And after migration from North Korea,
we can already record the road to Pyongyang, The capital
of North Korea. ♪♪♪ Okay, I got bunk 6,
which is here in the middle. Friends, we are already
in our wagon, I am already in my bunk,
which is the middle one, downstairs there are
people sitting there. Right as soon as we
cross the bridge, there are people who right now just get on
this train to cross to the part of North Korea and get off at the first destination
as soon as we cross the bridge. We are going to go to Pyongyang
which is about 9 hours... We are
very tight here! There is our friend
of Israel. There is a problem,
our friend from New Zealand, he just realized that his passport was
handed to him, but he didn't get the visa, or he can't find his
North Korean visa. So obviously this is a problem, because if he
doesn't find it, he won't be able to enter. I can't imagine the stress
that must be felt right now. And to add more stress
to the situation... Suddenly the train
began to advance. I had no idea how far the border
with North Korea would be. But it didn't take 30 seconds
to start the movement, when I noticed that we were already on
the bridge that crosses the Yalu River, and it is precisely this river that divides
the border between China and North Korea. So the stunning view
we had through the window it allowed us to see the contrast that
exists between both banks of the river. On the one hand Dandong, China. A very populated city
with large buildings and a life to some extent
similar to what we know. But on the other side was
Sinuiju, North Korea. With a cold, desolate and mysterious
landscape, and to some extent terrifying. Especially because of the extensive list of rules
that we had to obey so as not to end up in jail, and also the fear of knowing that
I would be in solitary confinement, since across the river and throughout North Korea
there is no telephone service, cell phone signal, let alone the Internet, therefore,
at this moment while crossing the river, and before entering North Korea, I used
my last seconds of cell phone signal to communicate with my wife,
and notify my followers on social networks that I was officially
entering North Korea. And while, with the other hand, I tried to record
every detail of the entrance to the country to share it with all
of you in this video. But always
being very careful, since they had warned me that it
is forbidden to record through the window once we crossed
the river. And above all, it was strictly forbidden to record any
military in North Korea during my entire trip. Well, we are already
on the side of North Korea. We can't record
this anymore. Well, folks...
I can't record outside now. We are on the side
of North Korea. I was now publishing
the last things I needed to keep you up to date. And it's interesting... I will explain
how this is. As I was saying, from the moment we crossed
the river we were already in North Korea. And to be more exact
at the train station that works as a military
checkpoint and migration. Our stop here would last between
an hour or up to three hours. And during this time we
had to stay in our places while the military got
on each of the wagons to check
all our belongings, passports, and our entry
permits to the country. The big problem is that one of our
friends didn't find his passport, and he was almost certain that the migration
officer in China had not returned it. At this time and among
the tourists we were on this train I could feel the fear and stress
of not making any mistakes that could bother the authorities
so as not to get in trouble. But at the same time I took a chance
trying to document everything that happened to share with you the tension of
what was lived during those moments. Okay, friends... Officially we are
already in North Korea. We just crossed the river that
divides China from North Korea. At this moment we are in
the wagon and I am in the bunk. A soldier came to check us
out and I hide the camera. At this moment I turned off the camera so as not
to risk the military discovering me recording. Friends,
he did find it. He just found
his visa. Woao!
This is intense. He could not find the visa...
Well, the train had already left, we were already here on
the side of North Korea. Officers came to ask
for passports and visa. And the tour guide explained that he didn't
have it, so I didn't understand anything because they were speaking in
Korean, but they were very angry. They were as arguing. And then, obviously the guide trying
to see how they could let him pass. But not here. Maybe he was going to have to stay here,
detained in the part of North Korea. Fortunately he found it,
it was among his cash... Well, ready... I mean, I imagine
the stress this poor man may have felt. After asking us
for our passports they ordered all passengers to get off
the train and go through a security building for a thorough
review. Logically, in this part it was
more than prohibited to record. But then I explain
what happened. Okay, friends...
We're still at the train station right now from the side of
North Korea, where there is migration,
just entering the country. We have been here for
about an hour and a half. And obviously
I can't take photos, I can't take video of
everything that is happening. But I am trying to do as mental
images to explain you right now that I could turn on my camera,
they already returned it to me. Basically what we did was,
the train stopped, and all the people who were
from North Korea went down, who were in work activities
or things like that, in China. When they all went down, the officers
came up with an uniforms like, let's see... Well, quite strict. And they went up to ask us for
passports and visas for everyone. There was a mishap there with the
man who comes with us on the tour, he couldn't find his visa.
Fortunately nothing happened, he found his visa,
it was like between his money. And well, after that, they asked us
that we had to deliver everything we had like phones, cameras,
computers, everything... We delivered it, they took it,
they took us down and we entered a room. This room
on the outside is... Well, it's like a
building on the outside, they have the photos of the leaders,
of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. And upon entering there was like a table
with souvenir and things like that. But they were just like books
and things about North Korea. After that room, we move on
to another smaller white room where they were... I mean,
it's very sober there wasn't a decoration, only some arrangements
on the roof part, and cameras pointing to
the central area of the room, some security filters, and there we
all had to pass with our belongings. Something that
caught my attention is that everyone who brought
books was asked, we had to
show our books. We left them at a table and they checked, and
with a list they were seeing everything, because you can't enter
with books or movies, or anything that goes against
the North Korean regime here. I bring a book that is from the OMNI Planet,
obviously nothing happens with that. After they checked
everything, my cameras,
they took out my memory cards, they were like checking
my cell phone and my stuff, that there was nothing
I should not bring. And once they finished that,
we left the building, got on the train. Now we are waiting,
I don't know how long we will be here. But we are... Suddenly the officers go up,
I hear them scream, then they go down. It is quite interesting, somewhat stressful,
at first maybe it causes you as a shock, especially considering that
where you come from, from China, the issue is not
as strict... I mean, we didn't feel like
that pressure from the officers. At that moment, as soon
as you enter the country, it does feel, and it's something
that impacts you. ♪♪♪ They already brought us
something to eat. Let's eat, this is like fish,
they are like vegetables, I don't know
what this egg is, but my friend below, I saw that
he opened it, and it looks like a weird color, and rice, it seems that I am going
to enjoy this rice very much. ♪♪♪ We just left the first station here
in North Korea, the one on the border. And we are moving on
the city that is on the border. There are moments where suddenly you have
to see local people and they see you, and you see them, and you know that
it only divides them this window. And there are many things
we don't know about this country, or many things that do not come to
light, that are not public. Obviously we do not come with the intention
of discovering beyond what we can afford because that is very
risky, as you can imagine. But... This is a very
strange sensation. It's very strange to see people
having a completely different life what we are
used to. ♪♪♪ And so, after 4 flights,
2 trains, 7 cities and 90 hours after leaving my house,
officially I was already in North Korea. And of course, there were still 5 hours of train
ride to the capital of the country, Pyongyang. But from this point, I began to have
my first impressions of this place, which for many is considered the most
dangerous territory on the planet. Kilometers and kilometers
of land dedicated to agriculture. Virtually empty
roads of cars, but full of people
walking or cycling. Each of these people with a life and
reality very different from ours. Some smiling,
some very serious, But hey... All very focused on
completing some task. In addition to people, I was also very impressed by the architecture
of the towns and cities that we passed. With that characteristic
style of the Soviet era, and that seems to be
trapped in the 80s. Residential buildings,
schools, government buildings, villages with houses of
traditional Korean design. And something that caught my attention
was that in almost every building we could see the same picture of the founding
leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong-il,
which I will tell you later. And I was also impressed by
the number of red signs with white letters that I saw
all the way, and that later I understood that it
was North Korean propaganda messages. Another interesting thing is
that virtually all constructions that can be seen through the windows
of this train and throughout the tour, they seem to be strategically
decorated and well preserved. Almost as if they were
part of a set design that the passengers of this train
full of tourists had to see. And it was here that a part
of me began to make judgments, or tried to draw
conclusions, as if there was an internal
need to find an explanation to all the stories I had
heard about this country. But I better tried to relax, and not
think about things beyond the objective. So I started eating
my western treats and to recover energy
resting in my bunk. On the other hand and also
to relax inside the train, my friends from the tour group
and I took the opportunity to meet us and exchange stories
of our past trips. Some of them had been
traveling nonstop for months. Others were just beginning their
journey with this destination. But something we
all had in common it was that none of us had
stepped on this country before, and we all had a
similar concern about the risks
we were facing. Each of us had a different past and
we came from all kinds of countries. England, Australia, Israel,
Canada or Mexico were some nationalities. But we all shared
the same traveling spirit, and the curiosity of
knowing new cultures was what joined our roads
on this train to Pyongyang. The capital of one of the most
feared countries in the world. Friends, something very
strange just happened to me. I was standing here,
in front of this window taking the video, and suddenly one of the...
It is not a police. I have been told that...
Right now it will pass again. It belongs to those
who work on the train. This man
who just passed. He passed and patted me
on the right buttock. I swear! -Did that happen?
-Yes! There it is, I am not lying. She saw everything,
because she's right by my side... Suddenly it happened,
and I stayed like: "What?" And I turned... Well, yes, it happened, and I said, "Maybe he's
checking that I don't bring something", because I had the
wallet on the buttock. And I turn and he smile
to me like... I say: Well... I mean,
I can't complain. We are here with the people of...
Where are you from? -London
-Denmark. -And...
-Wales. We're right now...
Well, making friends. Many of you who
watch my videos, even warned me
about the risks I faced when I told you that I
would travel to North Korea. You wrote me all
kinds of warnings. Some said that it is completely
forbidden to enter the country. Others said that it can be done,
but recording is prohibited. Others claimed that I would break
the laws if I dressed in denim, or if I didn't have the hairstyle
authorized by the government. And someone even came to warn me
that I could end up in jail or even
face death. But what is the story
behind North Korea that makes everyone scare us ideas
of fear when we talk about visiting it? How did North Korea become
one of the countries most isolated and
mysterious in the world? So you can understand everything
you'll see from this moment, and throughout my adventure
in North Korea. I'm going to tell you the story of
how this country of only 71 years old became the villain many talk
about, but very few know. The first thing you have to know
is his geographical location. The Korean peninsula is
a region in East Asia which is divided almost in half, into two
almost completely different countries. North Korea and South Korea. But it was
not always like this. In fact, 71 years ago these
two countries did not exist, and instead there was only one
territory simply called Korea. The kingdom of Korea
was an isolated place in the world and almost no one had
an interest in it, except for its neighbors,
China and Japan. In 1894 China and Japan,
faced in the first Japanese Chinese war, because both wanted to have control and
influence over the territory of Korea. A year later that war was won by
Japan, and over the next 10 years Japan continued to seize
Korea's territory mercilessly. At the beginning of the 20th
century, in 1904 and 1905, another neighbor in the area
with their own interests, entered to defend the Korean
people from the Japanese. But in this new Japanese Russian war there were
only many deaths and no definitive winner. But Russia began to
influence a group of guerrillas, that years later they would
adopt communist ideas and fight against the
Japanese to defend Korea. Years passed, and we reached the Second
World War between 1939 and 1945. By this time, while most of the important
battles were fought in Europe, In East Asia, Japan had become
a powerful empire which crushed the weakest territories
to colonize them, such as Korea. Where men were killed or
enslaved, and women were raped. The Japanese were so cruel
to the people of Korea that even changed their
surnames to Japanese surnames, and they were forbidden
to speak Korean, because they practically wanted to disappear
completely their culture and traditions. But in 1945, the United States defeated Japan by
dropping two atomic bombs on its territory, and the end of the second
world war had come. The problem is that now
the winners of the war, they had to decide how to divide
the territories of the losers. Among the winners of the war was
the United States with imperialist ideas. And the Soviet Union
with communist ideas. And among the territories of the
losers was, for example, Germany... Which was
divided in half, to the west influenced
by the United States, and to the east by
the Soviet Union. And among the territories to be divided
into Asia, was the Korean peninsula, that had been rescued from
the Japanese at the end of the war. But now it only remained to
decide who was going to keep it. The Soviet Union was already
installed in the northern part, and the United States had
already taken the southern part. The division was
made on parallel 38, but both wanted to control
the entire peninsula. And in 1947, the UN headed
by the United States, proposed making elections to democratically
define the president of all of Korea. But the Soviet Union was not
interested in this proposal, and the elections were held only
in the southern part of Korea. In 1948, Syngman Rhee became the first
elected president of South Korea. And although Syngman Rhee
was a Korean by birth, For many years he lived, studied and made
a political career in the United States. Which practically implied that the United States put it there because
it aligned with its political ideology. For its part, the Soviet Union
did something similar, and put a character named Kim Il-sung
as leader of North Korea, who was
born in Korea, and during the second world war
he was part of the communist army that fought
the Japanese. And obviously, being Korean but
aligned with the communist ideology, it was convenient for the Soviet
Union to have him in power, and thus maintain
its influence on this territory. So the Soviet Union began to
reinforce the image of Kim Il-sung as a national hero
of Korea. and in September 1948 Kim Il-sung creates
the democratic people's republic of Korea, better known as
North Korea. But in addition to
creating this new country, he also created the institutions,
political party and army, conformed by his companions
on the battlefield in war, who made North Korea
what it is today. In addition to creating a
federation of art and literature with which the government
could control the culture, and maintain influence
over its inhabitants. Through art,
literature and the media, Kim Il-sung's personality
cult was created highlighting his achievements,
his history and his charisma, to almost religious
or sacred dimensions. Something that will make us understand many of
the things that I would live during my trip. But well, returning to 1948,
North Korea with its capital in Pyongyang, and South Korea with its capital in
Seoul, each already had its president, and we might think that everyone
lived happily ever after. But it was not like that! In fact, this is where many of
the strongest problems began because being divided
over parallel 38, both presidents had a tremendous desire
to recover the other part of the territory and rule
the entire peninsula. This rivalry sparked one of
the bloodiest wars in history, and it was almost to
become the third world war. But I will tell you that part of
the story during the rest of my trip in the next videos so you
can appreciate it better. ♪♪♪ Friends, it's 6:30 p.m.,
we're coming to Pyongyang after spending all
day touring by train. Look... Right now we are about to head
to the iconic Ryugyong hotel. Look at this... It was 6:30 p.m., I had more than
90 hours of leaving my house, and have traveled thousands of
kilometers in airplanes and trains. I was tired, I had not bathed,
and psychologically I was very exhausted. But seeing
the city lights, and suddenly see the train station
in Pyongyang City, its communist architecture
and the red signs with white letters, I understood that this
was already a reality, and that I was about to step on the capital of
one of the most hermetic countries in the world. And so I would know
with my own eyes what had caused me immense
curiosity for so many years. ♪♪♪ My dear, minimarkets...
We have arrived! Welcome to Pyongyang,
capital of North Korea. This is amazing! To be continue... If you liked this video, subscribe to my channel
so you don't miss the next episodes. And you would help me a lot if
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using #CoreaDelNorte. ♪♪♪
