North Korea by train! (Video)

Here’s a TV news segment that aired yesterday about a 7-day train tour of North Korea. The special tour takes foreigners along the main train line from the Chinese border to Pyongyang, and then passengers get on a special car on a local train line to see the North Korean countryside:

The report pretty much consists of footage of the scenery seen from the train and what it means. Here’s a short summary:

• The tour starts with a train from Beijing to North Korea. Once in North Korea they take a train along the main route to Pyongyang.
• The buildings and apartments along the route are modern and look expensive, however, people on the roads are still using cattle-drawn carts as transportation.
• Some of the apartment balconies have little gardens on them, which is worth mentioning for some reason.
• They switch to the local line, which is usually off-limits to foreigners. However, a special private car is made available for the tourists, along with food/coffee service.
• The view out the window of the local train is a far cry from the apartment buildings of the main line: many houses look old and run-down, there are few glass windows on buildings, rivers lack bridges and cattle-drawn carts are everywhere.
• An expert explains that the main train line, which often brings in passengers from foreign countries, has been build up as a main street of sorts for showing off the advancement of North Korea, hence the scenery along it makes North Korea look like a modern country.
• Next the report shows us the various types of vehicles seen from the train: container trucks, a Benz, a Japanese van, lots of flatbed trucks with people riding in the back of them, soldiers being transported by tractor, and even trucks powered by a wood-burning furnace.
• The expert explains that the energy crisis in North Korea means that there are very few buses, so people must get rides in any way they can, whether it be riding on the back of a truck or packing on to the back of a tractor cart.
• The report further focues on the poverty of North Korea by showing clips of various people pulling carts or using cattle-drawn carts (which they claim is very common).
• The segment closes by mentioning the disparity between the straight, modern-looking power lines along the main rail line, and the crappy power lines out in the countryside. It looks like there is a shortage of skilled engineers that can pull off the successful construction of power line poles and wiring in North Korea…