"The Aquariums of Pyongyang - Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag" by Kang Chol-Hwan and Pierre Rigoulot

I had hoped to gain some perspective concerning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea before heading there myself. I was to spend one night in the 4-star, South Korean owned Oekumgang Hotel. Kang Chol-Hwan was sentenced to 10 years in the Yodok work camp when he was 8 years old. I climbed a mountain to take some nice pictures, Mr. Kang climbed mountains to gather heavy logs and to bury his dead friends.

The book illuminates the North Korean government's absolute failure to recognize any political or civil rights for its people. It shows a real life enactment of the dark future created in Orwell's 1984. There are the privileged upper party members, the lower party, and the masses. Brainwashing is considered daily hygiene. Dissent, demonstration, logical thought, freedom of speech and information, or anything that resembles these in the slightest are quickly crushed - wiped from the memory of ever happening at all. History is re-written and education censored to enshrine the leader as savior, giver, enlightened-guide.

Double-think, the act of subscribing to purely contrary dogma simultaneously, is actively encouraged so as to ensure the control of an insanely hypocritical dictator. The only currency accepted in the tourist enclosure we stayed at - the US dollar. Don't think, its too difficult and dangerous.

A country of mystery and contradiction. This is Pyongyang at rush hour. Strikingly beautiful with urban forests and empty roadways. A triumphal arch celebrating the genius of the Kims.

Please don't assume that these pictures are mine. They are not. Soldiers were at every corner to make sure we couldn't take home a picture of something accurately North Korean. I wonder how they feel about google earth?