Zuckervati MissingLinks

Facinating blog looking behind the curtain of the world's most reclusive nation.

Infiltrating North Korea Part 1 - Gadling

My first impression of North Korea was just what I expected: an old, weathered airport crowded with dour-faced people in uniforms.

Policemen, soldiers, customs officials, airline employees and lord knows what other branch of the government requiring a uniform were all packed into the arrival terminal at Pyongyang International Airport looking stern and threatening. It was an intimidating show of force and I was not looking forward to a cadre of officials tearing apart my luggage in search of whatever they might consider contraband. But instead, my baggage was simply x-rayed by a stoic soldier who asked me, in probably the only English he knew, "Cell phone?"

Cell phones are not allowed into North Korea and I watched as those behind me surrendered their only link to the outside world to customs officials who would eventually return them five days later when it was time to depart.