When Macau resident Simon Lam, 33, heard about the Pyongyang Marathon, the amateur marathon runner didn’t waste any time seizing the opportunity to see North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), a country he had never been to before.
“I signed up with Uri Tours, an agency specializing in taking foreigners to the DPRK. They still had slots open in late January for amateur marathoners,” says Lam, who curates the Iao Hin Art Gallery in Macau. “I had run the Macau marathon recently and seeing that there was a marathon in North Korea, I thought this was an excellent opportunity to visit this interesting country”.
The marathon, held in the world’s most isolated capital, has been open to foreign amateur runners since 2014 and is a rare opportunity for visitors to interact with North Koreans. Citizens of all countries, except those with South Korean passports, can participate. This year the event was held on April 10.
“Aside from when we ran the marathon on the streets of Pyongyang, we were supposed to be accompanied by guides at all times,” explains Lam. The Polish passport holder says that despite foreigners not being allowed to walk unattended, he did manage to slip away for a moment, without any consequences.
“I was able to venture out on my own around the stadium right after the marathon. I said I was going upstairs to buy water and left for two hours, walking around, trying to interact with the locals and recording everything on video with a hidden GoPro camera. It was an amazing and somewhat scary experience,” says the marathon runner.
Lam goes on to say that some North Koreans he encountered looked “shy and distant”, but others “did say hello and exchanged smiles.”
Lam explains that, officially, they were not allowed to photograph anything without permission from the guides, usually only at museums, monuments, and parks: “Photos of the military, or from the bus window, or on the streets, were out of the question. But I did take the risk to record most banned places with a hidden camera and I smuggled the micro SD card inside an internal layer of my clothing,” he says. “I wanted to be able to share the real North Korea with others.”
Regarding the limitations imposed on him, Lam says that in addition to the ban on travelling without guides and restrictions on photographs, simple things like walking on the grass was also forbidden. Also not allowed was any activity that involved the name of the “dear leader” of North Korea, “such as folding a newspaper with a photo of Kim Jong Un on it.” In addition, “we were constantly being reminded not to chew gum and we had a tight schedule, with very little free time.”
The runner did not shy away from interacting with all the people he met: “There was a language barrier, but there is no law prohibiting interaction between foreigners and Korean people. I talked to the guides, restaurant staff, the airplane crew, hotel staff, and even some people on the street. They were all very interested to know what I thought about their country and showed an interest in my photos from home. I showed them Macau, my family, my house, the gallery, and they were amazed,” he recalls.
Lam confesses that the trip has completely changed the way he sees North Korea: “It is a nation that lives in the past; it is how I imagine China would have been in the 1970s. Korean people are polite and shy, but strong and united. They refuse to accept our culture, led by money, and desperately cling to their customs and values. It is unfortunate that we don’t hear their side of the story too,” he notes.
“What strikes me is how little they pollute the environment: bicycles are the primary mode of transport; there are solar panels on the balconies, among the flowers; there are almost no cars, some scooters which are electric, and there is no noise or light pollution. Cities go dark at night no flashy advertising, true, but why is that a bad thing?” Lam questions. “People are not glued to their mobile phones from dawn to dusk, the public spaces, streets and clothes are all spotless”.
The Macau resident also noticed a big contrast between North Koreans and the people who live in China today, where he says they only think about making money.
“It felt surprisingly refreshing not to be hassled for money during those few days. Nobody wants you to buy their stuff, nobody tries to cheat you or rip you off. People are polite, but tough. Children continue to be children, as anywhere else, playing, smiling, saying ‘hello’, curious to know the world.”
Asked if at any time he felt that that the locals were only pretending, Lam says that at first he thought so. But after being in the country for some time, he realized that “it’s more complicated than that”.
“North Koreans want us to have a good impression of their country and do their best to welcome foreigners. It is good hospitality, not acting. They act the same way with foreigners around or not,” he says.
On why the isolated country decided to loosen and open its borders to foreigners, Lam believes it was simply a matter of survival: “The DPRK is in desperate need of foreign currency and are planning to increase the number of tourists from the current 30 thousand a year, of which 90 percent are Chinese, to a million a year by the end of the decade. It is the official policy of the Korean leadership. This is becoming even more important now, given the recent sanctions,” Lam says.
Lam spent three nights and four days in North Korea: “Foreigners could only stay in one of two hotels in Pyongyang. Apart from Koryo Hotel, Yanggakdo is the other hotel, located on an island. Those were the only two options given to us and it is unlikely that a foreigner would have stayed elsewhere.”
The trip cost him about US$1200 (roughly 9,500 patacas), including air travel, hotel, meals, transportation, guides, including local costs of about 300-400 euros (around 3,600 patacas) on beer, snacks, souvenirs and tips.
