Inside North Korea
Inside North Korea by Norbert Vollertsen
Dr. Vollertsen was a volunteer for German Emergency Doctors, a non-profit medical aid group, and the purpose of his 18-month stay in North Korea was to assess and assist the North Korean medical system.
Excerpts from his diary :
REFLECTIONS UPON ARRIVING IN PYONGYANG The decorative pins are everywhere. Waiters, conductors, cleaners, officials, ice-cream sellers — every single adult wears them on their lapel. In all their different forms there must be a million of these pins in the country. The colors on the borders are said to symbolize the social standing of the wearer.
Pyongyang received me with skyscrapers by the river — a real skyline with diverse luxury hotels, six-lane roads decorated with banners, innumerable shopping centers and people who showed no sign of starvation. We humanitarian workers live in a high-security apartment in the diplomatic compound. North Korean civilians are not permitted to enter. Those who try are stopped by a guard at the entrance.
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