I first visited North Korea in 1986, when the Great Leader Kim Il-sung was still alive. He died in 1994.
I went again in April 2012, shortly after his son and successor the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il died (December 2011).
His son Kim Jong-un had succeeded him and was, at that time, being referred to as the Supreme Leader.
Below are the blogs I wrote in April 2012. I wrote them on paper while in North Korea and kept them in my inside jacket pocket at all times and only posted them once I was back in the UK. I am not that mad.
12th April – George Orwell’s pyramid looms over the capital city Pyongyang
13th April – A land of nuclear bombs and satellite launches, but no electricity
14th April – Walter Mitty truth in an anarchic, pedestrian totalitarian state
15th April – North Koreans are not the the mindless brainwashed zombies of US propaganda
16th April – The Leaders’ spectacles
17th April – A beacon of hope for the down-trodden masses of the wide world
18th April – Phallic monuments, war lies, famine and an interview with MI5
19th April – “Confess your crimes against the people of North Korea or you will not be allowed to leave the country tomorrow”
20th April – Return from North Korea to China, land of individual freedom & Keanu Reeves
21st April – My undying admiration for their supreme leader Kim Jung-un