North Korea by Dualta Roughneen

Author:Dualta Roughneen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: north korea, pyongyang, kim jong il, kim jong un
Publisher: Bennion Kearny

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I should really be able to speak Korean much better by now. I have been a bit lazy with the language, and only have a few sentences. The script here, created in the fifteenth century, is called hangul. Bunches of three characters make each syllable or sound. Apparently there are 11,172 potential combinations or sounds, made from the twenty-four consonants and vowels. To the untrained, western eye, it may look similar to Chinese script, but it works very differently. Chinese script is logographic, meaning that the symbols are images or representations of an idea, and can be quite complex. In Korean script, characters make up syllables. The syllables are written sequentially, usually horizontally though sometimes vertically, left to right, top to bottom.

There are well-worn jokes about the Chinese cooking ‘flied lice’. In Korean, there is the same problem. There is no character that makes either an L sound or an R sound. There is something in between that can sound like both or either. When I say it, I get laughed at because I just can’t get it quite right.

* * *

It is very difficult to get an idea of the military capabilities of the DPRK. There is very little information available, and much of the country’s operations take place in networks of tunnels all over the mountains of Korea, out of sight of prying satellites. Driving around the countryside, I see camouflaged entrances to tunnels that would not be easily visible from the air. How do you fight a war against a country that is essentially a network of catacombs?

The North bought a freighter full of old helicopters and fighter planes from Kazakhstan in 1999. I don’t know what it has bought since, but the perception is that the country is still upgrading its army, under the banner of Songun. I wonder if there are any Libyan armaments that, having spent a holiday in Ireland, are knocking around the DPRK now. The North also has rockets pointed at Seoul at all times, ready to blitz the place at the push of a button.

* * *

It just got really cold again, and it is going to get colder tomorrow. So much for starting my training to run the DPRK marathon. Winter here seems like it never wants to end. I went swimming today in the Olympic-sized pool, instead of going running in these Arctic temperatures. It is huge. A few Koreans were in there as well, but we still had a lane each to swim in. I am still building up to jumping off the ten-metre diving board. I climbed up and had a look. Maybe next time.

* * *

Every year, all the NGOs and the European embassies here have to go to Koppensang Guesthouse to partake in some diplomatic formalities. These formalities largely involve singing. The idea is that pretty much all foreigners turn up, along with their Korean counterparts. Some representative of the European embassies gives a speech, and the Korean Foreign Minister gives a speech. There is a buffet dinner, and each NGO or embassy or other sort of group sings a song or two.

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