North Korea is defying the world with its secretive nuclear program, but there is no sign of strain along the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang, where throngs stroll and after-work crowds consume liberal quantities of Ryonggsong beer at the earthy Susamul restaurant.
Visitors are allowed only government-controlled glimpses of the world's last bastion of Stalinism, and there is no way of knowing whether what they are permitted to see is real or an illusion. While outside analysts say the Pyongyang regime is tottering, plagued by economic problems and led by an erratic, aging dictator and his quixotic son, a recent, rare visit to Pyongyang created the impression that a stable and efficient dictatorship is in firm control. "Regimes in Cuba, Iraq and Libya have been widely assumed to be on the brink of toppling -- but they're still with us," says a Pyongyang-based diplomat. "Now it's North Korea's turn -- and once again the assessment seems far from accurate."
Bustling restaurants dot Changgwang Street. Crowds of commuters and people of all ages spill out of subway stations. Consumer goods are drab by Western standards but are in ample supply in stores. At the free market in Pyongyang in late May, vendors had plentiful supplies of eggs, radishes and dog meat, a prized culinary delight. Sales were brisk despite the astronomical prices: A single egg cost $9.
"Paradise." Despite such harbingers of change, North Korea remains ideologically steadfast. North Korean officials still use words such as "paradise" and "utopia" to boast of their country's free health care and education, rent-free housing and low crime rate. Yet average citizens remain almost totally isolated from the world. The little foreign news that is doled out by the government-controlled media is of poverty and degradation in hostile nations such as South Korea and the United States, and of international praise for North Korea from often-obscure organizations.
The personality cult around veteran Great Leader Kim Il Sung, 82, and his reclusive son, 51-year-old Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, is taken to extremes. Two flowers, the kimilsungia and kimjongilia, are named after the two leaders. At the International Friendship Exhibition at Mount Myohyang, a museum is devoted to a display of gifts to Kim Il Sung from foreign dignitaries.
But while their politics aren't changing, the North Koreans are trying to adapt economically. The regime is struggling to make ends meet in an era when lavish Soviet aid is only a memory and China -- though still a diplomatic friend has a blossoming relationship with South Korea and now demands the North pay in hard currency for the bulk of its imports.
Making deals. Cranes hang immobile above stalled construction projects, and in major hotels, guests hit a switch as they exit elevators to light the way to their rooms. North Korea is seeking joint ventures and has set up a tax-free export processing zone to try to woo foreign companies to the Rajin-Sonbong area near the Russian frontier. There are some signs of progress: European, African and Middle Eastern entrepreneurs congregate nightly in the bar of Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel, where they talk over prospective deals, from a diamond-cutting venture to manufacturing toy stuffed animals.
But for the most part, North Korea remains a unique and still largely opaque society. On the capital's Mansu Hill, an elderly woman weeps as she tenderly places flowers at the feet of a giant statue of the senior Kim. Pyongyang's Mangyongdae Fun Fair houses what must be the world's quietest roller coaster, as disciplined riders speed through scary loops without a scream, only silent smiles. And on the freeway to the frontier with South Korea, a road sign offers a scarcely needed reminder to all: "Seoul 70 kilometers."
