All language subtitles for Michael Palin in North Korea 2

I'm on a journey across North Korea

and after a week, it's time for me
to leave the capital, Pyongyang.

On my way,

I pass under the imposing
Arch of Reunification.

Wow!

That's impressive.

Reunification of Korea might be the
aim for the leadership,

but the reality is this is still
a country divided.

North Korea.

It's a brutal dictatorship,

a country shrouded in mystery,
suspicion and fear.

But after a week...

Wow!

..I think I'm getting past
the stereotypes.

This is a cultural where reverence
to the great leaders is all.

And the sense of mass unity
is so strong.

And now I've gained access to areas
of the country

that are normally off-limits

to understand the war
that divided Korea...

It's interesting to hear
your side of it,

because we were told we had won
and you believed you had won.

..to learn about its ancient past,

and what the leadership claims it
has planned for the future.

This street was all built in a year.

Travelling away from cities,
I'll be meeting the people

of rural North Korea.

So that's your older brother?

What do you want to do?

Once again, I'll be accompanied
by local guides

but maybe they're the ones who
will reveal the real North Korea.

Criticising our leaders is like
criticising ourselves.

A land of mountain ranges, beaches
and forests.

I'm about to discover a very
different side of the DPRK.

Opened in 2001,

the 30-metre-tall
Arch of Reunification

represents the great leader
Kim Il-sung's dream

of reunifying North
and South Korea.

It's also the starting point of
the road that will take me

directly to the border.

And so far, traffic doesn't seem
to be a problem.

This is the Reunification Highway

which runs about 100 miles from
Pyongyang to the Demilitarised Zone.

Well, I suppose sadly because
reunification hasn't happened yet,

this road is almost empty.

There's hardly a single vehicle on
a six-lane highway.

Miles of empty road.

I'm heading 100 miles south to the
DMZ, the Demilitarised Zone,

a 2.5-mile-wide border

that splits the Korean peninsula
in two.

With me are my two guides,

Kyung-chul and Soo-young.

After three hours,

we arrive
at the Joint Security Area,

the one place on the DMZ

where you can cross from one side
of Korea to the other.

Looking after me is the rather
intimidating Senior Lieutenant

Hwang Myong Jin.

The Demilitarised Zone

was created as a result of the
Korean War in the 1950s.

Like most people in the West,

I learned that the war started when
North Korea invaded South Korea,

who were then defended by the UN
and America.

But the Senior Lieutenant
sees it rather differently.

Mm.

But really, nobody won
the Korean War.

There's just been a ceasefire
for over 60 years.

It's interesting to hear
your side of it,

because I was 10 years old when
the war, the armistice, ended

the conflict in 1953, and we were
told we had won.

And you believed you had won,
so there we are.

Well, I would say there are wolves
on both sides, so it's a...

Neither side won.

Our minders are not particularly
happy with me

questioning who won the war.

So we walk on, to what is probably

the most militarily and politically
sensitive area

in the whole
of the Korean Peninsula.

These blue UN conference rooms
are the only place

you can walk between North
and South Korea.

The borders marked by the raised
concrete line

in the middle of the huts.

I've been here once before,

from the other side. 1996.

22 years ago,
while filming in South Korea,

I stood on the other side of the
border as part of a tour group.

Escorted by American soldiers, North
Korea seemed an impenetrable land,

but I've always wanted to see it
for myself.

If you wish to make a crossing
into North Korea,

please do so at that end
of the table.

North Korea.

And more than two decades on,

here I am, this time crossing from
North to South.

The atmosphere is still tense.

So this is 22 years later.

I remember thinking then that,
you know,

it was like it was presented as
a blank wall there

from which you would get no
response at all,

and yet, I felt I wanted
to know more.

You have to know more. You can't
just have one side of the story.

You've got to look at the other side
of the story,

so it's rather...

I'm rather pleased that I'm given
the chance,

have been given the chance, today
to see the other side as well.

So, this time, I don't have
to go back

and out the door as we did before
with our large group of people.

I can come in on my own,

I can walk over into North Korea

and I can stay here for a bit,
and probably have my lunch here.

And that's that. I think that's...

I feel that's an achievement of
some kind,

for all of us.

Sadly, these huts represent
a massive failure of diplomacy,

and since 1953, North Korea
has found it necessary

to create one of the biggest armies
in the world.

It reportedly spends 25%
of its GDP on the military

and its notorious nuclear weapons
programme.

None of this makes
for good small talk.

The nuclear warheads
and nuclear missiles

have cost your country a lot of
money to develop.

Hopefully, there are signs that
there may be a change in relations

between your side and America.

Is this good news?

Well, I hope that people recognise

that we don't really need wars and
armies and weapons.

We should understand each other
by meeting each other,

talking to each other,
sharing our experience,

rather than fighting each other.

It's a simple message

and I hope one day,

more people will understand it!

Well, it's good to meet you

and I hope you're successful with
no more loss of life.

After this, the guide
seemed to relax.

If only the real peace talks could
end this well.

A sad legacy of the Korean War

is that most of North Korea was
destroyed by American bombing

leaving few reminders of what was
here before.

But just a couple of miles away
from the DMZ

is a town that 1,000 years ago
was the capital of Korea.

This is Kaesong.

During the Korean War, it was part
of South Korea

so was spared bombardment.

Now part of the North,

this city, and my hotel,

make me feel like I've arrived in a
totally different century.

Ah!

That looks nice and cosy,
doesn't it? It's good.

The buildings in the hotel
are over 100 years old,

and as night falls, the guides and I
are entertained

by a night of Korean traditions.

They're now bashing the boiled rice
to make it more sticky.

Ah. This is an old tradition, is it?
Yes.

Go on, show me how you...

This actually is an unusual
opportunity for us to do this.

Show me your muscles. Yeah, you're
in good form, you're in good shape.

Soo-young, be careful.

You know, you're fantastic.

There's more on your mallet
than there is on the... Wow!

Just see how heavy it is. Oh, yeah.

You have to do it with this hand.
OK.

Oh! Oh! I think that's...

Actually, I've got a doctor's note.
Bad shoulder.

Yes. Oh! Take a bite.

Mm.

That took great efforts
to bash this.

Yes, actually, still got the marks
of your mouth on this.

Kaesong has taken me back to
North Korea's past

but, tomorrow, I'll be travelling
towards its future.

The next morning, it's time to leave
North Korea's history behind us.

We're driving 300 miles
to the beach town of Wonsan,

a place which could play a large
role in the DPRK of tomorrow.

But the roads are getting worse.

Just about, sort of, halfway now.

This is the...main road.

And, yet, it's pretty rough.

The surfaces can be quite bouncy.

I have this slightly...

You were nodding off there,
weren't you? No. No?

I do. I do. I'm surprised
you can sleep on the road like this.

Winding through the mountains
with the sea at the end of it,

it's quite an adventure.

I associate the sea with holidays.

Do you have summer holidays here,
as well?

Holidays when you go away
with your families?

Oh, we working people have
15 days vacation

and we can choose any day.

I go...to...

I usually go to the sea, beach,
with my friends.

Do you go with your family?
I mean, like your mother and father?

Yeah, I got married last year,
in February, so...

Oh, there she is!
It's his wife. He can't get away.

After a fairly tortuous four hours,

we arrive in
the coastal town of Wonsan.

A city at the centre
of Kim Jong-un's plans

to transform
the North Korean economy.

Palin. Mr Palin? Thank you.

I'm hoping the ping-pong
won't keep me up.

North Korea might be a country
that has closed itself

from the outside world,

but, paradoxically,
it's also trying to restyle itself

as an international
beach destination.

A few miles away from my hotel,
Kim Jong-un has ambitious plans

to turn Wonsan into the
Costa Del Korea.

There's a huge construction project
here in Wonsan

to create a new resort

and a massive amount of workers
have been brought in to the city

and these women here
are here every morning,

and other groups all over the city,

to encourage the workers
to build this extraordinary place

in extraordinarily fast time.

I can't see it happening for HS2.
But...

Maybe they'll learn a thing or two.

Holidays to North Korea might
sound unlikely

but it's already a popular
destination for the Chinese

and international tourism is seen
as a potential future growth area.

This huge development
of luxury beach hotels,

conference centres,
and golf courses,

should be completed by the end
of 2019.

Book now to avoid disappointment.

And visitors won't have to endure
a four-hour drive to get here.

Because they've already built
an international airport.

It's already to go. There's even
the first advert I've seen here.

But there's a distinct lack
of passengers.

Or planes.

What makes this Marie Celeste
of airports even more bizarre

is that all the shops and bars
are fully staffed.

Despite there being no customers.

I suspect they're here
for our benefit.

Nothing has confounded my
expectations of DPRK

as much as this gleaming new airport

and it seems to me
it's a statement of intent.

That DPRK is going out to the world.

"Come here."

In order to fill this place
they've got to have people

from all over the world
coming to the country.

So, it means that the country itself
will have to be seen

by the rest of the world
as the benign and welcoming hosts,

rather than, you know, possible...

..bad boy.

But I wonder if international
tourists will want to travel

to a country that is renowned for
food shortages, famine, and poverty?

With a landscape that is
three-quarters mountain,

North Korea has always struggled to
produce enough food for its people.

This is the Cheongsam
cooperative farm.

A few miles outside of Wonsan
and I'm joining farmer Kim Jang-hui

in the fields.

OK. Michael.

Thank you.

You show me. OK.

Is it rice that you grow, mostly?

Due to a lack of machinery and fuel,
most farm work is done by hand.

Yeah, a lot of that. That's on top?
You're putting it on top. Yes.

How am I doing? All right?

Oh, well. That's honest.

That's honest.

North Korea's food shortages
hit their peak

in the mid-1990s, thanks to
a fatal combination of flooding,

and the end of food imports from
the collapsing Soviet Union.

Aid agencies estimate more than
a million people starved to death.

And it's something
I'd been warned not to bring up.

We...

We remember hearing in the West
that you had a very bad shortage

of food in the 1990s.

Are things much better now? I'm

starting to get used to
North Koreans shutting down

when I ask uncomfortable questions.

Food supplies might be getting
better but malnutrition

is widely reported and though
the government may not like to

admit it, the country still requires
tens of thousands of tonnes

of food aid each year.

This is your house. It's very nice.

Very good.

Ah!

Is this your son?

Nice to meet you. Very nice to meet
you. Oh, very good.

English. Yeah.

A-ha. Thank you.

Mm.

Very nice and comfortable.

Oh, really?

Yes. So they are.
So, that's your older brother? Yes.

What do you want to do?

Army? Oh, well.

Yeah.

Jang-hui offers to make me
some food.

So I offer my services
as an English teacher.

And what's that? Clock.

Clock. Brilliant.

And... What's that?

Hand.

Hand. Put out your hand.

There you are. Hand. Hand. Yeah. My
hand. Your hand. Hand. That's good.

Yeah.

And... Let's see.

What's that?

Tree. Tree.

Hey, brilliant. That's great.

Before I leave the farm,

my host is very insistent
I try some local food.

Oh, this is your kimchi. Yes.
Kimchi. Ah, lovely. Yes. Thank you.

Under the watchful eye
of the great leaders.

Mmm.

It's very good.

But it's very fiery!
It's like eating fire!

Some chilli in here, I think.

Thank you.

I've been charmed by this
family home,

but I can't help but think this
generous hospitality is partly

to give me the impression that food
is in plentiful supply in the DPRK.

It's been a busy day.

So busy that it's easy to forget
it's my 75th birthday.

But the guides and my crew are not
allowing me to forget.

Wow! That is wonderful!
Thank you. Happy birthday!

I never thought I'd make
it to my 75th!

Let alone see a new airport and do
some planting in a field.

Happy birthday!

You know, however old you get,

there's always a job
for you in the DPRK!

Oh, cheers. Oh, thank you.

Oh, that's lovely.

The next morning, it's time to leave
Wonsan and head to a place

that some say is the most
beautiful in North Korea.

We're on our way to Mount Kumgang,

and the weather's changed
completely from yesterday.

In fact, Korean weather's a bit like
British weather - you get one

day of sunshine,
the next day of gloom and drizzle.

But it's rather attractive along
the coastline here.

We're driving to the
Mount Kumgang region.

It's just 80 miles away but,
with North Korean roads,

it's another backbreaking
three-hour journey.

Now we're suddenly into the
mountains.

I say fairly suddenly - they have,
in the last few miles,

climbed a lot.

As we arrive in Mount Kumgang,
the rain clears,

allowing us to begin a hike up the
Kuryong Waterfall.

After two weeks,

Sohyang feels much more like a
friend than an official guide.

The colour of those boulders are so
white compared to all this.

It's beautiful. Yeah, the rocks are
unique. They are, aren't they?

Do you like doing this, hiking?

Yes, I look forward to getting some
fresh air and relax and

thinking of nothing else

but the nature. It's good.

For the first time since
I arrived in the DPRK,

I feel a great sense of freedom.

Wow, look at that!

The Rockies of North Korea.

Take your pick.

Kumgangsan means Diamond Mountain.

And even on this cloudy day,
it is stunning.

That's nice. We'll stop down here.
Shall we? Oops!

Ah!

I'm hoping this is a good place to
have a more open conversation

about our two countries.

I find your country so very
different from ours and yet,

sometimes, very similar.

How do you get your news of what's
going on in the country?

By mass media - TVs and radios and
buying newspapers as well.

What do they tell you about Britain,
how we live? Be honest.

You can be honest. The British -
we feel... Yeah, I mean...

By appearance,
you look so different. Yeah.

I was thinking about our
way of life,

which is really based on freedom of
speech and freedom of thought

and people can wear what they want
and they can dress what they want

and they can be as rude as they want
about their leaders, you know.

Presumably, you think that's,
um...not a good thing?

Er...

It's your freedom,
you can do what you want,

and we have got our own style,
and you have got your own style,

and your citizens can do
what they want.

And your citizens can do what
they want too? Yes.

I mean, at home,
one difference between, I suppose,

your culture and ours is that we can
be very rude about our leaders,

and here I feel you just have a
different way of looking at things.

Because our leaders are very great,

and the leaders are not
individual - they are...

They represent us, the masses.
So we cannot criticise ourselves.

Can we?

Criticising our leaders
is like offending...

..criticising ourselves too.

What do you think?

Well, I think of my leaders that,
sometimes, they're good,

sometimes, they're bad.

I think they make some wrong
decisions and occasionally

some right decisions and, you know,
that's the way they are.

Your leaders, if I may respectfully
say, are very different,

and I absolutely respect the respect
that you have for your leaders.

We respect our feelings.
Yeah, absolutely.

Our feelings, we respect. I wouldn't
want to change your feelings at all.

But it would just be nice to talk
about them, really.

I wouldn't want to change
your feelings.

That's what you feel,
and you're an intelligent person.

And that's why we are so different
from you. If you find...

Yeah. But you and I are not
that different.

I mean, we can talk about things,

and we have similar
intelligence about things.

That's good too, so I absolutely
respect the respect that you

have for them and the way you
feel about them, OK?

Yeah. I really do.

I know these conversations are not
easy for Sohyang,

but what it has shown me is how
every North Korean ties their

identity to that of the
great leaders.

Although I've had many discussions,
and Sohyang, my guide,

is very chatty,

she's very funny and we've had
quite uninhibited discussions,

but, oh, it's so difficult whenever
you get onto any subject

concerning the leadership.
I mean, they just stop.

I think it's just a very,
very difficult thing for them to

talk about because you don't talk
about the leaders.

As soon as you talk about them,
you demean them in some way.

I think that's what it is,
and I'm finding that quite tricky.

But having said all that,
we have been able to film every day,

we've picked up a lot of material,
and I'm a great believer that,

sometimes,
just seeing the way people look,

the way people talk,
the way they eat,

just little glimpses of that,

and the way they cultivate the
farms or whatever,

gives you a real insight into what's
happening in the country.

The next morning,
we make a speedy return to Wonsan.

Thankfully, this is my last
North Korean road trip.

After this, I hope to catch a plane
from Wonsan Airport up to

Mount Paektu - the place where the
story of the Kim dynasty began.

And when we arrive at the ghost
terminal building,

things seem to have changed.

Ah! There are people everywhere,
and a gate.

Hey, a boarding card! Boarding card.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. Bye-bye. But after checking
in, things seem to grind to a halt.

Well, there's been a bit of a hiccup
here because the mist you can

see is cloaking Wonsan Airport,

and the plane that's taking us up
to Mount Paektu cannot take off

from Pyongyang to come here
until this is all cleared, so we

don't quite know when we're going to
actually see the plane and

get on board. So, meanwhile,
we just hang around the airport.

At least it's not going to get
too crowded because this is

the only flight in the day.

After our slightly awkward
conversation yesterday,

I'm hoping Sohyang is not
too annoyed with me.

The Fish Slapping Dance!

And maybe this might make amends.

This is what I used to do a long
time ago before I became...

..a serious person.

That's me.

So is this a live fish or
a dead fish?

Oh, it was a dead fish, yes,
but a live human being!

I was alive - the fish was dead.
A real hit?

Yeah, yeah, hit quite hard,
it was a big pike. Mm. Mm. So funny.

But suddenly, the airport manager,

who frankly has little else to do,
has some news.

We are taking off, but...
But it'll be 40 minutes.

After hours of inertia,
there's a sudden rush of activity,

and the plane arrives from
Pyongyang.

Air Koryo,
the country's national airline,

has one of the oldest
fleets in the world.

This one was built in 1967.

Well, it's happening. Here is our
plane.

We think it's an Antonov, a Russian
plane.

It says 6F, but there isn't any...

There's no 6F.

So, I think I'll just sit here.

Finally, we're on our way.

This 50-year-old plane is taking
me 500 miles north, to Mount Paektu,

close to the border with China.

Very comfortable. I wouldn't say the
seats are functional.

That's what the wonderful
thing about them.

They've got all of these nice
surfaces,

and there's carpet on the floor.

Look at this sort of wallpaper,
which is, you know...

This is 1960s travel,

not 21st-century travel.

You do feel quite comfortable here.

In economy, flying to Mount Paektu
on Koryo airlines.

After a while, the landscape below
becomes increasingly mountainous.

I'm relieved when the wheels
eventually touch down.

As we disembark,

I find myself in a very
different-looking part of the country.

Well, Mount Paektu - the mountain we have
come all of this way to see - is just there.

Just below where the sun is setting.

I mean, it is not one great peak,
it's a sort of group of mountains.

It is out really over there,

just where the sun and the dark
clouds are gathering.

So you can't actually see it,
but...

..you can sort of feel it.

But as the sun sets,

the clouds clear and the snowy
peaks reveal themselves.

Ancient Korean legend has it that
the mythical leader, Dangun,

who created Korea, was born at Mount
Paektu thousands of years ago.

But this area is also home to a
slightly more recent legend.

After we arrive at the hotel,

our taste buds are tantalised by
a barbecue dinner.

Mm. Good.

Basically a potato...

..that's been posted on the fire.
It is quite dark, you can see that.

Well, you can't see it,
and I can't see it.

I could be eating a dead mouse.

But, actually I'm told it is a
potato.

Actually, it's rather good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's hard to believe that these
rustic surroundings gave

birth to the ruling Kim dynasty.

The next morning, I wake up in the
far north of the DPRK,

and at a hotel which I'm not sure
often sees actual guests.

But those who make it this far are
probably here to see Mount Paektu,

the place where Kim Il-sung, the first leader
of the DPRK, made a name for himself.

And just a few miles away,

there are the remains of the camp
where he lived with his family.

I'm given a military guide to show
me around the rebuilt camp.

During the first half of
the 20th century,

Korea was under hostile
occupation by Japan.

Kim Il-sung first gained a
reputation

as a heroic resistance fighter in
the 1930s.

It was also here that the future
leader of the DPRK, Kim Jong-il was

apparently born.

A miraculous moment.

It's a great story, but it is
widely thought that Kim Jong-il was

actually born in communist Russia.

How much fighting King Il-sung did
here is up for debate.

But while the west sees the Kim
dynasty as a dictatorship,

here they are worshipped as heroes.

Defending their country against
Japanese and American invaders.

It is this version of history that
has helped them to hold on to

power for 70 years.

Well, that is a pretty sensational
view of Mount Paektu.

This is a place where a lot
comes together.

1000s of years of Korean history,

symbolised, enshrined by Mount
Paektu itself,

and then just behind
me here,

the monument of the founder of
the DPRK, Kim Il-sung.

The past and the present coming
together here.

As I look at Mount Paektu,

a place that has been sacred to all
Koreans for thousands of years,

I can't help but wonder if the great
leaders and their giant

statues will be around
quite as long.

But it's time for me to leave.

Our plane is ready to take us back
to the bright lights of Pyongyang.

My time in North Korea is
drawing to a close.

It's my last morning in Pyongyang...

..and this city, which felt totally
alien two weeks ago,

is now strangely familiar.

But there's one area I've yet to
explore.

A brand-new development of
apartments,

shops and restaurants on the bank
of the Taedong River.

This is the North Korea of
the 21st-century...

And it's changing.

This is called Mirae Street,
which means, I think,

"future scientist street".

And it's one of the miracles of the
DPRK, because this street,

which contains these amazing
blocks, was all built in a year.

It takes me about a year to get
the bedroom painted.

Let alone build an entire
modern city street.

But even just to build this
stuff that quickly,

shows ambition and a sense of
national commitment.

Commitment to making this look
like a modern city.

Since becoming leader, Kim
Jong-un has promised to revitalise

the economy of the DPRK.

Many people say that free-market
forces are slowly taking hold,

as the old ideals of communism
slip away.

Maybe in five years' time,

the street will be full of
McDonald's and adverts for iPhones.

If so, I'm glad to have seen it
before it becomes like

everywhere else.

When I first looked out over
Pyongyang, I can remember

feeling very wary, apprehensive.

It was all very unfamiliar and
slightly threatening.

Now, two weeks later,
I must say I feel much more relaxed.

I feel almost part of the city.
I feel I know it much more.

I certainly feel less threatened.

I know that the ideology here
permeates every single aspect

of life, and I know that we've
not seen everything.

And yet, what I have seen feels...

..well, it doesn't feel grim.

It doesn't feel brutal,

as some would have us think.

It is actually, I would say,
not an unhappy place.

But it feels to me that this
country is at a crossroads.

On the one hand, it wants to open
up to the wider world,

to expand culturally and
economically.

But on the other,

the system here seems intent on
keeping the population under

the type of
authoritarian rule that can

only persist in a closed and
repressive society.

At some point in the near future,

I feel the DPRK will have to
decide which way it wants to go.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you for everything. Yes. Yes.
I'm sure you will be a film star.

And you have been brilliant.

Oh, my lovely companion.

I wish you all the best.
Thank you for looking after me.

You've made an old man very happy.

Anyway... lovely. Hope to see
you again. See you again.

Come to London. We will.

I would
love to show the guides my world,

to see what they would make of it
all. For now, that's not possible.

But events are moving fast and I
hope positive change is

coming to the people of North Korea.