Original subtitles

On Unreported World we're at the Mass Games in North Korea.

Marcel Theroux attends the country's 70th birthday party

after travelling outside of the capital, where there's much talk of

reunification with the South.

But his biggest surprise comes in how the North Koreans plan to

attract you to visit.

And here's a clue - you'll need some skis.

Rockets over North Korea's capital.

A year ago the very idea meant something sinister.

Tonight they're advertising the country's 70th birthday party,

and I've got a ticket.

I'm on my way to the Mass Games, the greatest show on earth.

More than a 100,000 North Koreans take part,

and they'll be singing their hearts out for the glory of the fatherland.

This will be the climax of a journey around North Korea,

where I've never been sure if what I'm seeing is real or just for show.

My week-long visit began on a Monday morning in downtown Pyongyang.

My week-long visit began on a Monday morning in downtown Pyongyang.

This is the only way that you can visit North Korea -

under strictly controlled conditions.

I'm marked as a journalist,

so supervised by a guide at all times

and adhering to a strict schedule.

Our team of minders decides what we get to visit.

I'm not sure where they're taking us or who they're going to let us meet,

but the view out of the window is extraordinary.

The way people are dressed, the lack of advertising,

the propaganda posters, the general orderliness,

all reminds me of the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

It's like we've slipped back in time, almost.

Our first stop is something called the Tower of the Juche Idea,

and all I know for sure is that it's very big.

The tower's official guide tells me it was built to celebrate

North Korea's unique brand of socialism.

Our viewers will have no idea what the Juche Idea is.

Can you explain, Mrs Chang.

Well, I'm still baffled,

but perhaps you need to climb it to understand Kim Il-sung's vision.

Wow.

Who knew that the capital of North Korea looked like this?

And I'm told this is all part of a building boom that has

changed the look of the city.

That's the famous unfinished hotel that stands like a

Martian pyramid, and it's been there for decades.

But these buildings along the waterfront are all new.

I've heard stories about a shabby grey city with power cuts,

but Pyongyang looks like a boom town.

Juche, whatever it is, appears to be working.

We're on the move again,

but our progress across the city hits an unexpected problem.

So we're stopped in traffic because the President of South Korea

is here with his delegation, so the city's in lockdown and

we're not allowed to film the motorcade,

so we're stuck next to this bus.

It feels like we're here at an incredible time -

North and South Korea are holding peace talks.

Even the fact that we're allowed to film out of the window is a

big change for visiting journalists.

But throughout the city, big brother is watching.

Images of Kim Il-sung, the country's founder, and his son,

Kim Jong-il, are everywhere.

But it's the grandson, Kim Jong-un, who's now in charge.

Next stop, and it's something I've been hoping to see.

They're giving me an escorted tour of the Pyongyang Metro system,

which is meant to be very beautiful.

What's the name of the station?

Puhung station.

This is a real treat.

Check out all the advertising.

A rumour started that you only had two stations. Why?

Because journalists were taken to one station and they came out at

the other station, and a rumour started that the Pyongyang system

only had two and it wasn't real.

Mr Ri is our chief minder.

It's his job to give us the best possible impression of his country.

This is a tour of Pyongyang.

We're only getting to see a very particular selection of sights.

We are controlled very rigidly.

We get hurried on from place to place.

So in a way it doesn't feel like we're engaging

with this place at all.

Whoa, look at that.

I'm amazed to see that every single person is wearing a badge of

North Korea's leaders over their heart.

And yet even here there are signs of change.

The two guys next to me are playing on their North Korean mobile phones.

What's most unusual about these smartphones is that none of

them can call abroad or connect to the internet.

They're a sign of prosperity, not freedom.

Just like me,

these North Koreans can only see what the government allows.

We only have two stops.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding you.

I know you have more than two stops,

but you can see how the confusion arises.

In fact, the map shows 16 stations on the Metro.

I've yet to visit the others.

Next on Mr Ri's schedule is a factory.

The murals are a feature of these factories.

They celebrate times when the leaders of the country have come

and given what they call on-the-spot guidance,

which means, in this case, that Kim Jong-il would have come

and given them advice on how to farm fish.

The Great Leader's visit is also commemorated in a special

history room.

OK.

But no filming is permitted inside.

With everything connected to the leaders, there's an atmosphere

of great reverence that's almost religious,

and a feeling that if you do something wrong or disrespectful

you're going to cause huge offence,

which is I think why the cameras weren't allowed in.

Mr Ju is the boss of this state-owned enterprise.

I ask him about the salaries he and his workers earn.

Mr Ju said something really interesting,

he said that the factory's allowed to keep a share of the money

it makes and give it to the workers, increase their wages.

Now, that may not sound amazing,

but given this is North Korea, that's a significant change.

And whisper it softly,

some people might say it's a step towards capitalism.

I see other little hints of entrepreneurship as we drive

through the city -

new retail kiosks that have sprung up across the capital.

And where there used to be posters attacking US imperialism,

there are new ones calling for economic growth.

Rival taxi firms are competing for business outside

our next stop - a trade fair.

The place is teeming with people.

There's so much energy in there, but our cameras aren't allowed in.

But there are exhibitors showing energy drinks, honey products,

electrical products.

A lot of are looking for investors,

and all of them want to do business with the outside world.

The vast majority of foreign companies here are from China,

North Korea's biggest partner.

International sanctions imposed because of North Korea's

nuclear weapons programme badly affect the economy,

but I can see there's a local middle class

with the money and appetite to buy.

As night falls, there's time for the day's last excursion.

This is a surreal sight - a Pyongyang funfair.

This is not anyone's image of North Korea.

This is the big question about North Korea -

are people terrified or are they having fun?

I'd like to chat, but will people want to talk to me?

My minder, Mr Ri, is also my translator.

You're the winner.

What's your secret?

I'm sorry, your friend...

She won.

She beat me easily.

They tell me they're at film school.

What is the best thing to see in Pyongyang?

Why, what's so good about that?

They keep glancing at Mr Ri.

What's the second best thing to see?

Everyone stays on message.

Back at my hotel, I'm taking stock of the day.

I've been warned that the walls have ears, so I'm out on the balcony.

I do have to keep reminding myself that I'm seeing a bubble

within a bubble - that Pyongyang is a city of 2.7 million people,

and there are 25 million people in North Korea,

so I'm seeing the most elite, the most privileged section of society.

It's a bit like going to Mayfair and assuming that that gives you

a representative glimpse of the entire United Kingdom,

which it clearly doesn't.

I wonder what life is like beyond this bubble.

The next morning brings a chance to see.

We're heading out of Pyongyang,

towards the monument that marks the city limits.

We pass a series of checkpoints -

entry to the capital is only for the chosen few.

Beyond it lies a very different world.

I see a much poorer country - oxen ploughing fields,

people planting and hoeing by hand.

This feels tantalisingly close to the real North Korea.

I wonder if the minders will let us get any closer.

We're going to visit a showpiece collective farm

in this agricultural area.

We're having a lot of difficulty filming though,

cos this place is crawling with soldiers, and I suspect they're

helping with the harvest, because the North Korean Army is so big,

a lot of times the soldiers are used for building and agricultural work.

We're given a tour of the farm by Mrs Kim.

I doubt this is representative of North Korean agriculture,

but it is a chance for me to raise a sensitive subject.

I know that in the 1990s a terrible famine devastated North Korea,

killing up to 2 million people.

Everyone must know someone who suffered,

but will anyone admit it?

Could you tell us your recollections about the famine period?

At the worst point of the famine were people here starving?

Mrs Kim clearly doesn't want to dwell on those hard times.

But even today, the United Nations says that 40% of North Koreans

don't have enough to eat.

That night Mr Ri takes us out for dinner in Pyongyang's

newest neighbourhood.

We're a long way from grass porridge here.

The clientele are Pyongyang's nouveau riche.

In spite of international sanctions,

there's no shortage of foreign booze.

That was brilliant.

Is this the real North Korea?

Only the propaganda songs remind us we're still in a socialist country.

But if the leader is OK with it, it must be Juche.

Another day, yet another excursion.

North Korea is trying all sorts of ways to bring in money

and keep living standards rising,

but our next destination still comes as a shock.

So where are we going? What's happening now?

People don't associate your country with world-class skiing.

How did it come about?

Oh, you didn't know that he went to school in Switzerland,

you're not aware of that?

OK.

If Mr Ri knew that his Great Leader

went to a fancy Swiss boarding school he wasn't admitting it to us.

So this is the Masikryong Hotel.

It's part of a ski resort that is being built for North Korea

to bring world-class skiing facilities to this country.

I'm not sure who this is intended for -

foreign tourists or the Great Leader himself?

I mean, it's quite bizarre to have a ski resort in a country where

there aren't enough buses for everyone.

Being in this five-star hotel has given me the opportunity to achieve

one of my North Korean ambitions.

I've heard that only certain hairstyles are acceptable

in North Korea, so I thought I'd see what's on offer.

They've got names like ripple, cloud, firework,

sunbeam, goose and traditional fan.

I go for swelling style.

So I'm having my hair cut

according to one of the 12 most popular styles in Korea.

I'm told that hair the length of mine is not popular in North Korea,

and nor is long hair of any kind for men.

And so I just want to be more popular.

I mean, doesn't everyone?

When I say not popular, I mean a North Korean with

unconventional hair can expect to be stopped by the police.

It clearly doesn't take much to be unconventional here.

I actually look exactly like that guy,

although he's younger and better looking than me.

If military haircuts are popular perhaps it's because

North Korea is a country at war.

We're heading to the front line, the demilitarised zone,

the border that separates North and South Korea.

We're now in the demilitarised zone and we're being escorted by

a colonel and a solider from the North Korean army.

We're a stone's throw from the border with South Korea.

I can see a South Korean flag waving over the trees in the distance.

North Korea has over a million men in uniform -

the largest army in the world per capita.

One of them is our guide, Lieutenant Colonel Hwang.

You're on the front line of a war that's still active -

do you ever feel afraid?

This is the border between North and South,

and the blue huts are actually the American huts.

The white ones belong to North Korea.

And there's a little detachment of North Koreans guarding that hut

in case any American soldiers try to defect to North Korea.

US soldiers. Where?

There. Behind the blue building.

I wondered what the Lieutenant Colonel thinks when he sees

the American soldiers.

Still there's a sense of bitterness and anger.

You know, when I see that line I think that North and South Korea

are like twins that have been separated at birth.

On this side, communism or socialism,

and on that side capitalism.

And just 70km away is Seoul, the capital of the South.

I've been to Seoul and it's hard to imagine a bigger contrast

than between its hi-tech glamour and this.

In the decades since Korea was divided,

the North has become vastly poorer than the South -

average incomes are about £1,000 a year.

It seems inconceivable that the two Koreas could ever be

one nation again.

I'm heading back to Pyongyang for what promises

to be the highlight of the week.

Whoa, look at that.

The Mass Games are about to start.

Is this gate six?

This one?

This is the world's biggest stadium - it seats 150,000 people.

Imagine the vertigo from the gods.

In front of us are 17,000 schoolchildren drafted in

to flip the cards that will form the backdrop.

SINGING

The big theme of the night is reunification.

And the loudest applause is for this -

footage of Kim Jong-un and the President of South Korea

shaking hands at the demilitarised zone.

Uniting the two countries is shown as the goal of their talks.

The crowd loves it,

but I wonder what kind of country that would be.

The performance shows how different the two Koreas have become -

the South has K-pop,

the North has this.

It's a brilliantly choreographed advert for North Korea's

brand of socialism,

but, like all adverts it's not the truth.

The invisible people pushing that platform remind me

of everything we aren't being shown -

the tens of thousands of political prisoners

who could fill this stadium...

..the one-in-five North Korean children who are stunted

from lack of food.

But inside this stadium everything is perfect.

The crowd is high on the spectacle and the promise of reunification.

But how on earth you bring two such different countries back together

is a question no-one here is even allowed to ask.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media