Memorabilia from North Korea: North Korean Money.

Series 3 in my North Korean Memorabilia contains images of the North Korean currency I brought back from North Korea. As tourists you are not allowed to use the local currency, but instead are asked to purchase everything in either Chinese Yuan (preferable in stores), Euro (for organized trips), and surprisingly enough, American dollars (mostly favoured in hotels and the amusement park I went to). In fact simply getting your hands on North Korean currency can be rather tricky.

When I was in Paekdu, I asked the young lady at the hotel lobby if I could exchange some money. The hotel was new and the staff there didn’t seem to be all that experienced dealing with foreigners. I handed over 20 Euro and she gave me a handful of notes. I did it early in the morning, about 7AM, when the lobby was empty and no one could see what i was doing.

Later in the day, when heading back to Paekdu airport, one of the guides boarded the bus and asked which one of us had acquired some North Korean currency. I didn’t say anything at first, but after a few seconds of silence I figure there was no point trying to hide and playing dumb was probably the best way to go (and to avoid any getting into any trouble). The guide was good about and gave me back my Euro’s and took away my North Korean notes.

The night before I was leaving Pyongyang, the same guide came to my door and said she could get me some, but it would cost 50 Euro. I agreed (pfft… who wants Euro’s anyway?) and she returned 20 minutes later with an enveloped stuffed with crisp North Korean notes.

I’m not sure how legit the whole thing was, but consequently I was the only one who managed to walk away with a stack of money (although I did share some of it later on with the other members of our group, making sure I kept at least one of each).

So a little about North Korean money.

The wŏn became the currency of North Korea on December 6, 1947, replacing the Korean yen that was still in circulation. It was revalued at a rate of one hundred to one in 1959.

North Korean wŏn are intended exclusively for North Korean citizens, and the Bank of Trade (무역은행) issued a separate currency (or foreign exchange certificates) for visitors, like many other socialist states. However, North Korea made 2 varieties of foreign exchange certificates, one for visitors from "socialist countries" which were coloured red, and the other for visitors from "capitalist countries" which were coloured blue/green. In recent times, FECs have been largely deprecated in favor of visitors paying directly with hard currency, especially the
euro.

For the record, the official rate for one North Korean won is about 0.007143 US Dollar ($1 = 140 won). However the black market rate has the North Korean won roughly 10 times weaker, almost on par with the South Korean won.

To see scans of some of the notes I brought back with me, click here… Read more »

Memorabilia from North Korea: Books (Pyongyang Review & 100 Questions and Answers)

Following on from my first series regarding memorabilia I brought back from North Korea during my 2005 trip is the next series, a couple of books I picked up at Pyongyang book store. The first book, 100 Questions and Answers – Do you know about Korea?, is an enlightening book dealing with some commonly asked questions regarding life and political stance of both North Korea and their interactions with the rest of the world. The second book, Pyongyang Review, is a quick overlook at Pyongyang city and all the show piece city has to offer, as well as its much decorated history. I’ll go into a little detail for each of the books.

If you would like larger coped of any images, or without watermarks, please feel free to email me.

Please click here to read on… Read more »

Memorabilia from North Korea: Stamps.

As you may or may not know, I went to North Korea for 2 weeks in October of 2005. During my time there I was very fortunate to visit Pyongyang, Paekdusan, Kaeseong, and the DMZ. I took a huge number of photos, over a thousand in all, and posted them on my site (not all thousand, but certainly a generous number) which can all be viewed from this link. To say it was one of the more eye-opening experiences of my life would be a massive understatement and I felt I walked away from North Korea a little more wiser and understanding of the country, the people, and the government.

Whilst in North Korea, I also managed to pick up a lot of memorabilia in the forms of books, money, pins, cards, and other little bits and pieces. I haven’t really thought about them in a while but was reminded when reading an interesting post on the Marmot’s Hole, a very good and informative blog written here in Korea. In particular in the article was the mention of North Korean stamps and the sort of fascination regarding them.

I was very lucky to have the opportunity to visit a post office while in Pyongyang (and most likely the only time I’ll feel that way about going to a post office) and took the time to purchase several as a keepsake. Since there is a definite interest in North Korean stamps out there, I thought I would share them with you.

In fact, I figured I may as well share most of what I brought back from North Korea, in case a handful of people out there are interested (and I can think of at least two people who would be). Over the next coming weeks I’ll present some short posts with some of the memorabilia I brought back with me starting with Stamps today.

If you have any feedback, please feel free to comment, but please remember you need to be registered and logged in to do so. If anyone would like copies of the images without the watermarks (as simple as they are) please email me and I’m sure we can work something out.

All images have been scanned on my trusty Samsung scanner. The larger pieces, and there are a couple, I’ve had to do piece by piece and join them back up in Adobe Photoshop, in case you wonder why there are some joining lines in some of the images.

So, without further ado, let me present; Stamps from North Korea. Read more »

North Korea: Posters from across the border.

Sometime close to 8 or so months ago I promised that one day I would post some pictures of the North Korean posters and painting I brought back from Pyongyang. Well today, after a long wait, it’s finally here. Below are a collection of the 7 random prints and originals I got. The paintings, the first two photo’s, I was very fortunate indeed to get. Not only are most tourists not allowed to buy them, the North Korean guides often ignore the pleads of tourists to even see them. Our guide was awesome, and while she had no obligation to let us buy some, she went out of her way to organize a special trip for us at a local Pyongyang art and book gallery to buy some.

The paintings costed a bomb, and by North Korean standards a small fortune, it was well worth every Euro I spent and treasure them with my life. I was planning on hanging them up in my room and getting them framed, but after hearing about how such materials are against the law in this country (at least for Korean citizens) I thought perhaps it wasn’t in the best of taste. After all, one must remember that these two countries are technically still at war.

As for translations, well I can’t help you with those. I’ll need my Korean friends to give me exact translations, rather than a ‘general meaning’ that my limited Korean could provide.

I really hope you enjoy these photos’. Click below to see them.

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Pyongyang: Train ride to Beijing.

Day 11 & 12 Train ride from Pyongyang to Beijing.

Our final day in North Korea was another early morning start to Pyongyang train station. Surprisingly crowded we worked our way to the train and got onboard our carriage. Due to, well, lack of organization by someone, our group was split up into 2 smaller groups of 7 and 19. The smaller group to ride in the Chinese carriages with the other 50-odd people, while the rest of us were in the North Korean carriage.

I have to point out that in the morning I started to feel the effects of Pyongyang belly which intensified throughout the day, which is never a good thing when riding on a Soviet built train with a shared toilet that was literally a hole cut into the bottom of the carriage floor. As you can imagine, it wasn’t the most pleasant ride for me.

The cities we passed through on the way to the Chinese border were;  Mundok, Pakchon, Chongju, Sonchon, Ryongchon, and the border town of Sinujin.

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Pyongyang: Kim Il Sung Square, Tower of the Juche Idea, and BBQ Duck.

Day 10 Pt 2. – Pyongyang: Kim Il Sung Square, Tower of the Juche Idea, and BBQ Duck.

Continuing on from day 10, we next made our way to Kim Il Sung Square, an impressive square that only days before held the military parade. Sadly foreigners are not allowed to attend that parade (and never have been from memory) but we did manage to see it on TV. Things always look a little bit bigger on TV. I have to add as well that while we were there it happened to fall on the 60th Anniversary of the Workers Party, so the Monday (Day 4 from memory) was a public holiday and thus lots of celebrations were happening around the city. There was also, and I was told this later on, additional acts in the Arirang Games (we noticed a few parts missing on the second performance I was there after the anniversary).

Oh yeah, Kim Jong Il attended the Arirang Games a day after we did. Of course no foreigners are allowed to be there when Dear Leader is present.

Follow the link for the rest of day 10 actions and photos.

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Pyongyang: Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, USS Pueblo, Walking through Pyongyang, and The Great People’s Study Hall.

Day 10 Pt 1. – Pyongyang: Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, USS Pueblo, Walking through Pyongyang, and The Great People’s Study Hall.

The first port of call was the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum. LP reads:

The Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum is a fascinating place. The key battles of the Korean War are depicted vividly in dioramas, and there’s some fascinating military hardware from war-damaged tanks and aircraft to torpedo boats used in both sides. These were all placed in the basement and the museum was then built around them.

Admittedly its really just a giant propaganda museum that depicts a totally different Korean War then the one that actually happened. The key battles were focused only on the limited military battles that the North won, mainly focusing early in the war when they had almost totally had control of all Korea.

Follow the link for the rest of day 10 actions and photos.

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Kaesong and Pyongyang: Kaesong, Panmunjeom, DMZ, Pyongyang Metro, Mansudae Grand Monument, Walking through Pyongyang, and Lunch. Pt 2.

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