Monthly Archives: July 2013

Tonight we attended the famous Arirang “mass games.” I didn’t have a good camera but took a few photos including this one. The background image is famously formed by thousands of school children holding up colored cards. The show also … Continue reading →

This weekend we visited the scenic Kumgangsan mountain area. It’s just a few miles from the rugged mountains to the rocky seashore, where you can see fishing boats in the distance and South Korea on the hazy horizon.

After several days of rain, this morning was cool and foggy. I went for a walk and took the video panorama of the campus linked below. I also saw dozens of these small frogs who had hopped down into the … Continue reading →

Faculty members at PUST eat most meals with the students. This day we had an interesting conversation about the classic North Korean movie “The Tale of Chun Hyang” (춘향전) and how it portrays the belief system of North Koreans in … Continue reading →

The reunification monument spans the road toward Seoul. I share with the North Koreans a desire for the country to be reunified, although we disagree about how it could happen. The Arch of Triumph was build to commemorate the resistance … Continue reading →

This monument was built next to the school parking lot since last year. Similar monuments can be found all across the DPRK. I think the rough meaning of the words on this one is, “Onward to the final victory!”

I am speaking at the PUST Sunday morning faculty meeting, explaining the meaning of the Pilgrim songs.

Tonight we went to the Italian restaurant in downtown Pyongyang where I had the pizza and Coke pictured below for dinner. Pyongyang is a place of startling and puzzling contrasts.

Cafeteria breakfast, Korean style. A very moist and delicious piece of wheat bread, a soybean and rice porridge that is very much like oatmeal, and the inevitable kimchi. Not a bad breakfast for an American, but most of us also … Continue reading →