The first Romanians who arrived in North Korea before they close their borders were the Vloggers Andreea and Ionuț from “Haahui in two”, who shared their impressions in a video material, “what we were not allowed to shoot/say in North Korea! 5 days in the most isolated country ”.
Andreea and Ionuț from “Haahui in two”. Photo: video capture
On February 20, the first Western tourists began to arrive in Reson, a city in North Korea designated as a special economic area, to test the new financial policies. The event took place five years after the country was completely isolated from the rest of the world, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On this occasion, the well-known Romanian vloggers “Haahui in two”, Andreea and Ionuț, were among the first Western tourists who walked in North Korea after five years of isolation. The two entered the terrestrial, from China, together with a group of ten people, through an accredited agency.
“I entered North Korea. We are the first Westerners who, after five years, walk in this isolated country, led by three generations by the Kim Dynasty. I entered the terrestrial, through China and fulfilled all the entrance formalities that the agency with which we went ”, they declared.
The border crossing process took about three hours, and the vloggers noted that tourists were less strictly controlled than the North Korean citizens. An essential aspect of entry was the declaration of all electronic devices, such as phones, laptops and cameras.
“As a tourist, you are not allowed to film anything, anytime. You always have to wait for the guide’s instructions. Also, you can not take any step without being supervised, any route is predetermined ”, explains Andreea and Ionuţ, who also added the fact that they had the Imresid that the phones were listened to.
In the five days spent in North Korea, Romanians had the opportunity to visit several goals, including a luxury hotel that reminded them of the communist period from us, given that the TVs in the rooms had only a few channels, all promoting the achievements of the Kim Jong Un.
Although at a restaurant they served salads, shrimps, pickles, stuffed bread, ropes, fried vegetables, soup and fried fish in the oven, as well as two beers from the house, when returning to Romania said that from the moment you put your foot in the country, as if you feel like you eat everything, as long as you eat.
At a souvenir shop for foreign tourists they found books about Kim Jong Il, local remedies, folk costumes, doll sets, figurines, miniature wooden boxes, hats, perfumes, children with tigers, bears and deer from the North Korean cartoons, Russian-Coreene, Trump greets the dictator Kim Jong Un, propagandistic stamps, etc.
“They recorded us with the phones in secret, but in a visible way. They probably thought we weren’t realizing ”, the two vloggers said.
The visit to a school in Reson, a city that experiences capitalism with China and Russia, left them a bitter taste, reminding them again of the communist period from us. On the other hand, they say, they learned to appreciate the freedom we have now, compared to the North Koreans.
“A student really came to share our biggest dream. All the songs were talking about Kim Jong Un, they called him “our gentle Father.” It is one of the most valuable gifts we have and we should be grateful. And to take care of what we do in the future, on whose hands we leave freedom ”,
said Andreea and Ionuţ in their video material distributed on Facebook.
“Starting with the third day, things have changed totally. The guides were recorded between them and probably giving reports in the evening. In the group with us there was an international vlogger and the filming everything. I was filming anything until the guide told me to close. We were afraid not to wipe our pictures. Until the last moment we were afraid that our images will confiscate. We also entered with laptop. (…) You are not allowed to leave the country with propaganda materials. I didn’t even have access to their newspapers. You couldn’t walk alone where you wanted. We had a guard including the hotel corridor. You couldn’t make any movement. Andreea said one day that “here is a prison”, and then everything has changed. Then we thought we may have microphones in the room and we stopped talking. Maybe I was paranoia, but we tried to minimize the risks ”, Andreea and Ionuț told how their visit to North Korea was.
