Left Flank

At first, Brent Choi's account of his trip to the DPRK sounds like many others, but then there's his impressions of his 30ish North Korean tour guides as contrasted with tour guides he met at Mt. Geumgang (Note: this is my romanization habit) in 1998:

At first the visitors and guides gave basic introductions and began talking about non-contentious issues like the weather. After «testing the waters», the North Korean guides then began to ask about South Korea's political situation including the upcoming presidential election, while the South Koreans barraged the guides with questions about nuclear programs. Not everyone was engrossed in politics. Some guys asked about local women.

The guides I met this time differed from those I encountered in the past. When I visited Mount Kumgang in 1998, all the guides were over 50 and would start arguments with visitors over things like unification and the presence of U.S. forces.

The guides in Pyongyang were much younger, mostly in their 30s. It seemed like a rapid generational change is under way in the North, with the older generations who survived the struggle against Japan or the Korean War, and even those who grew up under Kim Il Sung in the 1970s and 1980s being supplanted by those in their 30s and 40s, the so-called «Arduous March» generation who were teenagers during the famine years of the 1990s.

Our young guides were from this group and displayed a strong loyalty toward Kim Jong-il. They belonged to the elite class of the country, having graduated from Kim Il Sung University.

These guides didn't bother to hide the tough conditions faced by North Koreans. When I asked about the food situation, they replied that everything was «tense» and rations were suspended from time to time. When that happened they came to Pyongyang Market a couple of times a week to purchase rice. If that was the life of young elites from the ruling Workers' Party, I was afraid to ask about the common people.

Hmmm, scratch the surface, and what do we find...it's still unclear what North Koreans really think. But, Choi's discussions are a start.