Quezi

Monument for the Founding of the Korean Workers' Party - courtesy xiaojiecha - CC-BY

Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea and the country’s largest city.

Pyongyang is an ancient city with a history dating back more than 5,000 years. It is said to be the capital of King Tangun, the possibly mythological founder of the Korean nation.  Pyongyang has been the capital of North Korea since 1948. After the Korean War, the city was quickly rebuilt with Soviet help, with many buildings in Socialist Classic style. The city has been completely redesigned with wide avenues, imposing monuments, and monolithic buildings. The North Korean capital is the regime’s showcase to the world. Only favored people are allowed to live there. The propaganda machinery portrays it as paradise on earth, a spotless city where everybody enjoys the fruits of the Korean revolution.

One of the more interesting sights, often called “The Worst Building in the History of Mankind,” is the Ryugyong Hotel. The hotel is such an eyesore, the Communist regime routinely covers it up, airbrushing it to make it look like it’s open or cropping it out of pictures completely. Other sights include the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Chollima Statue and the Mansudae Grand Monument which is a vast rendering of the Great Leader in bronze, to which every visitor is expected to pay floral tribute.

Shopping options are limited. There are a few department stores but they have very few things of interest. There are hardly any restaurants where the average North Korean eats. Eating out is a treat reserved for foreigners and the political elite. Normally you will eat at your hotel.

Visitors to Pyongyang need to be accompanied by an accredited guide, who will arrange where you can visit and what you can see.

Pyangyang is served by Sunan Capital International Airport. Public transportation is Metro, tram and trollybus.

Pyongyang population is 3,255,388 (2008).

+850 is the international calling code for North Korea, all points.

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