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Coreea de Nord. Un lagăr cât o țară
View the centennial anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birth and aspects of life in Pyongyang, North Korea through these photos that capture what is so foreign and intriguing to the rest of the world.
Adelin Petrişor is one of the most well-known war correspondents in Romania. He has reported from war torn countries all over the world. Still, it took six years for his visa request to visit North Korea to be approved. His childhood dream was to visit the country of Kim Il\-sung, the most reliable friend of Nicolae Ceausescu, former leader of communist Romania. He recognized the shabby airport, grey buildings, and people dressed up in dull colors who fearfully turn their heads away and quickly walk in the opposite direction when they realize strangers are watching them. The government crafted façade was all too familiar to him. Each snapshot was a reminder of his childhood in communist large queues outside shops, huge deserted boulevards, and big banners filled with communist propaganda. The leader was everywhere, except in the food, which was always lacking.
Petrișor's camera captures the stark realities of life in North Korea s capital city through the lens of his painful memories growing up in Romania under communist rule. If you've ever been curious about North Korea, these photos provide insight into the eerily choreographed life within the isolated hermit kingdom.
Adelin Petrişor is one of the most well-known war correspondents in Romania. He has reported from war torn countries all over the world. Still, it took six years for his visa request to visit North Korea to be approved. His childhood dream was to visit the country of Kim Il\-sung, the most reliable friend of Nicolae Ceausescu, former leader of communist Romania. He recognized the shabby airport, grey buildings, and people dressed up in dull colors who fearfully turn their heads away and quickly walk in the opposite direction when they realize strangers are watching them. The government crafted façade was all too familiar to him. Each snapshot was a reminder of his childhood in communist large queues outside shops, huge deserted boulevards, and big banners filled with communist propaganda. The leader was everywhere, except in the food, which was always lacking.
Petrișor's camera captures the stark realities of life in North Korea s capital city through the lens of his painful memories growing up in Romania under communist rule. If you've ever been curious about North Korea, these photos provide insight into the eerily choreographed life within the isolated hermit kingdom.
- GenresPolitics
139 pages, Unknown Binding
First published November 25, 2012
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 20, 2024
Published in English as A Weekend in Pyongyang, North Korea
During the celebrations of the 100-year anniversary of Kim Il Sung's date of birth (the founder of North Korea), a few foreign journalists were finally given access into the mysterious North Korea. A very heavily controlled and censored access, but it would be enough to satisfy the TV ratings. Adelin Petrişor was one of these journalists, a Romanian war correspondent who's long been asking the North Korean ambasador for a chance to visit the country.
And that is how this an annotated photo-album, capturing "unofficial" pictures, came to be. There's no story here in the regular sense, except for whatever readers (viewers?) can infer from the pictures. They do however, make an interesting addition to the Romanian Documentary that Petrişor filmed during this trip, as a telling backstage view.
If you're a "Western" reader, you may find this a somewhat boring presentation compared the usual dramatic reports you'd find on US channels. But if you've ever heard people bemoaning the great communist rulers of old, especially Nicolae Ceausescu, these images should serve as a glimpse into an alternate reality of what such a regime might actually entail.
Above, some uniformed soldiers are drying the rain-soaked road with cloth rags, to provide a more aesthetically pleasing experience for Kim Jong Un. Legend says, that communist Romania boasted of similarly odd practices, such as painting pine trees a more vibrant shade of green to impress their own Dear Leader.
Score: 4/5 stars
This is a nice companion photo-album, to Petrisor's documentary, or even on its own to anyone who's ever lived in a communist country. A humble, but very much poignant warning for the nostalgics, or the modern-day revolutionaries who believe the communists of old had the right idea.
During the celebrations of the 100-year anniversary of Kim Il Sung's date of birth (the founder of North Korea), a few foreign journalists were finally given access into the mysterious North Korea. A very heavily controlled and censored access, but it would be enough to satisfy the TV ratings. Adelin Petrişor was one of these journalists, a Romanian war correspondent who's long been asking the North Korean ambasador for a chance to visit the country.
And that is how this an annotated photo-album, capturing "unofficial" pictures, came to be. There's no story here in the regular sense, except for whatever readers (viewers?) can infer from the pictures. They do however, make an interesting addition to the Romanian Documentary that Petrişor filmed during this trip, as a telling backstage view.
If you're a "Western" reader, you may find this a somewhat boring presentation compared the usual dramatic reports you'd find on US channels. But if you've ever heard people bemoaning the great communist rulers of old, especially Nicolae Ceausescu, these images should serve as a glimpse into an alternate reality of what such a regime might actually entail.
Above, some uniformed soldiers are drying the rain-soaked road with cloth rags, to provide a more aesthetically pleasing experience for Kim Jong Un. Legend says, that communist Romania boasted of similarly odd practices, such as painting pine trees a more vibrant shade of green to impress their own Dear Leader.
Score: 4/5 stars
This is a nice companion photo-album, to Petrisor's documentary, or even on its own to anyone who's ever lived in a communist country. A humble, but very much poignant warning for the nostalgics, or the modern-day revolutionaries who believe the communists of old had the right idea.
January 29, 2013
I have been reading about life in North Korea, one of the few remaining marxist-leninist dystopias in the world, since 2008. Adelin Petrisor's Coreea de Nord. Un lagar cat o tara is a visual travelogue an April 2012 visit to Phenian, the capital of North Korea. As such, this book is closely related to David Heather's North Korean Posters The David Heather Collection and Guy Delisle's Pyongyang A Journey in North Korea, and similar in spirit to the memoirs The Reluctant Communist My Desertion Court-Martial and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea and The Aquariums of Pyongyang Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag. Overall, it is also the most visual of them all, but lacks any storyline or explanation.
The book is structured as a collection of photos taken in Phenian, several in close-up. The focus is, in order, the street, a popular celebration, and an army parade. The photos are minimally explained. A poorly written preface by Catalin Tolontan and a brief introduction by the author complete the collection.
The author's visit to Phenian coincides with the celebration of 100 years since the birth of Kim Ir Sen, the first president of North Korea. (Among others, we now know that Kim Is Sen was the autocrat who established the socialist personality cult---ju-che, in North Korean version, which also includes the love and obedience to the whole family---, of Stalinist origins and similar murderous behavior.) Thus, many of the pictures focus on people cleaning the streets, wearing their best clothes, and seemingly cheerfully applauding. So far, nothing to really distinguish this volume.
On the good side, Adelin Petrisor and his crew do manage to capture some of the inconsistencies and visible problems of today's Phenian: the incomplete skyscraper Ryungyong, the decrepit cars and empty streets, the identical buildings, the gray and smoggy city, the tired faces. The contrast of these with the "joyful" army parade is interesting.
To conclude, not much value but a 2012 look at North Korea.
The book is structured as a collection of photos taken in Phenian, several in close-up. The focus is, in order, the street, a popular celebration, and an army parade. The photos are minimally explained. A poorly written preface by Catalin Tolontan and a brief introduction by the author complete the collection.
The author's visit to Phenian coincides with the celebration of 100 years since the birth of Kim Ir Sen, the first president of North Korea. (Among others, we now know that Kim Is Sen was the autocrat who established the socialist personality cult---ju-che, in North Korean version, which also includes the love and obedience to the whole family---, of Stalinist origins and similar murderous behavior.) Thus, many of the pictures focus on people cleaning the streets, wearing their best clothes, and seemingly cheerfully applauding. So far, nothing to really distinguish this volume.
On the good side, Adelin Petrisor and his crew do manage to capture some of the inconsistencies and visible problems of today's Phenian: the incomplete skyscraper Ryungyong, the decrepit cars and empty streets, the identical buildings, the gray and smoggy city, the tired faces. The contrast of these with the "joyful" army parade is interesting.
To conclude, not much value but a 2012 look at North Korea.
January 22, 2015
Cartea poate fi considerată imaginea vizuală a poveștilor din "Tara cu un singur gras (Romanian Edition)" de același autor fiind fotografiile călătoriei lui Adelin Petrișor în Corea de Nord.
Imaginile vor întregi situația grea din această țară comunistă iar daca mai aveai dubii ca ceea ce a scris Adelin nu e adevărat pozele iți vor arata cum e la Phenian.
Imaginile vor întregi situația grea din această țară comunistă iar daca mai aveai dubii ca ceea ce a scris Adelin nu e adevărat pozele iți vor arata cum e la Phenian.
February 1, 2025
Intre interesanta si plicti. Multe informatii stiute deja, dar relatate cu umor si sarcasm. Merita citita, e alerta, scrisa viu. Buna lectura intr-un mediu disturbant, ca nu necesita concentrare. O poveste despre o tara aparte, povestita de un angajat in mainstream media.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews