Yes, North Korea Is Isolated

North Korea is a country that thrives on contradictions, paranoia and absolute control by its authoritarian government. With this has come an isolation that almost resembles actions taken by the Japanese during the Tokugawa Shogunate which lasted until the arrival of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships begetting the Meiji Restoration dragging the country into the modern era. The difference is that one country chose to remove its self from the greater world while the other ‘North Korea’ achieved its banishment through actions taken in pursuit of government policy.

North Korea’s general population lives in abject poverty thanks to Juche (self reliance) leaving its economy near collapse it not for trade and aid from its only trading partner and political ally China. Further adding to the North’s woes is the policy of “Military First” instituted by Kim Jong-il in what North Korean experts say was a bid strengthen his hold on power.

A six-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, that ended last Tuesday offered carefully monitored glimpses of a land where reality and fantasy are routinely conflated. While there were no obvious signs of impending collapse or political intrigue swirling around the fate of North Korea’s ailing leader, the visit offered hints of why the North might be particularly eager now to resume international aid and trade.

New apartment buildings — apparently for officials — grace the city center. But the pyramid-shaped, 105-story Ryugyong Hotel remains a shell nearly 25 years after construction began. While it was recently sheathed in glass, other abandoned construction projects scar roads outside the city.
Elsewhere, especially in northern provinces, residents report that child beggars haunt street markets, families scavenge hillsides for sprouts and mushrooms and workers at state enterprises receive nominal salaries, at best. Workers in Pyongyang are said to be much better compensated.