(To see photos of a housing project in Shenyang, me and Linda at a tomb shrine, the women's delegation and me, Carol at the tomb's parade ground, getting our massages, celebrating at a banquet and getting our ear wax removed, go to my blog.)
****
For months now, I've been trying to get a visa for North Korea. I've tried every legitimate angle I can think of including filing my visa application several months ago, joining an authorized tour group, applying at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea consulate here in Shenyang, having people call the DPRK on my behalf and just simply standing around and looking pathetic whenever possible. I've exhausted every single legal channel I can think of.
Maybe it's time for me to become an illegal immigrant!
Now I'm starting to see how all those illegal immigrants from Mexico feel. You try all the legal ways to get into the US, you wait for months, nothing works and so you swim the Rio Grande. Maybe I should try to swim the river between North Korea and China? Will I need water wings and a plastic inner tube or what?
And does the DPRK also have a "Migra"? OMG, they will be able to tell that I'm not a North Korean! I'm screwed.
"Jane," e-mailed my friend Collin, "don't even think about trying to go to the DPRK on your own. They will catch you and put you in jail." You mean like they do with illegal immigrants back in the States?
Even though swimming the river between China and North Korea would make a great story, even I am not that stupid or desperate -- yet. But, just in case my last frantic attempts to obtain a visa fall through by Saturday, I have developed a secret Plan B. Don't tell no one but here it is:
Yesterday I was wandering around through the back streets behind my hotel all lost and confused and trying to find the North Korean consulate again and street-hiking through block after block of what looked like public housing units build back in the days of Chairman Mao, when I suddenly rounded a corner and saw -- rows upon rows of coiled barbed wire all over the street, guards on patrol everywhere and blast walls. Hey, I know that architectural style! This must be the American consulate! And it was.
"Do you think that you could help me get a visa to North Korea?" I asked the consul's representative once I'd gotten through the guards, gates, body scans and X-ray machines -- but like I said about the Kuwait consulate staff, once you get through all that security, American diplomats are helpful, intelligent and nice.
But they aren't miracle workers. No help with the DPRK visa for me.
"But I do have a suggestion," said the rep. "Why don't you take a trip to Dandong on the China-North Korea border? It's only a four-hour drive from here. Then once at Dandong, they have boat tours and while you are out on the river enjoying yourself, you would actually, technically, be in North Korea -- if only for a few minutes. And then at least when you get back home you could say that you've been there -- legally." Hmmm. I could be a wetback only without getting wet. Sounds like a plan!
PS: I also want to tell you about the other six people in the tour group I was supposed to travel with and who are currently in North Korea (without me!) I totally enjoyed meeting them and their story is wonderful and unique.
"We call ourselves the Delegation for Friendship Among Women and we've been traveling together and visiting different countries since 1970," Mary Pomeroy told me. "We've been to 34 countries so far, including Iraq, Libya, Argentina, Albania, Bhutan and Bangladesh."
Mary's daughter, Jill Christiansen, has been going on the tours with her mom since 1973, back when Jill was a teenager.
Then I met Linda Hoeschler, a retired computer analyst from St. Paul, Minnesota. And I have a picture to prove it too.
Stillwater is a freelance writer who hates injustice and corruption in any form but especially injustice and corruption paid for by American taxpayers. She has recently published a book entitled, "Bring Your Own Flak Jacket: Helpful Tips For Touring Today's Middle East". According to Ms. Stillwater, "It's a fabulous and entertaining book. I loved writing it. And I hope that you will love reading it too." It's available at http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Your-Own-Flak-Jacket/dp/0978615719 or you can special order it at any independent bookstore.
"noble" cause, and disappointed you couldn't continue with them into N.Korea, but why did they receive visas in the first place and you didn't?
Your slowly letting out the whole story, and only now providing the info of what your "members" are. Reading your first couple articles sounded like you were solo, in a thrown together group to see N. Korea.
You have 5 days before you depart China and if you haven't received the visa yet, doubtful you'll get it at all this being Saturday. Are you just going to hang out in Shengyang the duration of your time, or see some of the Chinese culture other then where you now are? You can always leave a message with your group to re-meet at the airport in Beijing.
shucai chaofan=fried rice with vegetables, shucai chaomian=fried noodles with vegetables, su shi jin=vegetables
by
Stanimal (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 17 diaries, 492 comments)
on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 12:02:32 AM
I finally broke down and bought a train ticket to Dandong, on the famous Yalu River, after my visa fell throuigh today. And yes, China Hand, this place IS amazing and I am glad I came. More stories to come, trust me on that one. And I did meet a lot of really nice North Koreans here. That counts for something.
I was thrown in with the women's group originally by accident, but am surely glad that I had the opportunity to meet them, accident or not.
by
Jane Stillwater (440 articles, 0 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 57 comments)
on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 12:20:10 AM
Count the number of times you see cops with or without guns.
Count how many times you see a Chinese person under arrest in handcuffs. I spoke to an American teacher who said that in inner city America she sees a rough average of 1 person a week in hancuffs. In her ten months in China she has yet to see one.
Compared to the "Land of the Free" China has 80% less people in prison. i.e., USA 700+/100,000. China 120/100,000. Most Americans say they can feel the difference on the streets. There is a very different relationship between cops and citizens.
Make sure you visit the War Museum in Dandong.
by
John Haigh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 106 comments)
on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 12:48:43 PM
The buildings you photographed look like they were built in the time of Chairman Mao but they are actually circa 1990 - 1997. The outsides of buildings in China age very quickly. They will most likely be torn down within ten years.
There are very few ordinary apartments left from the 1980s or before, and they look like they are 100 years old - real hovels. It is easy to forget how poor most people were before the economic miracle started in the early 90s.
by
John Haigh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 106 comments)
on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 1:08:38 PM
Jane you say you are against Injustice and corruption paid for by taxpayers, well that pretty much sums up illegal immigration. Big business bribes politicians to ignore immigration laws so they can hire illegals at near slave labor and then let the taxpayers pick up the tabs for education, housing health care, food and a variety of other social services.
Maybe you should join forces with Lou Dobbs To battle this corruption.
by
Gary Denson (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 217 comments)
on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 7:45:35 PM
Why is North Korea trying to keep people out? Could it be because they do not want people like you seeing what goes on? I read an article about traveling the NK that said they couldn't go anywhere without a 'minder' who had to approve of everything - who they talked to, what pictures they took, where they went, etc. It would be fascinating to visit there. But also scary. One misstep and you would never be seen again.
The comment about seeing 1 person a day in handcuffs in the US was hilarious. In NK and China they haul people off for 'thought' crimes as well as the usual crimes we are familiar with. There is absolutely no comparsion between the criminal justice system in the US and the ones in China and NK. You have to really hate this country to think otherwise. It would be downright suicide to commit even a minor crime in China or NK. They use the death penalty in those countries for things we give criminals probation for.
by
Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 311 comments)
on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 10:22:55 PM
Mad Jayhawk said, "In NK and China they haul people off for 'thought' crimes as well as the usual crimes we are familiar with." Where did you get that information from? I can't speak for NK, but that is a ridiculous misrepresentation of conditions in present day China.
Also the American here in China said she saw a person in handcuffs about once a week at home.
China does have the death penalty and applies it a lot more often than I would approve of. But I don't approve of it ever. As for applying it to crimes that would be punished by probation in the US - perhaps, but only if you are a white millionaire in The States. The death penalty is given for murder, very serious corruption and corporate crime where there are a lot of victims.
by
John Haigh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 106 comments)
on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 4:51:23 AM
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