Word: korean
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...when Maazel took the podium, to prolonged applause, it became quickly clear that the evening would be one of rare power and emotion. North Korean and U.S. flags stood at either end of the stage, and the entire audience rose as both nations' anthems were played. From that point on, for the next two hours, it was hard to remember that during the bus ride that afternoon, we had passed a poster of a giant fist slamming a helpless little Uncle Sam that read, "Smash the USA." When he introduced George Gershwin's An American in Paris, Maazel told...
...humor and pathos ended that evening at the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, an ornate, three-tier orchestra hall that had been recently fitted with a new acoustic shell around the stage to make the hall worthy of the New York Philharmonic. Some 1,400 people were present - mostly North Koreans, and a few dozen foreign diplomats and businesspeople. Who the North Koreans were, exactly, was maddeningly vague. Maazel had said before the concert that he hoped "ordinary" Koreans would be among those attending, but no one from the orchestra had a clue who the tickets had been given...
...even some vehicular traffic. It's possible to walk out the front door, see people and try to talk to them. Not from our hotel. It's isolated and difficult to walk to or from. And that was the point. There hadn't been this many Americans on North Korean soil since the Korean War, and our hosts plainly didn't want us mingling. When I later groused about it to a colleague posted to Pyongyang for the Russian wire service Itar-Tass, he chuckled: "Do you know what foreigners here call your hotel? Alcatraz. It's difficult...
...American journalists on a whirlwind tour of Pyongyang. Kim Il Sung, the late Great Leader, is still the dominant figure in the intense cult of personality that is North Korea. His image is everywhere, most prominently on an overlook where a gigantic bronze statue stands in front of the Korean Revolution Museum. After we boarded the buses, a group of about 40 North Koreans walked up and made their way to the statue. We were just about to leave, but again there was a journalists' revolt. A few of us sprinted off the bus to get a better look...
...benefit; this appeared real. Before the mob of journalists could pepper them with questions about what Kim Il Sung meant to them, their handler hustled them into the museum. When we got back on the bus, we got a tongue-lashing; a handler screaming at us in Korean to behave. My group's translator, a decent enough guy named Mr. Kim, sheepishly translated: "He says we have to stick to the schedule. Otherwise, you'll never be able to see everything and you'll get in trouble...