May Day in North Korea

by Iva Skoch on

Czech travel agencies seem to have a new hit on their hands: celebration of May Day in Pyongyang, North Korea. Perhaps the last country on the planet where pompous celebrations of the communist regime are still going strong, North Korea is the hip place to go.

Apparently there are enough people either A) nostalgic enough for the spectacle of communist kitsch which seized in the Czech Republic only 17 years ago, B) bored with the usual vacation in the Greek isles.

For only about $1800, you get 7 nights, flights from Prague to Peking, ground transportation, a guide, and all the saluting you can handle. This agency provides special tours for US citizens who are more likely to have problems traveling to North Korea.

And, please, leave that Che shirt at home. North Korea ain’t Disneyworld.

North Korea Dance Video

by Erik Olsen on


I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this video, but it sure seems like it’s something that would come out of an axis of evil…if by evil we mean tormenting young children through dance. The video here is said to be of some North Korean kids doing the kind of passionate, high-intensity dance steps you’d expect from a rogue nation…or American Idol, for that matter.

In all honesty, I thought it was very cute. Kinda made me feel warm and tingly for the North Koreans…for the kids, anyway. But you just KNOW that Kim Jong Il had a say in the choreography. He’s apparently quite talented, you know. Very artistic.

I mean, look at those suits! So 70’s, so Sid and Marty Croft, in a way…which kind of begs the question :maybe the North Koreans aren’t so far behind us after all.