Featured Image Credit: @indigo.traveller/Instagram
A YouTuber by the name Indigo Traveller documented his journey to the notoriously secretive nation of North Korea and it contained some shocking revelations.
North Korea is known for being almost entirely separate from the rest of the world, with limited contact to other nations.
According to NGO Human Rights, it's 'one of the more repressive countries in the world'.
It's gotten even more secretive since Covid-19 as well, with the North Korean government imposing further restrictions and tightening its borders even more according to Human Rights Watch.
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But before all of that, back in 2018, a YouTuber known as Indigo Traveller (real name Nick) set out to find out the truth about being a tourist in the infamous nation in a shocking video.
Nick begins the video with a clear statement: "I was not paid by any company or government to make this video. I do not condone, support or promote the regime of North Korea in any manner whatsoever. Please do your own research. I am not a journalist."
Boarding his flight from Beijing, Nick is greeted with a copy of The Pyongyang Times with the front page headline eerily reading 'Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un inspects new railway'.
Later Nick explains how strict the rules around these papers are: "You have to be extremely careful when handling these papers because it's highly illegal to deface or crease [the papers], you're not actually allowed to throw them away you just have to leave them on a table somewhere and let people who are qualified to destroy the papers destroy them".
After an hour an a half flight and a very questionable looking in-flight burger, Nick touched down in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, where he was greeted by his two tour guides who accompanied him the entire trip.
Nick explains 'all foreigners have to be accompanied with a tour guide at all times', meaning the only time you're alone is in your hotel room.
Vlogging the drive through the city, Nick explained the strict rules around filming, banning 'any military' filming, including 'vehicles, soldiers or bases', or any construction sites.
One of the more bizarre filming rules was that if Nick was to film any statues or imagery of the North Korean leaders, they had to both be fully in frame, any partial shots would be seen as 'an insult to the leaders'.
Arriving at the train station to pick up other tour guests, Nick explains his first impressions of the city, saying 'it feels like we're invisible, people don't really look at us, so I don't know what that's about... its interesting'.
One of the most intriguing segments of Nick's video, was the supermarkets. He noticed that the shelves were fully stocked with luxurious looking food and drink, but nobody was in the stores. Nick explained 'I'm not really sure what was going on here, maybe they had gone home for the day but I'm not quite sure'.
Another fascinating thing Nick noticed is the traffic wardens.
These wardens are dressed impeccably, their movements perfectly synced with the traffic. Nick said that when these wardens see government cars, they salute it, identifying them by the colour and configuration of their number plates.
He explained 'it's very rare for people to own their own cars in North Korea'.
Driving to dinner, the tour group was able to see the incredible light show with the famous The Ryugyong Hotel at its centre entirely lit up.
When it came to dinner, Nick only had good reviews. He said absolutely any dietary preference was catered for and the food was 'so delicious'.
Winding down after a busy first day in his room in the massive 30-floor hotel, Nick ends the day saying his first impressions were 'really good'.
Ending the video is Nick's view from his hotel room of a huge image of the two leaders lit up, and that's pretty much all you can see outside.
