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Pyongyang Metro
Some unrelated emailing reminded me about the fascinating website (and underlying reality) Pyongyang Metro. It's about, well, the subway system in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. But like all things North Korean it turns out to be rather bizarre and horrifying. Contemplating what sort of regime it would take to be able to generate substantial uncertainty as to whether or not the metro system in its largest city is actually still operational provides much food for thought.
February 7, 2005 | Permalink
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» Weird North Korean Stuff from Yglesias... from Notes in Samsara
Evidently the Pyongyang Metro includes a parallel, secret military system...check out that site... it's kind of like Thomas the Tank Engine Meets Great Leader's Juche Idea... very bizarre...
And while you're there, check out The official page of... [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 8, 2005 9:42:50 AM
» The Korean People's Army Orders You to Cease & Desist from This is Martey Dodoo
From Matt Yglesias comes an interesting website on Pyongyang's subway system. While the public system seems relatively small (only 17 stations), there are indications that the secret military subway system is far larger:
The extent of the secret syst... [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 8, 2005 10:00:32 PM
Comments
A Marxist regime, obviously. There were a lot of Marxists at Yale when I was there; I presume that this is the kind of subway system they would have given the rest of us if they ever had any power over anything other than faculty appointments. Happily they didn't.
Posted by: y81 | Feb 7, 2005 5:38:31 PM
What is even more bizarre and horrifying is the fact that a lot of cities in the US face significant resistance to building any mass transit rail at all because it is too "socialist".
Posted by: eric | Feb 7, 2005 6:10:24 PM
Not sure it was because they were Marxist... Prague's metro, built during the socialist period, would shame any New Yorker (of course, it's been spruced up in the time since the Velvet Revolution, but by all accounts I've heard it wasn't bad beforehand).
Posted by: David K | Feb 7, 2005 6:16:58 PM
Has there even been a nation stranger and more surreal than North Korea?
As far as I can tell, other totalitarian nations throughout history like Stalin's Russia, Hitler's Germany, and Mao's China can't hold a candle up to the utter bizarreness of North Korea.
Posted by: Petey | Feb 7, 2005 6:23:16 PM
I was unaware that Marx had written anything about subway design.
Posted by: Paul Callahan | Feb 7, 2005 6:27:21 PM
Yeah, it's almost as hilarious as the fact that Chicago's CTA is totally fucking bankrupt and about to drastically cut services (like just to rush hour). Chicago's only like the 3rd largest city in the US and in June our transit system may go dark for 22 hours a day.
Posted by: matt | Feb 7, 2005 6:30:29 PM
"I was unaware that Marx had written anything about subway design."
You must be unaware of the famed passage:
"Metrocards of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your tokens!"
Posted by: Petey | Feb 7, 2005 6:30:44 PM
Yeah, it's almost as hilarious as the fact that Chicago's CTA is totally fucking bankrupt and about to drastically cut services (like just to rush hour). Chicago's only like the 3rd largest city in the US and in June our transit system may go dark for 22 hours a day.
Obviously what Chicago ought to do is ban freedom of the press, build a giant wall around Chicago to prevent any Chicagoans from ever leaving, prohibit non-Chicagoans from actually riding the metro, throw anyone who criticized the Chicago government into the gulag, and then just shut the metro down from time to time. No one would ever know if it is actually running or not - problem solved!
Posted by: Al | Feb 7, 2005 6:42:30 PM
"Obviously what Chicago ought to do is ... build a giant wall around Chicago to prevent any Chicagoans from ever leaving..."
Due to the almost universal incidence of morbid obesity among Chicagoans, they can't fit into regular airplane or train seats. So in practice, most can't leave Chicago even without a wall fencing them in.
Posted by: Petey | Feb 7, 2005 6:54:36 PM
Prague's metro, built during the socialist period, would shame any New Yorker
Oh? Does it run all night? Actually, I would be delighted to learn of any other subway system that does.
Posted by: Allen K. | Feb 7, 2005 7:07:43 PM
poor north korean people; I just feel so sorry for them. they have the worst government in the world, by a long shot. when this regime finally falls we are going to hear some awful stories.
Posted by: belle waring | Feb 7, 2005 7:21:17 PM
"poor north korean people; I just feel so sorry for them. they have the worst government in the world, by a long shot. when this regime finally falls we are going to hear some awful stories."
See? That's simply not funny at all. It's obviously a gender thing.
Posted by: Petey | Feb 7, 2005 7:27:14 PM
Then I guess it follows whoever wrote the guidebook is male:
"The works of art at Puhung Station represent the appearance of the country which is prospering day by day and the happiness of the working people who enjoy the equitable and worthwhile creative life to their hearts’ content thanks to the popular policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea."
http://www.pyongyang-metro.com/metrobook.html
Ah, life in North Korea. What? What, you got a problem with colorful flags, ribbons, and kids on bicycles?
Posted by: Paul Callahan | Feb 7, 2005 7:34:15 PM
> Obviously what Chicago ought to do is ban freedom of the
> press, build a giant wall around Chicago to prevent any
> Chicagoans from ever leaving, prohibit non-Chicagoans
> from actually riding the metro, throw anyone who
> criticized the Chicago government into the gulag,
Now we know where King Richard II has been spending his vacation time when he claimed to be in "France" - he has been perfecting his technique in North Korea. Or perhaps teaching...
Cranky
Posted by: Cranky Observer | Feb 7, 2005 7:50:39 PM
** The holocaust is a lie **
Read about some aspects of it for yourself.
Make your own decisions in life.
Jewish Revisionist Tours Auschwitz & Uncovers The Truth (VIDEO).
DID JEWS FRAME THE ARABS FOR 911?
THE JEWS DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY (IN 1933).
THE EVER DIMINISHING NUMBERS OF JEWISH DEAD AT AUSCHWITZ.
DAILY RECORD OF DEATHS AT AUSCHWITZ BASED ON CAMP DEATH CERTIFICATES.
THE EVACUATION OF AUSCHWITZ (JEWS NOT KILLED).
A FACTUAL APPRAISAL OF THE "HOLOCAUST" BY THE RED CROSS.
JEWISH LIES OF OMISSION (ABOUT THE "HOLOCAUST").
SOME WAYS YOU ARE LIED TO (ABOUT THE "HOLOCAUST").
MORE QUESTIONS (ABOUT THE "HOLOCAUST").
JEWISH HATE RESPONSIBLE FOR LARGEST MASS-KILLING AT DACHAU (KILLING DONE BY AMERICANS).
THE JEWISH GOD GAVE THE MIDDLE-EAST TO THE ARABS.
JEWS ARE KHAZARS (TURKS) FROM SOUTHERN RUSSIA : KOESTLER'S THE THIRTEENTH TRIBE.
Posted by: observer | Feb 7, 2005 8:54:03 PM
It's only fitting that we'd have a Nazi sighting on a Pyongyang thread...
Posted by: Petey | Feb 7, 2005 8:58:53 PM
Actually, I think Turkmenistan is now competing with the DPRK for total bizarritude; either that or Saparmurat Turkmenbashi saw North Korea and thought 'what a good idea'. He has the Arch Of Neutrality, surmounted by a life-sized golden statue of himself that rotates to follow the sun.
Posted by: Mike Collins | Feb 7, 2005 9:09:02 PM
Allen:
Nope, Prague's doesn't run all night. Then again, last I heard it wasn't brought to its knees by a vagrant-lit fire... ;-)
Posted by: David K | Feb 7, 2005 9:39:09 PM
Contemplating what sort of regime it would take to be able to generate substantial uncertainty as to whether or not the metro system in its largest city is actually still operational provides much food for thought.
I can't rely on the MBTA's website (www.mbta.com) to know if my trolley line is running on any given day. Does that count?
Posted by: Chris Cagle | Feb 7, 2005 9:40:29 PM
"Actually, I think Turkmenistan is now competing with the DPRK for total bizarritude; either that or Saparmurat Turkmenbashi saw North Korea and thought 'what a good idea'. He has the Arch Of Neutrality, surmounted by a life-sized golden statue of himself that rotates to follow the sun."
Part of what enhances the DPRK's bizarritude is the all encompassing nature of it's totalitarianism regime, which I'd guess Turkenistan can't match, although I'm not up on the details.
But I would certainly stand in awe of a life-sized golden statue of George Bush that rotates to follow the sun.
Posted by: Petey | Feb 7, 2005 10:23:38 PM
Does it run all night? Actually, I would be delighted to learn of any other subway system that does.
The NYC Subway is a bit of an anomaly that way. It's all to do with the four-tunnel structure, which is possible because it's basically a shallow-tunnel network, whereas the London Tube and Paris Metro, for example, are primarily deep-tunnel networks.
Posted by: ahem | Feb 7, 2005 11:17:17 PM
Thank you, ahem.
I never knew that.
Posted by: Petey | Feb 8, 2005 1:09:03 AM
Philadelphia's subway ran all night when I lived there. It was very infrequent after midnight though.
Posted by: Njorl | Feb 8, 2005 12:58:40 PM
Philadelphia's train do indeed run all night. The Market-Frankford line runs every fifteen minutes throughout the night.
Posted by: Walt Pohl | Feb 8, 2005 1:49:01 PM
The Market-Frankford line runs every fifteen minutes throughout the night.
That didn't sound right to me, and this PDF indicates that between midnight and 5 AM, there are only buses.
Posted by: digamma | Feb 9, 2005 12:39:54 AM
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