Here's something in a humorous vein to close the gallery on North Korea.

One of the things that young couples in Pyongyang like to do on their wedding day is to have their photograph taken in front of a portrait of the Great Leader President Kim Il Sung and the Great Leader General Kim Jung Il. There are many locations around Pyongyang where they can do this, but a popular venue is the Kimilsunglia-Kimjungilia Exhibition Hall where there are many flowers displayed around a portrait of the smiling leaders. Most of the flowers in the exhibition hall are a purple dendrobium orchid named after Kim Il Sung and a red begonia named after Kim Jung Il.

When I entered the hall, a young couple was having a wedding video made in front of the portrait of the great leaders, but the moment the cameraman saw me – a rare foreign visitor – he turned his camera onto me. The bride looked none too pleased about me suddenly becoming the focus of attention on her special day, and I felt somewhat embarrassed and sorry for the couple that they were left standing there as the cameraman started filming my movements as I walked around the exhibition hall. However, as I think back on the incident, I can’t help chuckling about it, and wonder how much of their wedding video was taken up with footage of a foreigner admiring the Kimilsunglias and Kimjungilias ;)