Whilst I was in Pyongyang, I visited the government’s television studio where they were recording a children’s programme. I was amazed to see children just 3-5 years old performing in front of the cameras as if they were seasoned Las Vegas performers. They stepped up onto the stage to perform songs, solo and in groups, and not once did they make a mistake or show any signs of nervousness in front of the studio lights and cameras.

When this song was being recorded, I asked what they were singing about, expecting the reply to be a nursery rhyme or a children’s folk song. Instead I discovered that they were singing about the workers’ revolution and “how much the great leader General Kim Jong Il loved little children”. Definitely something different to Sesame Street!