Rare Photos of North Korea

[SkinnyBenny]

Well I've only golfed with Chingon once and it was his first time, but he still shot a 26 on an 18-hole course.  11 holes-in-one.  Pretty dece for a beginner.

[Dugout DickStone]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-n-korea-an-iconic-hotel-is-set-to-open--23-years-behind-schedule/2012/02/07/gIQAih7z0Q_story.html

this is on my list of things to visit before I die 

Would be pretty awesome for the goEMAW brass to go there for our retreat one year. 

god, we would rough ridin' run NK.  RUN IT. 

Absolutely.  I want Pete to do a NK list like he did for Tokyo.

[ben ji]

http://gawker.com/5947316/first-images-inside-north-koreas-phantom-skyscraper?tag=north-korea

[steve dave]

I bet they had to bring in the police to clean out the orphans and squatters that lived in it to get those pictures. I bet it's ruled by the squatter king who lives at the top. the squatter hierarchy of importance goes from the top down with the orphans at the lower levels. the higher ups get to go to the top in a large bucket that is hoisted by a mule going around and around a pulley at the base.

[steve dave]

the tower has it's own economy with 1 pound sacks of grain making up the primary currency. homemade bathtub gin can be bought at the rate of one liter per sack of grain. some trade goods take up entire floors of the building. the clothing floor is number 47. most clothes are made by animal skins and gunney sacks sown together by the craftsmen.

[steve dave]

the orphans at the bottom are charged with going out into the "outside" by the higher ups to barter their goods and services. some of the top dwellers spend their entire lives never leaving the building given the arduous journey to the bottom. only the squatter king and his cronies get to use the bucket elevator. much of the journey involves climbing homemade ladders made of sticks and tied together with vines.

[OK_Cat]

i am fascinated by this barter kingdom, please continue

[steve dave]

floors 20-35 are where livestock is raised. their waste is shoveled down into the center of the building for the orphans to form into bricks which they trade to the outside world as fertilizer. there are thousands of goats and rabbits inside the building. many are blind having never seen sunlight. some of the residents of the tower have developed night vision and their eyes shine a bright red when a light is flashed in their direction. there are 27 basement levels as well. the original building was only built with 4 but the tower occupants have been digging non-stop adding sub-floor after sub-floor. each descending level has it's own residents which most claim get crazier as you go down. the lowest levels are occupied by only the most insane individuals according to legend. it's basically another seperate economy even outside of the squatter king's control.

[OK_Cat]

what happens to human waste? and dead people? or do these sunless souls never die?

[steve dave]

In the 70s the NK government tried to evict all the residents. they sent in 200 troops armed with machine guns. they were told that they should force the squatters out alive if possible but they were to get them out one way or another if it came to it. over the course of a week they cleared out most of the orphans and made it to floor 21. at this point the squatter king sent a dignitary to meet the troops and negotiate a peace agreement. the dignitary was killed by the troops and sent up to the squatter king in the bucket elevator along with a note that they were coming for him next. the troops camped out on floor 21 and made radio contact with the NK government at 9PM telling them that they were progressing up the tower as expected. The next day they couldnt be reached by radio. Another 200 troops were sent in to locate them but dissapeared the very next day after checking in at floor 3. a lone orphan was seen leaving the tower and heading to the capital building with a note. when the NK government was asked next what they would do with the tower their response was that it no longer exists. they were pressed about destroying it from the outside and they only repeated that it no longer exists and nobody was to ever enter the area again. they erected large concrete barriers around the tower but included open doorways that were 10 feet by 10 feet in each direction N/S/E/W. they would not discuss why they did. to this day you will periodically see a lone orphan with a note exit the tower and head to the capital building. he is always sent back unhindered and allowed to enter the tower.

[OK_Cat]

more!

this could be a really good movie

[steve dave]

a lot of strange legends about the tower are told. the NK news cannot discuss the tower or the activity in or around it so no formal records exist. some of the locals claim that, at night, they will see what appear to be giant birds perched at the top of the tower. they claim they see them leap from the tower taking flight. a lot of people think they must be hang gliders or something similar but the locals allege they flap their wings like birds and can gain altitude and change direction.

[OK_Cat]

getting weird, go back to dirty old blind men ruling their civilization from atop the abandoned utopia

[slobber]

getting weird, go back to dirty old blind men ruling their civilization from atop the abandoned utopia

The birds are blind people that have evolved and they are carrying the dead bodies.

[OK_Cat]

getting weird, go back to dirty old blind men ruling their civilization from atop the abandoned utopia

The birds are blind people that have evolved and they are carrying the dead bodies.

ok, i'm back onboard with the bird idea now

[steve dave]

it's said that a lot of people will give up on their live's or go searching for a better one in the tower. while the NK government covers up the existance of the tower and anything that goes on around it they strangely never stop people from entering it. most over their teenage years are never seen again. sometimes the younger people that enter the tower come back out with the orphans that live in the base floors. when questioned, they just describe a building where they live for shelter and protection from the elements. they don't mention the upper or lower floors. when asked about them they just shrug and say they don't go there. when you ask them why they just look at you with a dead look and eventually shrug again. at roughly the age of 15 they are never seen again. they don't seem to dread this approaching age and again just shrug when questioned about it. most believe they are then granted access to the upper or lower levels. some believe they are given a choice as to which direction to go, up or down. while some things are known about the higher and lower levels the extreme ends of these are a mystery. legend has it that the very top levels are a real progressive society, an eden, and the very lowest are a hellish existence...though a few say the opposite.

[ednksu]

but what is on the note!!!!

[jtksu]

Here's a good one:

http://www.urbanophile.com/2011/01/25/yes-there-are-grocery-stores-in-detroit-by-james-griffioen/

have you tried meijer brand peanut butter?  it's outstanding.

 

[Brock Landers]

steve dave when is the movie coming out??!?

[DQ12]

is there much of a drug culture in the tower?  seems like the place is probably riddled with drugs.  especially the mid to extreme lower levels

[OK_Cat]

the question i have is what do they do for entertainment in the tower?  do they produce their own closed circuit television station?

[ben ji]

the question i have is what do they do for entertainment in the tower?  do they produce their own closed circuit television station?

Puppets, lots and lots of puppet shows.

[steve dave]

Once an child was seen brining a letter to the NK capital building from the tower. The next day the child left the capital building with a group of 3 scientists and entered the tower. 5 days later the scientists were picked up at the entrace to the tower by an army transport, taken to the capital building and never seen in public again.

[Mr Bread]

the question i have is what do they do for entertainment in the tower?  do they produce their own closed circuit television station?

Puppets, lots and lots of puppet shows.

Yeah, and Simple Jack plays.  Probably a fair amount of Thunderdome-type justice/entertainment.  Here we are paying exorbitant amounts of money to feed and house our criminals while these guys are profiting off theirs fighting to the death. 

[Bloodfart]

Do the tower people celebrate NK holidays or do they have their own set?  I bet there has probly been some kind of conflict between the basement dwellers and upper level residents on this issue.  Maybe the king... oh never mind.