A trip to North Korea costs around $5,000. The rumour is that upon entering the country you are taken on a high-security level tour that has been specifically built for this purpose where you will see specially designed roads, grand buildings and civillian actors who will tell you how glorious living under Kim Jong-Il`s rule is.
At dinner last night a friend of mine told us about his interest in potemkin villages, the concept of which apparantly started in Russia hundreds of years ago to appease the King when he visited various locations. To avoid execution, local shop owners would create lavish exteriors for their businesses to distract the king from their obvious poverty, but these exteriors were completely flat (2D).
This whole idea struck the same chord with me as America`s Disney Land.
One of these potemkin villages, referred to as "Propaganda Village" (see link below) exists close to the DMZ, the militarized border between North and South Korea and we will be able to see it when we visit next weekend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gijeong-dong
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