For a "secret embassy," one could not have a less conspicuous location.
North Korea's de-facto embassy in Taiwan sits at the corner of Keelung and Renai roads, directly across from Taipei City Hall's front door. The line of fire from its sixth floor office runs directly across Citizen's Square, aiming directly into Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's window.
From outside the 12-story gray building at 342 Keelung Road, there's only a slight hint that something's up. A blue and red sign beckons from the building's upper levels, boasting in Chinese, "Air Koryo" (高麗航空公司) -- but it's one Chinese word, "Kao Li," that is a dead give-away, since that term is strictly a North Korean word for "homeland."
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Inside, it's even easier to tell you've entered the hermit kingdom by the portraits of the Great Leader Chairman Kim Il-sung (Korea's Chairman of 40-plus years until his death in 1994), and the Chairman's son, the new leader Kim Jong-il.
Chang Rong-hseng (張榮勝) is the president of Koryo Express, selected by North Korea's Foreign Ministry. He is an affable man, easily primed to tell stories about the little understood place. And with the recent exchanges between North and South and the North and the US, a wartime foe, Chang is acutely aware of the necessity of his "travel agency."
"North Korea is still cut off from the world," says Chang. "That's why this office is so important. Korea will soon drastically change. What we want is to be able to open up on our own terms, to direct the openness so that it works in the interest of our people."
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMESN
NOT EVERYONE WELCOME
American reporters, he says, better watch out, since Taiwan's only North Korean visa office arranges visas for everyone but journalists (and spies) or Americans and South Koreans.
"It should be understandable the feeling we have about Americans and what they did during the [Korean] War. Unfortunately the world still doesn't understand the real facts behind the War and the extent of atrocities committed by America.
"There are many, including myself, who would like to invite every possible journalist so they can reveal the truth to the world. People should also understand the differences within the Pyongyang power structure. There are the old-liners, chiefly in the military, who are still tied to the old ideology of self-reliance. But there are many leaders who really want to open the nation and bring about economic reform. At the head of the pro-reform groups is national leader Kim Jong-il. He sincerely wants change, but he's checked by the conservatives."
"It's very similar to China 30 years ago, but more centralized. Since tourists don't know the language and the customs, we only permit group tours that have official translators," says Chang. "Imagine the mess if we were to let in individual tourists! If they got lost in the countryside it would be horrible. Outside the big cities, very few people speak English. At night it's pitch black because there are no lights and transport is very crude."
In spite of these limitations, Chang states that most tourists come back delighted after seeing the world's last "pure communist State."
"After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Block and the glorification of capitalism in China, only North Korea remains as a pure communist nation," says Chang. "Nowhere else can you still meet such honest people with the same hardcore socialist ethics as in North Korea."
Yet the 10-member staff at Koryo Express seem more like college students than the apparatchik of international detente. In fact, most are Taiwanese in their twenties.
"The [North] Koreans are very similar to the Japanese with a closed society. They' re so concerned with self-respect, it's hard to get close to them," says 28-year-old Taiwanese Chang Cheng-wei (姜正衡) who heads ticket and visa sales. "I discovered spotlessly clean cities that have rivers you can almost drink from. But I think that's going to change since there's a growing number of Chinese, thousands of them, many of whom are coming in from the Manchurian border regions who can speak Korean. That's going to have a huge impact on the locals."
CHAIRMAN CHANG'S `SECRET' BACKGROUND
Chang can speak eight languages because of his unique background, according to his brother-in-law George Huang (
"His father was a diplomat for North Korea. When he served abroad, he was permitted to take only one of his many children with him. He chose Chang Rong-hseng and took him everywhere he served.
"So Rong-hseng learned to speak Mandarin in Beijing, Thai in Bangkok, Malay, Hokkien, Hakka, and Cantonese in Malaysia and English everywhere. He later became a diplomat himself. I really don't know what he did."
Huang says investors in the travel business include Opto Tech Corp (
The North Koreans had tried for years to open up an official office in Taipei, but were repeatedly turned down by the government. At Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), officials play down the importance of the Koryo Express office.
"There are absolutely no official ties between this country and North Korea. Nor have there been any official visits or exchanges," says Hsia Guang-hwei (夏廣輝), a specialist on Korean affairs in the East Asian & Pacific Affairs Section of MOFA. "After the North Koreans first applied to open a trade office and were turned down, they went and opened Koryo Express. They only have the authority to assemble tour groups and send their passports to a third nation [China] for visas. They would be exceeding their status if they issued visas directly in Taiwan."
But Huang and his office staff contradict the MOFA view. "Koryo Express has already arranged for three or four Taiwan government delegations to visit North Korea. Most of them were from the Foreign Ministry," says Chang Cheng-wei. "They were the most trouble to arrange. Most tour groups we send to Hong Kong and then to North Korea either through Shenyang or Dalian [China]. But these Taiwan officials couldn't enter China, so we had to first fly them to Seoul, then to Vladivostok in Siberia, and only then into Pyongyang."
INSPIRATION TO CHANGE
Huang says these days it's almost normal to have up to three North Korean officials in Taiwan doing business, touring and scouting the country. "When they're here we pay for their travel, lodging and food. I've tried my best to convince them to change [North Korea's approach] and even taken them to KTVs and gotten girls for them. But China is the biggest barrier to Taiwan relations with North Korea."
"We know that North Korea would greatly benefit by relations with Taiwan," says president Chang. "The problem is that there are extremely strong ties with China. Not only do we look to China as being a chief supplier of fiscal and food assistance, we also share deep experiences as peoples in a common struggle.
"That means relations with Taiwan will grow, but these ties will be subtle so as not to offend Big Brother."
NOTE: Curtis Smith (史康迪) is a freelance writer who once lived in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.If you're goingTour options:
Koryo Express offers three basic tours, which include tickets, travel, hotels, meals, translators, and guides: the 8-day (NT$35,000), the 11-day (NT$44,000) and the 16-day (NT$53,000). The 8- and 11-day tours both offer 4 days and 3 nights in North Korea with various tours of north-east China. The 16-day tour offers 5 days and 4 nights in Korea and an extensive tour of the Chinese Manchurian provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilungchang.
All trips include:
A trip to the famous border village Panmunjom, where the Korean War truce was signed. That's also where you can stare across the DMZ at tourists within spitting distance who are looking at you from the South Korean side.A ride on Pyongyang's 38km subway that was dug 110m to 150m underground to shelter the population from possible nuclear attacks by US imperialists.A trip the scared Myoshan Mountain; a trip to the Macau Casino.Restrictions:
No journalists, spys, US ro South Korean citizens. Korean should not be spoken. Normal visa applications usually take nine days.Food served:
Usually a mix of South Korea and Chinese styles. (Originally too hot and salty for foreign tastes, but has and been improved and adapted over the years.)Background info:
For three years, Koryo Express has been sending tourists from Taiwan to North Korea.In the past year it arranged 3,000 visits, and it is expecting even stronger growth in the coming year with the ongoing political changes. Koryo Express is located (across from Taipei City Hall) at 6F-1, No. 342 Keelung Rd, Sec 1, Taipei. Tel:2723-3836; Fax:2725-3154.
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