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."
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."
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."
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