Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NEGLECTED
One roof for tourists and dignitaries
because they exist as mere shadows of themselves.” More heartbreaking scenes came as groups of schoolchildren looked at the exhibits.
They were often encouraged by their teachers to clap and shout at the animals to get their attention – one of the worst things for a captive animal’s mental wellbeing, experts said.
A red-eared turtle, which we were told had special significance in Korea as it brought healing properties, lay in DURING our eight-day stay, we were ordered to stay at a hotel on an island and warned we could not leave without our government minders.
The Yanggakdo Hotel is accessed by a bridge over the Taedong River, just outside the centre of Pyongyang.
Dignitaries and foreign tourists are also put there.
We watched as specially invited North Korea “friendship” delegations arrived in time for last Sunday’s military parade and Mass Games.
We were bundled into a lift with controversial French actor Gerard Depardieu, a dubious guest of honour at the nation’s 70th anniversary foundation celebrations.
He is reportedly a “friend” of Russian president Vladimir Putin and holds dual Frenchrussian nationality.
There were also oddball visitors from France, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and Britain.
Some told us they were on “trade missions”, while others seemingly wanted to satisfy their warped obsession with Kim Jong-un’s regime.
We saw European men dressed in traditional North Korean casual suits with badges bearing images of the “Great Leaders” Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
It was yet another example of the blurred lines between reality and fiction in this most bizarre of nations.
a small puddle of putrid water. It had so little liquid that its tiny head popped out from the surface as it lay on the floor.
The conditions were so awful that algae had grown on its shell, weighing down its tiny frame. The desperate scene was at complete odds with a fable our guide told us, in which the animal was so respected for its amazing qualities that an army of 200,000 men had been instructed to find and take care of it.
The zoo was opened in 1959 by Kim Il-sung, Jong-un’s grandfather and the original Supreme Leader.
The Kim dynasty has continued each one’s obsession with capturing animals, with Il-sung visiting 20 times, his son Kim Jong-il 31 times and current leader Jong-un six times.
However, their interest has done nothing for the welfare of the animals.