It might not get weirder than this

[spuwho]

Recently, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson visited North Korea on a mission to expand the internet into the DPRK.



Along for the ride was Sophie Schmidt, the daughter of the CEO and she used social media to blog about her "adventures" upon her return since the DPRK only has a scrubbed version of the internet on their intranet.

https://sites.google.com/site/sophieinnorthkorea/home

To sum it up, she considers the DPRK a "distortion field" where reality has been bent so far, its citizens haven't a clue what is for real and what is for show.



Hey Ock, they even have a subway.....twice as deep as usual, in case the capitalists decide to bomb them



She says North Korea is essentially a national version of "The Truman Show"

The mausoleum also had large trophy rooms for the Leaders, with medals, honorary citizenships and a veritable rogue's gallery of grip-and-grin portraits of the Kims and their various friends: Oh hey, Hafez Assad, Fidel Castro, Teodoro Obiang... Also noteworthy: only U.S. contribution was an honorary degree from the bullshit Kensington University. Aw, nobody told them.

[Adam W]

What's really weird is that the daughter of the Google CEO has such a busted-looking blog.

[TPC]

The Vice guide to North Korea said the same thing a few years ago. http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

[fsujax]

interesting. the blog was a little hard to read through.

[Adam W]

I remember reading about their underground system years ago - a number of their stations are very similar to some of the grander ones on the Moscow Metro (though probably not as nice). Wikipedia has a few nice photos.

[NotNow]

I thought it was a pretty good effort for a 19 year old girl.  Scary country though.

[Dog Walker]

  Scary country though.

And you are the grand master of understatement. 

They are profoundly racist, profoundly paranoid, and totally lunatic owners of atomic weapons and rockets.

[ben says]

As scary as it looks, I'd kill to visit the place. Plan on going on one of those organized-government-sanctioned tours at some point in the next few years.

What's really weird is that the daughter of the Google CEO has such a busted-looking blog.

Hahah

[Adam W]

As scary as it looks, I'd kill to visit the place. Plan on going on one of those organized-government-sanctioned tours at some point in the next few years.

You and me both! I'd love to get the chance to see the place - I have a feeling it won't stay that way forever. It's not nearly the same thing, but I've always lamented the fact that I missed out on seeing East Berlin.

North Korea is crazy and I hope it goes the way of the dinosaur at some point (if only for the sake of its starving populace).

[ben says]

Add Cuba to the list of places to visit before "the west" takes over.*



*Not comparing Cuba to NK. Cuba is far and away 100000x better off than NK. Just saying, like East Berlin, etc, gotta see it while it lasts!!

[Adam W]

Add Cuba to the list of places to visit before "the west" takes over.*



*Not comparing Cuba to NK. Cuba is far and away 100000x better off than NK. Just saying, like East Berlin, etc, gotta see it while it lasts!!

I know what you mean, though. Cuba is relatively free. But its days are numbered, which is a real shame. It's not without its problems, for sure. But it isn't NK or the DDR.

I've had a lot of friends who've gone on holiday to Cuba and they've really enjoyed it. It might be worth the trek, though we've got a baby on the way, so I don't see myself going on any holidays anytime in the foreseeable future!

[NotNow]

My friends who went to Cuba (usually on mission work) were appalled by the poverty and hopelessness of the people.   Hmmm.

[Adam W]

That's odd. Perhaps it's down to looking at the same thing through different lenses. There is no question about the poverty - though I'd think that is dependent on where in Cuba you are. "Hopelessness" is probably more subjective.

[ben says]

My friends who went to Cuba (usually on mission work) were appalled by the poverty and hopelessness of the people.   Hmmm.

For what it's worth, my dad and grandfather just got back from a two week trip all over Cuba. Said it was beautiful, the people were fantastic, seemed happy, culture was lively, etc etc.

On another note, I love how people in the US always point to Cuba and throw out words like "poverty" and "helpless"---look in the mirror at the US people!! How many millions do we have in poverty again? Probably more than Cuba has in total population.

[BridgeTroll]

I have'nt checked yet but... 

http://www.livescience.com/26724-review-north-korea-google.html

Pranksters 'Review' North Korea on Google Maps


by Jeremy Hsu, TechNewsDaily Senior Writer

Date: 30 January 2013 Time: 02:52 PM ET

When Google unveiled a detailed map of secretive North Korea, online pranksters and trolls began "reviewing" hotels, stadiums and even gulags.

Most of the Google Map "reviews" won't prove too useful for the few outsiders who get to visit North Korea as tourists. Instead, many people indulged in tongue-in-cheek commentary or dark humor about North Korea's cult-of-personality dictatorship, its Orwellian-style surveillance, and the general lack of both food and material wealth for many North Koreans.

"The finest health care clinic in all of Asia doubles as a fast food restaurant that makes starvation in the Glorious People's Democratic Republic a figment of Imperialist imagination!" wrote Ken R, a Google Plus user, in his review of the Ponghwa Clinic in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang.

Similarly fictitious reviews discussed the culinary merits of "dog-butt sandwiches" at Pyongyang's Yanggakdo Stadium, joked about invisible golf courses, and made mock complaints about movie theaters that showed nothing but films made by Kim Jong-il (the Hollywood-obsessed father of North Korea's current leader Kim Jong-un).

Google Maps previously showed few details in North Korea aside from the bare outlines of Pyongyang. That has changed since citizen cartographers â€" volunteer netizens working with Google Map Maker from outside North Korea â€" helped Google fill in the map and identify the locations of places ranging from Pyongyang's golf courses for the elite to labor camps housing political prisoners.

The Google Map changes debuted just weeks after Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, visited North Korea as part of a private delegation in early January. But Google may not have anticipated exactly how many Google Plus users would use the online reviews to mainly "troll" North Korea.

Such commentary took on an even darker tone in the "reviews" of the North Korean gulags that reportedly house thousands of political prisoners in miserable conditions. Brian Ashcraft, an editor for the gaming website Kotaku, highlighted the more choice remarks about camps in places such as Chongjin, North Korea's third largest city.

"Spent 9 years before escaping," said Tore Sinding Bekkedel, Google Plus user. "What a tourist trap. Unfriendly natives. Only recommended as weight loss program."

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience. You can follow TechNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @jeremyhsu. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily. We're also on Facebook & Google+.