You are most lucky. They have been stationed in Pyongyang for two years, so we bombard them with questions. They have little to reveal, chiefly because they are confined to a radius of 40 kilometers from the embassy housing estate unless they have permission to go further from the Foreign Ministry. They never visited the homes of North Koreans. She's so nice and friendly in the house, but if we see her on the street, she won't smile, she won't even wave to us.
Visitors are rare to a country desperate for foreign currency but fearful of the consequences.
We are the only tourists on the entire train. The remaining passengers are diplomats, save for a family of Russians. We are met by a car and driver. Our guide, Li Yong Bom, hustles us through the comfortable foreigner's waiting room. There are a dozen padded chairs and, needless to say, a portrait of Kim Il Sung overhead.