Hair peace 2: Kim Jong Un haircut is free in Vietnam - but not Singapore

In January when it was reported that Singapore and Vietnam were shortlisted for the second US-North Korea summit, I was low-key hoping that we would get it again.

While some have complained that Singapore wasted too much money hosting the first summit last June, the historic occasion was the perfect opportunity for me to get Mr Kim Jong Un’s iconic haircut – for the second time.

The first time was in April 2016 when I was in North Korea for the Pyongyang marathon. I hadn’t cut my hair since.

So as far as I was concerned, it was $16.3 million well spent by our Government to play maître d'hôtel to President Donald Trump and Supreme Leader Kim’s first date because I got a haircut out of it.

And if the two leaders should swing back to Singapore for a second summit, I would have an excuse to get another Kim cut since my previous Kim cut had grown out in the months since the first summit.

Also, maybe Education Minister Ong Ye Kung will get a chance to take another selfie with Mr Kim and hopefully this time, The Guardian newspaper in UK won’t identify Mr Ong as “an unknown man” in the photo.



Alas, to the disappointment of Mr Ong, myself and millions of Crazy Rich Asians fans, Mr Trump announced last month that Summit 2: Endgame would be held in Hanoi, not Singapore.

I couldn’t have been more crestfallen if I had fallen out of bed and fractured my arm. It was like I was punched in the face by an angry cyclist.

Then as if to rub it in, in honour of the second Trump-Kim summit, a Hanoi salon started offering a free Kim cut or Trump dye job to anyone who wanted one.



Except you had to be Hanoi, of course.

And I wasn’t.

But I wanted the free Kim cut.

If only Malaysia had already built its flying car for me to drive to Vietnam.



I went online and found out a return flight to Hanoi would cost at least over $200. That was a lot of money to pay for a free haircut.

Should I or shouldn’t I?

I was about to click the button to book a flight when it occurred to me that I could just get a Kim cut in Singapore for somewhat less than $200 and I wouldn’t have to apply for leave from work to travel to Hanoi.



I also didn’t want to risk deportation from Vietnam for being a Kim impersonator after the haircut. (Yes, I know I’m not fat enough. Thank you very much.)

Anyway, I can’t go to Vietnam because I have a bone spur in my right heel. Seriously, this a real thing. It’s the same as what Mr Trump got that excused him from a whole war in 1968. I’m not malingering. It hurts when I walk.



So last week, I went to the LA Barbershop in Vivocity where I got my commemorative summit Kim cut last year and asked for same. The shop charges $40.66 for a “premium cut, shampoo, scalp massage, hot towel, styling”.

My barber, Tenny, said the Kim cut is basically a half fade and tried to explain to me the difference between a half fade and a soft fade.

But I was too preoccupied wondering whether I should use the $200 I saved by not going to Hanoi to buy the McGriddles hoodie on Carousell.



I told Tenny that someone in Vietnam was cutting people’s hair like Kim Jong Un’s for free, subtly hinting that he could perhaps not charge me too. He said he never heard of such thing and took my credit card.

Well, I tried.

Perhaps I was too subtle.

But now that I’ve had the Kim cut three times, I have to admit, I’m getting a little tired of it. It does not spark joy like it used to.

If there’s a third summit, I think I’ll go for the Trump dye job instead.

- Published in The New Paper, 4 March 2019




EARLIER: How I got my commemorative summit Kim Jong Un cut in 2018

Hair peace: How I got my commemorative summit Kim Jong Un cut

The last time I cut my hair was in North Korea to look like Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

Because the haircut was so special, I promised myself never cut to my hair again.

That was on 10 April 2016.

In two years, my hair grew so long that I started wearing a bandana to manage it.

My family and co-workers had gotten sick of seeing my long hair and bandana, and told me so.

Even I became so annoyed with my own hair that I wanted to cut it, but a promise is a promise. I am nothing if not a man of my word.

Then the summit happened. One of the unlikeliest events in history and it took place in Singapore.

It was fate giving me an excuse to get a haircut.

I told myself it was okay to break my promise as long as I’m in the same country as the Supreme Leader when I cut my hair.

I mean, what are the odds me being in the same country as Kim without going to North Korea?

And so yesterday, as Rocket Man and the dotard were having their summit on Sentosa, I went to nearby VivoCity to get a haircut at LA Barbershop.

Of course, I asked to look like Supreme Leader Kim again.



































I would say that was worth $20 million.

Though the haircut (including wash) cost me personally more than $40.

Now the question is, when will I get another haircut?

I guess I have to wait for the next Singapore summit.

Or go back to North Korea.

If they let me.


EARLIER: I went to North Korea & asked for the Kim Jong Un haircut (and lived)

Sorry, guys, about crass commercialisation of US-North Korea peace summit in Singapore

Dear President Donald Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un,

As Chow Yun Fat once said, welcome to Singapore.

But don’t expect to see the star of Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End here, though.

And on behalf of Singapore, I apologise.

You picked our country in good faith to host your historic peace summit tomorrow and we have allowed it to devolve into a crass commercial opportunity for local F&B outlets, foreign impersonators and the Singapore Mint.



And not even the cool, refreshing kind of mint. But the coin!

And not even the fun chocolate coin you can eat. But made of metal!

Gold, silver or nickel-plated zinc. I preordered the zinc because it’s the cheapest ($36).

But I refuse to order the KFC Four Peace Meal because KFC didn’t even bother to concoct a new American-Korean fusion flavour of chicken.



All KFC created was the pun.

Come, I clap for you, KFC.

Even worse, I found out that the KFC Four Peace meal offer is meant only for you two world leaders. An ordinary citizen like me can’t order it if I wanted to. So RI aren’t the only initials that are elitist. KFC too!

We all know how much Mr Trump loves his fried chicken, though apparently not as much as the naked guy loves the chicken in the drawing by artist Vincent Leow that has since been removed from display at the Esplanade.

At least KFC did something for the summit.

Both of you must be disappointed that McDonald’s didn’t create a Happy Summit Meal as Mr Trump is a well-known McDonald’s fan and it was once reported that Mr Kim is more likely to allow a McDonald’s in Pyongyang than give up the nukes.

All McDonald’s did was bring back McGriddles with a promotion involving some obscure Russian event called the World Cup.



But I have an idea to make up for everything.

I read that there was an issue of how the accommodations of the North Korean delegation in Singapore will be paid for.

I also read that two foreigners impersonating you esteemed gentlemen have exploited the hype around the summit by coming here and charging $15 to take a photo with them.



If impersonators can charge $15, imagine how much you can charge since you guys are the real deal.

At least twice as much. Maybe more!

Plus extra for a wefie with Dennis Rodman.



That should take care of the hotel bill.

If not, ask Elon Musk.

The billionaire Tesla CEO should have some spare change after paying the premium to read The Straits Times open letter to him online.

Our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday that the summit will cost Singapore about $20 million, but it’s worth it.

Too bad our teachers still have to pay for school parking.

By the way, since you’re meeting on Sentosa, you should check out the new Jurassic World live show at Universal Studios afterwards.

Just to warn you though, it’s the June school holiday now and Sentosa may be a little crowded, not “secluded” as the the Fox News headline says. Fake news!

I know someone who works at Universal Studios and may be able to get you in free (or at a discount).

Consider it my humble contribution to the peace process.

I look forward to our wefie with Rodman.

You won’t charge me, right?

- Published in The New Paper, 11 June 2018


UPDATE:

I got my summit coin! Remember once upon a time when #trumpkimsummit was a thing?

A post shared by SM Ong (@sm_ong) on Jul 17, 2018 at 4:18am PDT

Dear Stormy, please don't get Trump impeached ... before he comes to Singapore

Dear Stormy Daniels,

Big fan. Loved you in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

Your surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live a week ago was a hoot. Maybe two.

In the SNL sketch, US President Donald Trump (played by Alec Baldwin) asked you over the phone: “What do you need for all this to go away?”

You (played by you) replied: “A resignation.”

Who did you think you were talking to? Then-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak?



I know you and Mr Trump have a complicated history.

His lawyer admitted to paying you US$130,000 not to talk about your alleged 2006 affair with Mr Trump.

You claimed you once spanked him with a magazine with him on the cover.

And you’re the one suing him for defamation.

Is it me or are you trying to bring down the President of the United States?

Which is your prerogative.

But can you just do me one favour?

If you do bring down President Trump, can you do it after June 12?

Wait a month. Please?

You see, five days after your SNL appearance, Mr Trump tweeted that he is meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on that date.



Many of us Singaporeans are really excited about it. Our country hasn’t been in the international spotlight like this since, uh... the Crazy Rich Asians trailer?

Even our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said “he looked forward to welcoming President Trump to Singapore”.

We have not been this hyped for an American visiting our little island since Robert Downey Jr.

He is Iron Man, you know.



And just like in Avengers: Infinity War, nothing less than the fate of half the universe – or at least the Korean peninsula – is at stake.

You don’t want to be Thanos, do you? (Spoiler: He killed a lot of people.)

Personally, I am more psyched that Mr Kim is coming to Singapore.

I went to North Korea two years ago just to get a haircut like his – and I haven’t cut my hair since.



My hair has grown so long and unsightly that my wife is now begging me to cut it. And in honour of Rocket Man’s visit, I may actually do it.

But if you get Mr Trump’s resignation (like you said you wanted on SNL) before June 12, the meeting could be called off and Mr Kim wouldn’t be coming, which means no haircut.

You don’t want to disappoint my wife, do you?

In return, I would offer to buy all the movies you directed – except that I don’t think they are allowed in Singapore. (Though spanking is.)

Instead, I would like to invite you to the Lion City as my guest.

I will take you to Gardens by the Bay and eat crispy chicken rendang and all that, and we can talk smack about Seth Rogen.



My wife would probably insist on the tagging along. Just try and stop her!

It will be fun. You can see my new haircut.

By the way, can you tell me how I can get in touch with Special Counsel Robert Mueller as well?

I would ask the US ambassador to Singapore, but there isn’t one.

Here’s hoping Mr Mueller doesn’t get Mr Trump impeached before June 12 too.

After June 12, whatevs.

Thanks for reading this and give my best to Thunder and Lightning.

- Published in The New Paper, 14 May 2018




UPDATE: Summit or no summit, I'm rescinding my invitation to Stormy Daniels to visit Singapore

No holiday in DPRK: Who exactly is MFA's North Korea travel advisory for?

Last Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued an advisory:

“Given recent developments and the unpredictable situation arising from the actions of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Singaporeans should avoid all non-essential travel to North Korea. Singapore has no diplomatic representation in North Korea, which constrains our ability to extend consular assistance to Singaporeans who travel there.”

Isn’t this kind of redundant?

It’s like issuing an advisory to avoid all non-essential travel to Florida, given Hurricane Irma.

Or an advisory for coulrophobia sufferers to avoid all non-essential viewing of the movie It, given killer clown.



I mean, even before the “recent developments” — which is just MFA’s calmer way of saying “Kim Jong Un has the hydrogen bomb and we’re all going to die!” — did many Singaporeans travel to North Korea in the first place?

I believe many, many more Singaporeans visit South Korea.

So MFA should really be advising against all non-essential travel to the land of Gangnam Style because if Supreme Leader Kim starts nuking people, the first to go would likely be his US-allied southern neighbour.



But even without the threat of a nuclear apocalypse, there are other reasons North Korea is no longer the irresistible tourist destination it used to be.

The Wonsan Air Show was supposed to be held this month but was grounded.



The month-long Taedonggang Beer Festival, which was supposed to held last month, was also cancelled. It was North Korea’s answer to Oktoberfest — but in August and with fewer lederhosen.



North Korea tourism has also been hampered by the lack of a promotional campaign with the slogan “Passion made possible”.



Pyongyang could probably use a Formula One night race more than we do.



But judging by its missile tests, North Korea seems less interested in getting the people of the world to visit than bombing it to Kim-dom come.

So with North Korea being an unlikely holiday getaway for Singaporeans, who exactly is the MFA advisory for?

It could be for someone like Mr Aram Pan.



The Singaporean photographer was in the news recently after he posted a 6½-minute video called Flight Over Pyongyang on YouTube on Sept 2.



Showing aerial footage of Pyongyang shot last year, the video was featured on several foreign news sites last week.

Metro.co.uk said the footage reveals “a city full of skyscrapers but streets largely empty of cars and people”.

In the video description, Mr Pan wrote: “It’s a rare treat that a foreigner is allowed photography and filming over the skies of North Korea and even rarer to be doing so in a Piper Matrix PA-46 light plane.”

He has been uploading videos shot in North Korea to his YouTube channel since 2013 and has a website called DPRK 360, dedicated to the country.



Mr Pan sounds like someone who does a lot of “non-essential travel” to North Korea.

I e-mailed him yesterday and asked whether he is affected by MFA’s advisory.

He replied:

“The advisory is expected in lieu of the current global political trends. I think it will primarily just affect travel insurance coverage. Singaporeans who do projects or businesses there will likely still go as and when they need to. As of this conversation, I haven't been to the DPRK since September 2016 and haven't made any plans to travel to the DPRK so I still won't be directly affected by it.”

Of course, the advisory could also be meant for me.

The last place I had a haircut was in North Korea last year when I was there for the Pyongyang marathon.



I swore never to have my hair cut again because I want to be able to say forever that the last place I had a haircut was in North Korea.

In the intervening 17 months, my hair has grown long and unsightly. My family and co-workers are begging me to cut it.

And frankly, I, too, am getting annoyed by my own hair.

I figured the only way I could cut my hair and still be able to say that the last place I had a haircut was in North Korea was to actually return to North Korea to get another haircut.

Then came the travel advisory.

I think going to Pyongyang for a trim counts as “non-essential travel”.

Looks like I’ll be cosplaying as Kylo Ren for the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in December after all.



Thanks a lot, MFA. Look what you made do.

- Published in The New Paper, 11 September 2017


EARLIER: Why I'm grateful North Korean leader's half-brother wasn't assassinated in Changi Airport last year


UPDATE: It seemed Mr Pan went to North Korea anyway:

Why I'm grateful North Korean leader's half-brother wasn't assassinated in Changi Airport last year

Last week, nine Malaysians returned home after being held in Pyongyang following the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Perhaps battle-weary from the whole Beauty And The Beastiality gay thing, Malaysia had agreed to release the half-brother’s body to North Korea in exchange for the return of the Malaysian embassy workers and their family members.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said: “We hope they don’t create a case like this again. It will harm the relationship between the two countries.”

Wait, you mean the relation between the two countries hasn’t been “harmed” already?

Anyway, it’s unlikely a case like this can happen again since Kim Jong Un has run out of half-brothers — but he still has another brother, Kim Jong Chul.



Here’s a tip for him — avoid Malaysian airports.

I’m grateful that Kim Jong Nam at least wasn’t killed in Changi Airport and the assassination didn’t take place last year.

Otherwise, I could have been the one held hostage in Pyongyang.

Yes, I was in North Korea a year ago.

And it wasn’t because I made a mistake like that teen from the Netherlands who wanted to go to Sydney, Australia, but bought a ticket to Sydney, Canada, instead.

It was not like I wanted to go to South Korea and somehow ended up in the wrong Korea (although that does sound like something that could happen to me).

I wanted to go to North Korea for three reasons.

The first is I wanted to run in the Pyongyang Marathon, albeit in the 10km category because the only marathon I have ever completed is The Hobbit three-movie marathon at GV VivoCity in 2014.





Second, you know how Amos Yee was granted political asylum in the US last month after a judge ruled that Yee’s “prosecution, detention and general maltreatment at the hands of Singapore authorities constitute persecution on account of Yee’s political opinions”?



I imagine that for people who have never been to Singapore, that must make our country sound like an awful place, even though for most of us here, it’s not really that bad despite Amazon postponing its Singapore launch to later this year.

So with all the negative publicity about North Korea, I wanted to see for myself whether the country really is as awful as the 2014 James Franco-Seth Rogen movie The Interview made it out to be.



The third reason is I wanted to get Kim Jong Un’s haircut in its land of origin.

I had read contradicting stories about Kim’s iconic do. One story was that all the guys in North Korea must have the same haircut as their Supreme Leader.



I also read somewhere that only the man himself is allowed to rock the style.

The first story was debunked when I arrived in Pyongyang and noticed that the dudes there have different haircuts.

The second story was disproven when I asked for Kim’s haircut in the hotel barbershop and wasn’t forcibly sent to a prison camp for reeducation.

The barber was a nice middle-aged lady who also trimmed my nasal hair and gave me a shoulder massage.



The other foreign marathon runners and I were prohibited from leaving the hotel without our assigned North Korean tour guides, who spoke English and appeared happy to talk about their lives in the supposed hermit kingdom.

They seemed like normal, rational human beings who just happened to worship Kim, his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung like they’re the Holy Trinity.



The locals have mobile phones like the rest of the world.

But no Internet. Just a nationwide Intranet of sorts. So I’m guessing no Pokemon Go too.

During my three-day stay, I got to ride on their MRT train and it didn’t break down.



On our last day, the guides took us to a hotpot restaurant, just like the ones in the other Korea.



I enjoyed the trip so much, I half-considered signing up for this year’s Pyongyang Marathon, which is flagging off this Sunday.

But it’s a good thing I didn’t.

Who knows when another Kim sibling could be assassinated at Changi Airport by a woman wearing an “LOL” top who thought she was on a prank show?

I don’t want to become a hostage for whom Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has to negotiate with North Korea to secure my safe return.

That would be so embarrassing.

But my greater fear is that some of you might just prefer to leave me there, you bastards.

Like I’m Amos Yee or something.

Since it’s unlikely I’ll ever go back, I haven’t cut my hair for a year — and probably never will again.

Why? So that for the rest of my life, I can brag: “You know where was the last place I got a haircut? North Korea!”

Perhaps I should start staying away from airports too.

- Published in The New Paper, 3 April 2017


EARLIER:

I went to North Korea & asked for the Kim Jong Un haircut (and lived)

I went to North Korea & ran 10k in the Pyongyang marathon

I took the MRT train in North Korea & it didn't break down

I went to North Korea & took lots of selfies

How many 'rare' glimpses of North Korea before they're not so 'rare' any more?

I just came back from there and I took lots of selfies. And some videos too.

And with the number of foreign journalists in Pyongyang now for the "rare" ruling party congress, there are even more "glimpses" than usual.

So it's about time news outlets stop calling all these North Korea images "rare".

























MORE 'RARE' GLIMPSES:

I went to North Korea & asked for the Kim Jong Un haircut (and lived)

I went to North Korea & ran 10k in the Pyongyang marathon

I took the MRT train in North Korea & it didn't break down

I went to North Korea & took lots of selfies

My sister goes to North Korea for Pyongyang marathon with me

From The New Paper on Sunday:

On April 7, 13 North Korean restaurant workers defected en masse to South Korea.

This suggests that North Korea is a place people flee from, not flock to.

Yet three days later, 1,000 foreigners flocked to the reclusive country to run in the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, also known as the Pyongyang Marathon.

Singaporean Ong Wann was one of them. She was there with her brother, a running enthusiast, to race in the 10km category of the event.

He had asked her to go along to be his translator as she speaks Korean.

Miss Ong, 39, who owns and operates the Hanok Korean Language School in Singapore, had studied to be a Korean language teacher in Sogang University and Kyung Hee University in Seoul.

She had previously run the 10km race in the Standard Chartered Marathon and Great Eastern Women’s Run. This would be her first overseas race.



Was she apprehensive about going to North Korea, especially since an American tourist was recently sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a poster from a Pyongyang hotel?

“Nope,” Miss Ong says. “I have friends who have been there and all of them got back safely.

“But the South Korean teachers in my school were both excited and worried for me. One of them said, ‘You must come back alive!’

“Although she was joking, I think she really meant it too.”

Miss Ong had to fly from Singapore to Beijing, China, to make the connecting flight to Pyongyang on Air Koryo, North Korea’s national carrier, which has been ranked the world’s worst airline four years in a row by Skytrax.



After surviving the two-hour flight, she was surprised to find that she could order a skinny latte at the Pyongyang airport cafe. “Some cafes in Singapore don’t even have low-fat milk,” she says.

Miss Ong was then taken in a tour bus to 22m-tall bronze statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il and instructed to place flowers in front of the statues and bow to them.

During a pre-tour briefing, Miss Ong was told that the leaders were treated almost like religious figures, and visitors must be careful not to behave inappropriately at their monuments.

While photography is allowed, the whole statue must be in the frame. You cannot, for example, take a picture of the statues from the waist up.

There are other restrictions — no photos of the military, construction sites and local people without their permission.

But when Miss Ong saw a local couple using the giant statues as backdrop for a bridal shoot, she couldn’t resist taking a picture of them — without their permission.



It is a wonder she wasn’t arrested and sent to a labour camp immediately.

You are also not allowed to go anywhere without your tour guide. At the hotel, guests were warned not to wander beyond the hotel grounds.

Not that you would want or need to. In the Yanggakdo International Hotel, where Miss Ong stayed and the American stole the poster, you can drink at the bar, buy snacks, shop for souvenirs, get a haircut, swim, bowl, play billiards and table tennis, and sing karaoke to rock classics like Bohemian Rhapsody.

“During the pre-tour briefing, we were told there’s a massage parlour, which was really a brothel,” she says.

Before going to Pyongyang, Miss Ong also read that the North Koreans foreigners see on the streets are actors. To verify this, after completing her 10km race, she chatted with two young North Korean runners and asked for permission to take pictures with them. “They are not actors,” she concludes.

Her fluency in the Korean language also came in handy as she became the de facto translator for her tour group of runners from Europe, US, Israel and Hong Kong, who turned to her to find out the prices of souvenirs and decipher random signs and slogans on propaganda posters for sale.



“I know as tourists, what we saw and experienced are many times better than what most North Korean enjoy,” says Miss Ong.

“By talking to the local tour guides, it seems their leisure lives revolve around sports and hanging out with friends and family.

“Although they use mobile phones and have a national intranet instead of the Internet, they are careful about what they say and have a slower pace of life — it’s almost like going back to 30 years ago.

Miss Ong flew out of North Korea with her brother the day after the marathon and was surprised that at the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, their cameras weren’t checked for unauthorised photographs.

The trip made her grapple with her presumptions about the country, “some true and others utter nonsense”, she says.

“I could describe the experience as surreal, strange, unexpected, because the place is really more normal than what we expected it to be.”

Back in Singapore, in the taxi from Changi Airport, Miss Ong mentioned to the driver that she and her brother had just returned from North Korea and was taken aback by the cabby’s intense reaction.

She recounts: “He started telling us how dangerous the place was and insisted that it wasn’t safe like we said.

“It was as if he was the one there — not us.”

From The Korea Times:

Pyongyang marathon runner says she felt no sense of crisis in Pyongyang

There appears to be no sense of crisis in Pyongyang according to a foreign participant in a North Korean marathon.

"I did not find any sense of crisis and uneasiness in North Korea despite the ongoing international sanctions," said a Singaporean woman, fresh from her rare trip to Pyongyang to participate in this year's annual Pyongyang marathon.

"The streets of Pyongyang, with the full blossoms of cherry and forsythia, were peaceful and people looked cheerful and bright," Ong Wann told Yonhap News Agency in a telephone conversation.

Ong, 39, made a rare three-day trip to Pyongyang from April 9 with her brother and joined the 10-kilometer half marathon course. Participants can choose to run the full or half marathon.

The Pyongyang marathon is officially called the "Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon." Mangyongdae is the place where North Korea says its founding leader Kim Il-sung and the late grandfather of the current leader Kim Jong-un, was born.

Kim Il-sung's birthday is April 15 and the marathon is one of many events staged to celebrate the key date.

This year marked the third time that foreign amateurs have been allowed to take part in the event. However, the race saw an increase in amateur participation -- nearly 1,000 foreign amateurs took part, the marathon's organizers said.

The Singaporean woman studied in South Korea previously and speaks Korean fluently. She is currently operating a Korean language institute in Singapore.

During her trip to Pyongyang, she occasionally acted as an interpreter for other foreigners including her brother.


She said the atmosphere in Pyongyang was far from any sense of crisis or insecurity although the marathon event was held under the severe international sanctions for the North's nuclear test in January and the long-range rocket launch the following month.

She explained the landscape of Pyongyang was generally peaceful when she looked around some tourist spots such as Mansudae Hill and nearby parks and subway stations.

"The streets of Pyongyang were full of cherry and forsythia blossoms and people on the streets look relatively bright," she said.

"At first I somewhat had a sense of fear as I had a negative image of North Korea which I had obtained from newspapers and media, but was able to adapt myself soon," she said.

"Before I went to North Korea I was told about the prohibitions on what to do and what is not allowed in the country. In fact, individual action was impossible without North Korean guides, but nevertheless their control was not as tight as I first imagined," she said.

Ong said she felt she came to a different world when she saw all the propaganda posters and mural paintings on the walls of subway stations in Pyongyang, which is quite different from commercial advertisements that are often seen in capitalistic countries.

She said that North Korea was also different from other former communist bloc countries which had transformed themselves into capitalistic system in some areas.

"I felt North Korea is not like China and Russia," she said.

EARLIER:

I went to North Korea & ran 10k in the Pyongyang marathon

I went to North Korea & took lots of selfies

I went to North Korea & asked for the Kim Jong Un haircut (and lived)

I took the MRT train in North Korea & it didn't break down