The Grand People's Study House - Pyongyang

Grand People's Study House

The large building in the background that you see on TV when there are military parades in Pyongyang is called The Grand People's Study House - built in 1982 to celebrate the 70th birthday of Kim II-sung.

Reading room

Supposedly the building contains millions of books, many also supposedly written by the two deceased leaders of the DPRK. Not only does the building function as a library, but citizens are also able to take classes in a number of subjects, including English.

We were proudly shown some English language texts which the library had available. The books we were shown concerned odd or obscure topics, such as chicken rearing. Our staff and guides did not seem to care that we were poring a certain amount of scorn (with a bit of sniggering) on the subject matter of the books presented to us.

View from the front

We entered the building through the back entrance, I think in order to deliver the coup de grace at the end of our visit - the view from the front towards the main square, river, and Juche Tower.

Computer room

As well as viewing the music room with an impressive array of 1980s vintage ghetto blasters, we also were allowed into the computer room where people were busy studying - perhaps. I wasn't entirely convinced they were doing anything at all. Not a lot of typing was going on, and they only have access to the North Korean intranet, which I imagine is not particularly useful, unless they are really into the Juche ideology. When I checked one of the recently vacated PCs, I could find no evidence it had ever been used to create documents.

My class

In my previous post, I said that the most memorable memory of my time in the DPRK was the visit to the DMZ. Well, I'm going to retract that statement. By far and away the most memorable event was being given the opportunity to teach a class of English students at the Grand People's Study House. One of the guides, who I became quite familiar and friendly with, volunteered me to speak to the class. I think that after a few days, I had gained the trust of the guides and was therefore allowed greater freedoms.

It was quite an experience! I spoke and did Q&A with the students for approximately 20 minutes. I gave a brief introduction and then opened the floor up to questions. What is the weather like in Scotland? What sports are popular in Scotland? What is my favourite Korean food? There was quite a reaction and a good deal of applause when the answer I gave to the last question was, "Kimchi". They all displayed excellent English, albeit with rather hard to understand accents.

I will try and wrap up my memories of North Korea in the next couple of posts. I have a holiday coming up soon in Scotland, so it would be great to get up to date with this blog as soon as possible.