FTV visits North Korea during winter, in a first for foreign media

During its bitter winters, North Korea sees even fewer visitors from the outside world than usual, with only 300 people going in or out of the country every day during the season. But in January this year, FTV News became the first foreign media outlet to visit North Korea during the coldest season of the year. We’re delighted to present rare images of North Korean towns covered in snow, as well as close-up footage showing some of the country’s citizens and how they get through winter on the peninsula. Our exclusive report, from FTV News Director Anne Hu and her team in the Hermit Kingdom. The arrival of winter in North Korea imposes even deeper isolation upon the country. Only Beijing has flights to the capital Pyongyang, but no more than 300 travelers arrive there per day during the season, with only five flights per week in winter. Anne HuFTV News DirectorThe sixth time we’ve received visas to go to North Korea is also the first time in the world that the foreign media will visit the country in wintertime.Despite the country’s general ban on media visits in winter, FTV flew to Pyongyang in January for the stated purpose of promoting winter tourism, after almost a year of negotiations. Because of winds from Central Asia, North Korea is colder and drier than its southern cousin in winter, and there’s little snow in the country’s lower-lying regions, even at 7 or 8 degrees Celsius below zero. Leafless white poplars line both sides of this well-cleared road, a typical sight in North Korea.North Korea’s rice paddies, which are only planted once per year, lay under a blanket of snow during the winter offseason. Locals simply call them “snow fields,” and farmers have to wait until warmer spring weather in April to sow them, before planting seedlings in May. All of North Korea’s lakes and rivers were already frozen by the time we arrived, including the Sinpyong River, where we could even see vehicles driving on the surface of the frozen river itself. Anne HuFTV News DirectorThe areas of North Korea higher than 200 or 300 meters above sea level are always covered in snow come winter, making up one big white expanse. Hilly and mountainous terrain makes up seventy percent of North Korea’s land area, and in the winter, that part is all under snow. Among the few things breaking the vast sea of white are leafless branches and pines, the country’s national tree.Bang ChangminNorth Korean Tour GuideNorth Korea has four distinct seasons per year – spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Winter is from December to February, and during those three winter months, the farther northeast you go the colder it gets. Average temperatures in the northeast during both winter and summer are a bit lower than in the rest of the country. (How cold can it get?) In the winter it can get as cold as 30 degrees Celsius below zero. Farmhouses and other dwellings in the area employ a traditional heating method, by which a furnace is connected to pipes running under the floor, funneling hot air through the pipes and warming the floor itself. With enough fuel, lighting a stove once can provide heat for several hours on end. Newer apartment blocks use a more centralized system that heats water and passes it through pipes installed on every floor. This approach to residential heating is one possible reason why many North Koreans reportedly prefer to sleep on the floor. Apartment ManagerEvery room is installed with hot water pipes (under the floor), and hot water is pumped to every room, circulates through, then is pumped out. The Taedong River running through Pyongyang was also frozen. With hydroelectric generators on the river forced offline, North Korea has to rely on fossil fuels for its electricity needs in winter, a time when shortages and rationing are more common.But winter hasn’t slowed activity in Pyongyang. Unlike a year and a half ago, the capital now teems with taxis, suggesting that Kim Jong-un’s promise about “reaping socialist riches” may be bearing fruit.In North Korea, where neither telephones nor the internet connect to the outside world, many nevertheless use smartphones, which are all special models manufactured domestically. Old TVs have been swapped out for new LCD screens, also made in North Korea rather than imported. War propaganda used to dominate the TV lineup, but programming now includes some less ideologically-focused content, like cartoons and ice-skating competitions.Proclaiming to take seriously the livelihood of the country’s citizens, young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered a public ski resort built in 13 months, and had a housing complex for teachers and scientists finished in only a year. Despite severe flooding damage in 2016, authorities that year still completed a new science pavilion in Pyongyang powered by renewable energy. Last year the city’s old airport was discarded in favor of the all-new Sunan Intern...