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Thursday 2006-09-07 - P’yŏngyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
The P’yŏngyang subway
Since I “collect” subways, riding the P'yŏngyang subway is a special treat for me, even though we only see a short stretch between two stations -- in fact, the section all tourists to the DPRK are shown, from Puhung station to Yonggwang station -- that makes it no less interesting. The subway system has two lines, with 17 stations in all, and a total length of 35km.
Stories that travelers on this stretch are actors (for the benefit of foreign visitors) and that this stretch between two stations is the only functional part are sheer fantasy -- or propaganda. We see ordinary people, and lots of clearly excited school kids with pink and red (plastic) flowers: they're traveling on, on their way to celebrate the National Soccer team returning victoriously today from an international championship in Russia. We also saw lots of people with such flowers on the streets all over the place. (Two days later, the jubilant reception of the soccer team was shown on national television.)
Also noteworthy are the newspaper displays on all platforms, usually with a small cluster of people around them reading: this is the only way most people read the newspaper. Not to forget that the whole system is incredibly deep underground (the escalators taking you to the level where the trains run is dizzyingly high), and also functions as a bomb shelter for the population.
Every station has its own unique decorations, each station with a theme; there are enormous mosaics along the wall (no ads here)— some of them quite beautiful — and huge chandeliers designed to fit the theme. Supposedly the subway was modeled on that of Moscow; I can’t compare since I haven’t been there but some say it’s actually more beautiful.
While most public transportation in P’yŏngyang uses secondhand material imported from abroad, it seems some of the subway cars at least were produced locally. In all, I’m very impressed. The subway is clean, and designed to be pleasant and efficient — not merely functional as in so many cities.
