“Dr. Michael Pido, you are among the very few Filipinos who have ever set their feet in DPR Korea. Majority of them are seamen or sailors who are in transit.”

I am simply paraphrasing what my North Korean friend had stated when I first visited DPR Korea in January 2001. At that time, I was working as a National Officer in a United Nations (UN) Regional Program for Environmental Management in East Asia. Although I went there only twice (January 2001 and September 2001), I would be able to write several articles from memorable events and/or observations.

My blogs may include – but not necessarily limited – to these three events/circumstances. One, nowhere among the countries I visited have I ever seen such beautiful women directing traffic. They were simply gorgeous, if not stunningly beautiful, who looked like commercial models more than anything else. Two, I was in its coastal city of Nampo when the world-changing 9-11 attack happened. When they told me that New York’s twin towers were attacked by suicide planes, I found it quite hard to believe. Such situation was surreal – if not outright eerie. Three, it was there that I experienced the scariest ‘police encounter/incident’ I have ever had in a foreign land. I might have urinated from my pants without even knowing it!

Please bear with me as I reconstruct my notes and/or recollect my memories…