The Longest Train in North Korea - Pyongyang to Russia

Thanks for watching! The train ride is really long but it truly is a unique experience. One thing that astute viewers might notice is that there's no trees on the mountains. They cut them all down for fuel. The entire country is almost completely barren from this practice.

I did too! I saw that there’s a train from Vladivostok and I was just curious who could ride that train.

Much appreciated!

Matt and Juhak have worked together for a dozen years. Trust isn't earned easily in North Korea, but I believe that if you show up with integrity and a willingness to trust, friendship can be built with anyone.

Yep, that's me (the Austrian guy) :-)

@@utti1980 do u have footage?

@@ingmarvanolffen i know it's 4 months late but he has a photo blog

Hey, fellow austrian man, do you go to art school.

Wow! Are you allowed to use internet there ?

@@pawanpoudel1 they're paid workers from NK unification and provocation centre. they use internet to post comment on youtube. what a wonderful career

Yeah , sure ok .

Feller is extremely privileged compared to peasant North Koreans, he must have some family in very high positions within the party. Just the fact this guy was allowed to ride through NK and film unaccompanied is incredibly privileged.

@@Glocky131 Given the way he is dressed and the fact he speaks Chinese and English in addition to Korean, probably is a Chinese Citizen of Korean Nationality. Many Koreans in China, especially Jilin, also have relations living across the border in the DPRK.

Watch less cnn and bbc lol

He works in the tourism industry in NK so he's very much multi lingual :)

Me too I would like to know lol

It was in season and we were travelling along the coast :) Crabs came cheap and easy!

@@Inertianetwork now I am jealous of you))

and then yeonmi park paid defector said there is one train a month for all the country and they have to push the train and most travel by foot and die in the mountains

@@TheAbderaman That sounds like a lie to me

yes she is paid to lie for conservatives @@rondonnis6588

Follow him on instagram at @matthew.reichel and inertia network at @inertianetwork :)

Yeah, Matt and Juhak are both fluent Chinese speakers. China is a common second language to learn among the more educated as China is their largest trading partner.

@@Inertianetwork Thanks for the information! I thought that he was overseas Chinese, since there were still many Chinese nationals live in NK because of some historical reasons.

We all know the political situation in North Korea, so we don't need every trip like this to keep reminding us of it. Just traveling with the experience of traveling in a area of the world most never see.

considering he's from Canada and not USA he could've been an embassy worker or a teacher

@@granie300 Makes sense then lol ig

@@pushvedula5640 actually he was ice hockey national team trainer

@@granie300 interesting

He is part of the Élite class. He must be the son of a high ranking official. He doesn’t represent the rest of North Koreans. I have been in DPRK and saw and learned how it is like to live there.

@@Manuel-os3dq No such thing as elite class in DPRK that's a complete rubbish claim.

He asked for permission and they gave him one, I assume.

By train.

Propaganda!

This is the regular assumption of the, by Western propaganda, brainwashed!

krplus.net/bidio/k5yumJmelonGp4I
The owner of this channel is NK residing in Germany. You can present your assertions you might have concerning NK to her and she will answer. I hope that will put your nonsense to rest!

@@vortex162 1 journal defending NK vs thousands of defectors and hundreds of articles.

@@TheGreatSarastro defectors are groomed for anti NK propaganda, paid for lying and brainwashing people like you! Get some real information instead of buying into lying western brainstream media!!

@@vortex162 defectors are the one who know the reality. If what you're saying is true why they tell almost the same thing? Are they all stupid and blind? Or the problem is North Korea?

The guy's North Korean

He's an elite class. There are only 3~4 places to learn english to his proficiency in entire NK. And 90% of the boys are in the military.. so he's like a cream of the crop.

This guy doesn’t represent North Koreans. He is a very privileged one. He is the son of a high ranking official. I have been there and saw with myself eyes their conditions and they huge difference between people living in Pyongyang and those living in the smaller towns/country side. They can’t even leave their towns, imagine going on a train trip to Russia.... 🤦🏻‍♂️

@@TheGreatSarastro 🤣🤣 I would suggest you stop listening to paid to lie NK defectors!

@@Manuel-os3dq what a bunch of rubbish! If that was the case for people not allowed to leave their village YOU wouldn’t have been allowed there! I suggest you watch footages from Canadian Freelance journalist Eva Karene Bartlett to name one!

@@vortex162 사이버전사는 인터넷 기어나오지말고 느이 잘난 광명망이나 쳐보라. 아 그래, 광명망엔 유튜브도 없지?

That's funny how they have been dying from starvation for 30 years, but for some reason are still alive.
Must be black magic.

@@EroUsagiSama Juche necromancy

@@EroUsagiSama Thanks to all the food aid UN sends them every year and the black markets for food that hey have.

@@Glocky131 ah yes, the UN sends them so much food. The sanctions are just there to make sure they don't buy bad food and only eat good UN one. 👍

In all major cities in North Korea, they have special foreign language middle and high schools that recruit promising students to learn foreign languages (mostly English, Chinese, and Russian). The top students from these schools will go on to university in Pyongyang, including possibly the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies (otherwise more accurately known as a foreign language university much like in the earlier days in South Korea and China) where they will concentrate on one foreign language of their choice and minor in a second foreign language of their choice (again, English and Chinese being the most popular, but a wide range of languages from Bulgarian to Spanish to Khmer are available at the university). These skills allow them to pursue a variety of careers, ranging from overseas business to diplomacy and everything in-between. Many of Pyongyang's universities (and several 2nd tier city universities) have decent foreign language programs.

@@Inertianetwork that's very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to explain. Ive always been so fascinated about NK and always try to learn any type of new detail as a side hobby. Very cool. I def. see the bigger picture of what those programs lead too. Great channel too btw. Hope to see more content.

@@Inertianetwork How did he get a permission granted to travel to another city? Isn't that usually very difficult?

Maybe he is happy in his native country

No.

In fact, this train travel course has been open to tourists since 12 years ago. krplus.net/bidio/pdGJpIR4f4axp5g

Doesn't that mean that the government has made sure that the view from the train is decent, then?

How so?

Does every video about North Korea have to have overbearingly negative political focus? I'm not a huge fan of the DPRK it's fair to say, but like, this is a video of a guy having a normal train ride out of the country. It resembles a train journey anywhere else in the world, because it is one.

@@AnshelSag yeah I think so

"Everything I don't like is propaganda"

@@user-bx7vu5cs8p ohh yes with great intent

yea but when media says that just stepping foot in north korea will get you killed it's all facts?

So? It's nice to contribute to the people's economy and livelihood especially under the heavy sanction regime they're on

@@james7286 the money goes to the government to build nuclear weapons.

@@rainbowdash8215 and?

@@james7286 and they don't use them to feed the poor people. So it doesn't really contribute to the people's economy and livelihood.

@@rainbowdash8215 it does tho, buying stuff from locals, giving tips etc

mazack00 - While your opinion is an opinion, this seems like an unfair flexing of unnecessary adjectives when you already provided your constructive feedback. This is a human being presenting an experience with another human being in a different part of the world. It’s not supposed to be glamorous or perfect, but caught in the moment, especially with the noted limited ability to capture more.
Think about the last time you were on a train or a long plane ride with a friend? How mind blowing was it? It was probably not. You probably learned on ground, and that is not the point of this. I think he’s just trying to show a journey and subtle moments caught between two long time friends. It’s human - you could act more of the same especially in these times.

@@robynhuang8239 the feedback is meaningless without a base perspective. You're the one who is being disparaging towards their fellow human by berating and belittling an opinion. If we're being presumptive about each other, though, I'll go ahead and make the assumption that your insulting and disrespectful rant made you feel good about yourself, briefly.

We'll try to do a better job next time :) Unfortunately, this video was not a planned shoot. Matt happened to be rolling his camera for parts of it, and we decided to turn the footage into a little video.
That aside though, this is probably the most intimate look out there into a North Korean person. Ju Hak is vulnerable, he shows his emotions, and he speaks honestly. There are few people who have as deep relationships with a North Korean as Matt does, and maybe next time we'll do a better job at shining more light on this.
I appreciate your feeedback.

I'm curious how was the video discouraging to you? Lacklustre & disappointing sure I can see that based on one's subjective taste but I'm unable to find out where the video would be discouraging.

@@Inertianetwork Thank you for the reply! The content from a place so foreign is appreciated and helps with understanding. @Mirado34 mostly what we consistently weren't able to see due to disallowed filming. Thanks for asking.