Reports from Pyongyang tend to cohere to a standard “Western journalists under control in North Korea” theme. What sets the best ones apart?
1. “Parallel Universe,” an Australian piece from 2007, features Bradley Martin, author of Under the Care of the Fatherly Leader:
2. “Welcome to North Korea,” a 2001 documentary, runs nearly an hour, and somehow manages to reach a level of profundity through analysis of the various guides at revolutionary sites:
3. “Pyongyang: Journey in North Korea,” a bande desinée/graphic novel-travel memoir by Guy Delisle, is here briefly rendered with sound and voice-overs by a student of graphic arts, to good effect:
Adam Cathcart 