我在半岛火药桶的6天——理查森访朝CNN随行记者记行（原 ...

记者 Blizer
CNN朝鲜平壤12月22日电——我们在朝鲜的6天行程无比紧凑。
从北京朝鲜大使馆拿到签证后，我们于12月16日（周三）准时登上了从北京起飞的朝航商务机252次航班。
那是一架俄制新式Tupolev204-300飞机。90分钟的平稳飞行，与之相伴的是爱国乐曲和一部表现朝鲜人民英勇斗争的电影，还有穿着红色夹克、戴着白色手套的漂亮空姐。
飞回北京已是12月22日，周二。这比我们原定的日期要晚一天，因为严重的大雾（影响了既定航班）。返程乘坐的是中国国航122次航班，波音737客机。空姐们没有戴白手套。
平壤机场很小，每天只有2-3个飞往少数目的地的航班，因此并不繁忙。
CNN驻北京摄影记者米格尔.卡斯特罗和我此行的目的是报道美国新墨西哥州州长理查森的访朝之行。理查森是美国前驻联合国特使，和朝鲜打交道经验丰富。纽约时报驻北京记者莎朗.拉法兰丽叶是理查森邀请的另一位获得朝方许可随行的媒体记者。
和理查森同行的还有他的高级顾问，托尼.纳姆昆，自1990年起，这哥们已经去过朝鲜不下40回，他对朝鲜、韩国、中国和日本了如指掌。此外，随行的还有他的州长办公室副主任吉尔伯特.各拉戈斯，新墨西哥州环境发展委员会主席盖.迪令汉姆，州警察总长莫.阿特艾格。
下飞机时，朝鲜人收了我们的护照，还给我们的是机票、手机。当然，在返程飞回北京前，他们把（入境时的随身）物品都还给了我们。
我想，不带任何成见地说，此行让我们大开眼界，感觉像在坐过山车——从朝鲜半岛濒临战争的恐慌到朝方悬崖勒马，甚至接受了一些理查森的提议。
也许理查森此行成功劝抚了东道主，（所接触的）包括首席核谈代表、第一副相金桂冠，外务省新任副省长李永浩，负责停战和非军事区事务的军事长官朴云苏将军，最高委员会副委员长金永达。
我们抵达平壤时，南北双方已处战争边缘。这是自1953年朝鲜战争停战以来最严重的危机。
别忘了，这里势如危卵，几乎是个火药桶。任何错误都可能导致全面战争，那将祸及双方数以万计的军人和平民。朝鲜和韩国共有数百万人在邻近非军事区生活、居住。
朝鲜在非军事区己方一侧陈兵百万严阵以待，韩方军力也大致相当，边境地区还有近30000名美军和数千门重炮和导弹发射架，双方虎视眈眈枕戈待旦。全世界都确信朝鲜正在建设一个核武器工厂。
我相信，此刻这是地球上最危险的地方。
这是我第一次前往朝鲜。尽管我曾经去过韩国、非军事区和中国。当理查森给我打来电话问我又没兴趣跟他一起去朝鲜，我当场就相当愉快地答应了。 20年前他还是国会议员时我就认识他了——比他当驻联合国大使和克林顿政府能源部长时还要早。
（加入访问团时）我有点不安，担心自己还能不能回得来。我相当担心一旦战争爆发，他们会关闭机场，那样我可就陷在朝鲜了。我甚至开始考虑必要情况下自己在朝鲜和中国边境线驱车狂奔的场面，这可行吗？
每次从朝鲜电视或者电台中听到军乐，我都会想，这个政权是否已经准备让国家迎接战争?
过去的数年中，我曾经多次报道战争和其他危急状况，往往是从事前直到结束，全周期式的。每次启程前，我都会因为可能发生最坏的情况有些紧张。我的肾上腺素会因（意识到自己）身处重大事件而异常活跃，并不仅仅是因为工作任务，也因担心此行之后，自己能否再有这样的机会。
对这一事件的报道让我回忆起上世纪70、80年代，我早年在中东的工作。没有互联网、没有移动电话、没有黑莓手机。
我在平壤的宾馆有一部“态度强硬的”电话，可以打到美国，每分钟10美元（不接受信用卡、只接受现金，而且必须是新钞），但不能接收从美国打来的电话。
他们不允许我们使用卫星直播，但我们拍了数百张照片和大约8个小时时长的录像，眼下正在接受检查。准备在CNN及其网站完美呈现。
我在平壤的宾馆居然能看到CNN—— Zain Verjee, 安加利.劳和理查德探秘（一些主持人及其栏目名），从没感觉这么好——但没有报纸。
还有，6天的孤岛式生活——，没有电子邮件，没有来电。对我来说，这的确是个转变。但我有点接受甚至喜欢这种生活。直到回到北京，才发现有983封邮件在等着我。
宾馆和美食很棒，尤其是如果你喜欢朝鲜菜的话。我对混搭了鸡蛋和牛排的早餐、鸡汤、白米饭和蒸蔬菜大感兴味。晚餐经常是朝鲜烤鸡或鱼。
有朝方官员全程陪同——我是指任何时候。他们英语流利，很聪明，有礼貌，甚至，很好。 在朝鲜期间，我从没感觉受到威胁。我们理解，那是他们的工作。别忘了，这是在共#产#极#权#制#度下。
我们所到之处的行动受到严格限制：哪些可以录，哪些人可以问。他们希望展示最好的一面，不许我们拍摄不好的地方。我们坚持要求接触更多，有时候他们也会做出让步。纽约时报记者莎朗的要求最多，但这些努力都被拒绝而化为泡影。
最终，我们还是在朝鲜首都看到了很多，甚至得以进入郊区一个巨大的苹果和其他果园，那里有数千名农民在劳动，果园经理称，园子里有220万棵果树。这个数字听起来有点夸张但不管咋样，那里的一切给我们留下了深刻印象。
一旦离开平壤，你就很难看到公路上有汽车。人们都在路边步行，也有些骑自行车。坐在整条公路上唯一的一辆汽车上，有点怪吓人的。这是个非常贫穷的国家。
正担心这里会发生战争时，我们被带到一家有2000名女工在勤勉工作的纺织厂。我们搭乘地铁，从繁荣站到光荣站。我们去购物——还是只能使用现金、新美钞，他们不喜欢旧的、皱巴巴的钞票。
我们在金日成大学和衣着光鲜的学生共度了一下午，后来去了一所外语高中。那些16岁左右的孩子在学习地道的美国俚语。我听到一个学生说：“真酷！”他指的并不是天气。我们在国家图书馆看到了电脑，很体面但技术水准低下。
在国家图书馆有一个巨大的音乐教室。人们在那里可以听些大音乐家的CD。我在那时，他们为我播放了肯尼罗杰的歌。很显然他在这里也大受欢迎。
他们还带我们观光。看了凯旋门（看起来的确比巴黎的那个要大） ；巨大的石塔（显然比华盛顿纪念碑要高）；还有他们的有内外门的体育馆、溜冰场等体育设施。
一天下午，我看到朝鲜女子冰球队在慢跑，就跟上去跑了一小段。她们看到我跟着跑就开始大笑。大概是在想，这个拿着小型便携相机的外国人是不是疯子。
后来，当朝鲜宣布将对韩国的实弹军演进行报复时，我想到了这些姑娘和哪些在平壤见到的年轻人。他们看上去那么脆弱，如战争爆发，我非常担心他们的命运。我并不羞于讲，我为他们和他们的韩国同胞而感到伤感。
金日成和他的儿子，“亲爱的领袖”金正日的巨幅画像到处可见。我没有看到据称是下一代领导人金正恩的画像。
朝鲜首都的公路和隧道里都没有路灯。
朝鲜的电力供应是个大问题。外面很冷，室内急需暖气。教室里的学生穿着厚厚的大衣。屋里也不够亮。
尽管我们和理查森都再三要求，但仍未被允许前往宁边核设施和非军事区。朝鲜人称这是特别敏感期，他们说如果我在其他情况下来访，或许可以。
顺便说一句，2012年对朝鲜相当重要。那是金日成诞生100周年。朝鲜人正在筹备盛大典礼。如果他们邀请我重返，我将前往。也许更早，当然我不希望是为了报道战争。
我是否提到过，我为那些孩子们而担心？
　　------------------------------------------
　　原文如下：
　　Blitzer in North Korea: Life in a tinderboxSee
　　
　　Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- We certainly packed a lot into six days here.
　　
　　After receiving our visas at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, we arrived on Thursday, December 16, on a regularly scheduled North Korean commercial flight from Beijing on Air Koryo flight 252.
　　
　　It was a newish Russian-made Tupolev 204-300 aircraft and a very smooth 90-minute flight accompanied with patriotic music and a video showing the heroic struggle of the North Korean people. The attractive flight attendants wore red suit jackets and white gloves.
　　
　　We flew back to Beijing on Tuesday, December 22, a day after our original plan because of an incredibly thick fog. The flight back was on Air China flight 122, a Boeing 737. The flight attendants did not wear white gloves.
　　
　　Pyongyang airport is very small. It has only two or three flights a day to only a handful of destinations. This is not a very busy airport.
　　
　　CNN Beijing-based photographer Miguel Castro and I were covering the visit here of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations experienced in Korean diplomacy. Sharon LaFraniere, a Beijing-based correspondent for The New York Times, was the only other journalist invited by Richardson and approved by North Korea to cover this trip.
　　
　　Richardson was joined by his senior adviser, Tony Namkung, who’’s been to North Korea 40 times going back to 1990. He is very impressive with a wealth of knowledge about both Koreas, China and Japan. Also joining Richardson was Gilbert Gallegos, his deputy chief of staff; Gay Dillingham, chair of the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board; and State Police officer Mo Arteaga.
　　
　　The North Koreans took our passports, return flight tickets and cell phones upon arrival at the airport. They returned everything when we were about to board our flight back to Beijing.
　　
　　I think it’’s fair to say we all had an eye-opening experience. It was a roller coaster of emotions -- ranging from real fear of war on the Korean Peninsula to relief that the North had stepped back from the brink and even accepted some of Richardson’’s proposals.
　　
　　Maybe Richardson had played a positive role in calming down his hosts, including the chief nuclear negotiator, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan; the new Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ri Yong Ho; the military officer in charge of the armistice and Demilitarized Zone, Major Gen. Pak Rim Su; and the country’’s Vice President, Kim Yong Dae.
　　
　　Let’’s not forget what’’s at stake here. This is a tinderbox.
　　
　　---- CNN’’s Wolf Blitzer
　　 We arrived convinced the Korean Peninsula was on the verge of a war, the worst crisis since the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
　　
　　Let’’s not forget what’’s at stake here. This is a tinderbox. One miscalculation can quickly lead to all-out war and hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties on both sides. Millions of North and South Koreans live very close to the DMZ.
　　
　　The North also has a million heavily armed troops on their side of the DMZ; the South nearly has many. There are also nearly 30,000 U.S. troops along the frontier with thousands of artillery pieces and missile launchers facing each other. The North is widely believed to be building a nuclear arsenal.
　　
　　I believe this is the most dangerous spot on Earth right now.
　　
　　This was my first visit to North Korea, though I had been to South Korea, the DMZ and China. When Richardson called me and asked me if I wanted to go with him, I immediately accepted and am glad I did. I have known him for 20 years going back to his days in Congress -- long before he became U.N. ambassador and energy secretary during the Clinton administration.
　　
　　I was apprehensive going in, worried about whether I would actually get out. I was concerned that they would shut the airport if war erupted, and I would be stuck inside North Korea. I even began wondering about the prospects of driving across the North Korea-China border if necessary. Was that even doable?
　　
　　Every time I heard some martial music on North Korean television and radio, I wondered whether the regime was preparing the country for war.
　　
　　I’’ve covered wars and other dangerous situations over the years and usually go through a before, during and after cycle -- nervous before I leave about all the worst case scenarios; not all that worried while on assignment because my adrenaline is pumping and I’’m in the midst of a big story; but wondering after the trip whether I should do it again.
　　
　　Covering this story brought back memories of my early overseas assignments in the Middle East in the ’’70s and ’’80s: no internet, no cell phone, no Blackberry.
　　
　　I had a hard-line phone in my Pyongyang hotel room and could make outgoing calls to the United States at about $10 a minute. (No credit cards accepted; only cash and only crisp bills.) I could not receive incoming calls from the United States.
　　
　　They would not let us broadcast live via satellite but we took hundreds of still pictures and shot about eight hours of video which we are now going through. Get ready to see the best on CNN and cnn.com.
　　
　　I did get CNN International in my hotel room -- Zain Verjee, Anjali Rao and Richard Quest never looked better -- but no newspapers.
　　
　　Still, six days isolated without e-mail or a cell phone; it was quite a transition for me, but I sort of got used to it and even liked it. I had 983 e-mails waiting for me when I eventually got back to Beijing.
　　
　　We had North Korean officials with us all the time -- and I mean all the time.
　　The hotel and elite restaurant food was very good, especially if you like Korean food. I stuck with scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast; chicken soup and white rice and steamed veggies for lunch; and usually some grilled Korean chicken or fish for dinner.
　　
　　We had North Korean officials with us all the time -- and I mean all the time. They spoke English well and were very intelligent, polite and even nice. I never felt threatened. They had a job to do, and we understood. Let’’s not forget this is a communist, totalitarian regime.
　　
　　We were restricted as to where we could go, what we could film and to whom we could talk. They want to showcase the best and keep us way from the worst. We constantly pressed for more access and they sometimes relented. Sharon from The New York Times was especially persistent and her efforts occasionally paid off.
　　
　　Still, we saw a lot of the North Korean capital and even managed to get into the countryside to see a huge apple and fruit-tree orchard where thousands of farmers work what the orchard director said were some 2.2 million trees. That number seemed exaggerated but whatever it was, it was impressive.
　　
　　Once you get outside Pyongyang, you see very few cars on the roads. People are walking along the sides of the roads; some are riding bikes. It’’s eerie being in the only car on the road. This is a very poor country.
　　
　　Even as we feared there could be a war, we were taken to a silk thread factory where 2,000 women work diligently. We rode the jam-packed subway system from Prosperity Station to Glory Station. We went shopping -- again cash only and only crisp U.S. dollar bills. They really don’’t like the old, wrinkled bills.
　　
　　We spent one afternoon with well-dressed students at Kim Il Sung University and later at a foreign language high school where very bright 16-year-olds were learning English complete with American slang. I heard one student say: "That’’s very cool." He wasn’’t referring to the weather. We saw the computers at their national library. They were decent but not state of the art.
　　
　　There’’s a huge music room at the library where people can simply listen to CDs of great artists. When I was there, they played a Kenny Rogers song for me. He apparently is very popular here.
　　
　　They also took us sightseeing. We saw their Arc de Triumphe (supposedly bigger than the one in Paris); their huge stone tower (apparently taller than the Washington Monument); and their sports complex complete with indoor and outdoor stadiums and ice skating rink.
　　
　　I saw the North Korean girls’’ ice hockey team jogging one afternoon and briefly caught up with them. They laughed as I ran with them -- probably thinking who is this crazy foreign person carrying a little hand-held camera.
　　
　　Later, when it looked like the North Koreans would retaliate for South Korea’’s live-fire military exercise, I thought of these girls and all the young people I had seen in North Korea. They seemed so vulnerable, and I worried about their fate if there were a war. I’’m not embarrassed to say I got sentimental and emotional worrying about them and their counterparts in South Korea.
　　
　　Huge pictures of the late Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, and his son, the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, were all over the place. I didn’’t see pictures of the next generation’’s expected leader, Kim Jong Un.
　　
　　Electricity is a huge problem in North Korea. It was bitter cold outside. Indoor heat is at a premium. The students were in the classrooms wearing their warm overcoats. The rooms were not well-lit.
　　
　　There were no lights in the tunnels on the roads outside the North Korean capital.
　　
　　Outsiders have been predicting its demise for 60 years, but I didn’’t get the impression this country was on the verge of crumbling.
　　
　　We were not taken to the Yongbyon nuclear facility or their side of the DMZ even though we and Richardson repeatedly asked. The North Koreans pointed out this was an especially tense time. They said I could come back on another occasion and perhaps visit these places.
　　
　　By the way, 2012 is going to be a huge year for North Korea. That’’s the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. The North Koreans are preparing major events. Since they invited me back, I might go back then; maybe even sooner though I hope it won’’t be to cover a war.
　　
　　Did I mention that I’’m worried about the children?
　

记者 Blizer
CNN朝鲜平壤12月22日电——我们在朝鲜的6天行程无比紧凑。
从北京朝鲜大使馆拿到签证后，我们于12月16日（周三）准时登上了从北京起飞的朝航商务机252次航班。
那是一架俄制新式Tupolev204-300飞机。90分钟的平稳飞行，与之相伴的是爱国乐曲和一部表现朝鲜人民英勇斗争的电影，还有穿着红色夹克、戴着白色手套的漂亮空姐。
飞回北京已是12月22日，周二。这比我们原定的日期要晚一天，因为严重的大雾（影响了既定航班）。返程乘坐的是中国国航122次航班，波音737客机。空姐们没有戴白手套。
平壤机场很小，每天只有2-3个飞往少数目的地的航班，因此并不繁忙。
CNN驻北京摄影记者米格尔.卡斯特罗和我此行的目的是报道美国新墨西哥州州长理查森的访朝之行。理查森是美国前驻联合国特使，和朝鲜打交道经验丰富。纽约时报驻北京记者莎朗.拉法兰丽叶是理查森邀请的另一位获得朝方许可随行的媒体记者。
和理查森同行的还有他的高级顾问，托尼.纳姆昆，自1990年起，这哥们已经去过朝鲜不下40回，他对朝鲜、韩国、中国和日本了如指掌。此外，随行的还有他的州长办公室副主任吉尔伯特.各拉戈斯，新墨西哥州环境发展委员会主席盖.迪令汉姆，州警察总长莫.阿特艾格。
下飞机时，朝鲜人收了我们的护照，还给我们的是机票、手机。当然，在返程飞回北京前，他们把（入境时的随身）物品都还给了我们。
我想，不带任何成见地说，此行让我们大开眼界，感觉像在坐过山车——从朝鲜半岛濒临战争的恐慌到朝方悬崖勒马，甚至接受了一些理查森的提议。
也许理查森此行成功劝抚了东道主，（所接触的）包括首席核谈代表、第一副相金桂冠，外务省新任副省长李永浩，负责停战和非军事区事务的军事长官朴云苏将军，最高委员会副委员长金永达。
我们抵达平壤时，南北双方已处战争边缘。这是自1953年朝鲜战争停战以来最严重的危机。
别忘了，这里势如危卵，几乎是个火药桶。任何错误都可能导致全面战争，那将祸及双方数以万计的军人和平民。朝鲜和韩国共有数百万人在邻近非军事区生活、居住。
朝鲜在非军事区己方一侧陈兵百万严阵以待，韩方军力也大致相当，边境地区还有近30000名美军和数千门重炮和导弹发射架，双方虎视眈眈枕戈待旦。全世界都确信朝鲜正在建设一个核武器工厂。
我相信，此刻这是地球上最危险的地方。
这是我第一次前往朝鲜。尽管我曾经去过韩国、非军事区和中国。当理查森给我打来电话问我又没兴趣跟他一起去朝鲜，我当场就相当愉快地答应了。 20年前他还是国会议员时我就认识他了——比他当驻联合国大使和克林顿政府能源部长时还要早。
（加入访问团时）我有点不安，担心自己还能不能回得来。我相当担心一旦战争爆发，他们会关闭机场，那样我可就陷在朝鲜了。我甚至开始考虑必要情况下自己在朝鲜和中国边境线驱车狂奔的场面，这可行吗？
每次从朝鲜电视或者电台中听到军乐，我都会想，这个政权是否已经准备让国家迎接战争?
过去的数年中，我曾经多次报道战争和其他危急状况，往往是从事前直到结束，全周期式的。每次启程前，我都会因为可能发生最坏的情况有些紧张。我的肾上腺素会因（意识到自己）身处重大事件而异常活跃，并不仅仅是因为工作任务，也因担心此行之后，自己能否再有这样的机会。
对这一事件的报道让我回忆起上世纪70、80年代，我早年在中东的工作。没有互联网、没有移动电话、没有黑莓手机。
我在平壤的宾馆有一部“态度强硬的”电话，可以打到美国，每分钟10美元（不接受信用卡、只接受现金，而且必须是新钞），但不能接收从美国打来的电话。
他们不允许我们使用卫星直播，但我们拍了数百张照片和大约8个小时时长的录像，眼下正在接受检查。准备在CNN及其网站完美呈现。
我在平壤的宾馆居然能看到CNN—— Zain Verjee, 安加利.劳和理查德探秘（一些主持人及其栏目名），从没感觉这么好——但没有报纸。
还有，6天的孤岛式生活——，没有电子邮件，没有来电。对我来说，这的确是个转变。但我有点接受甚至喜欢这种生活。直到回到北京，才发现有983封邮件在等着我。
宾馆和美食很棒，尤其是如果你喜欢朝鲜菜的话。我对混搭了鸡蛋和牛排的早餐、鸡汤、白米饭和蒸蔬菜大感兴味。晚餐经常是朝鲜烤鸡或鱼。
有朝方官员全程陪同——我是指任何时候。他们英语流利，很聪明，有礼貌，甚至，很好。 在朝鲜期间，我从没感觉受到威胁。我们理解，那是他们的工作。别忘了，这是在共#产#极#权#制#度下。
我们所到之处的行动受到严格限制：哪些可以录，哪些人可以问。他们希望展示最好的一面，不许我们拍摄不好的地方。我们坚持要求接触更多，有时候他们也会做出让步。纽约时报记者莎朗的要求最多，但这些努力都被拒绝而化为泡影。
最终，我们还是在朝鲜首都看到了很多，甚至得以进入郊区一个巨大的苹果和其他果园，那里有数千名农民在劳动，果园经理称，园子里有220万棵果树。这个数字听起来有点夸张但不管咋样，那里的一切给我们留下了深刻印象。
一旦离开平壤，你就很难看到公路上有汽车。人们都在路边步行，也有些骑自行车。坐在整条公路上唯一的一辆汽车上，有点怪吓人的。这是个非常贫穷的国家。
正担心这里会发生战争时，我们被带到一家有2000名女工在勤勉工作的纺织厂。我们搭乘地铁，从繁荣站到光荣站。我们去购物——还是只能使用现金、新美钞，他们不喜欢旧的、皱巴巴的钞票。
我们在金日成大学和衣着光鲜的学生共度了一下午，后来去了一所外语高中。那些16岁左右的孩子在学习地道的美国俚语。我听到一个学生说：“真酷！”他指的并不是天气。我们在国家图书馆看到了电脑，很体面但技术水准低下。
在国家图书馆有一个巨大的音乐教室。人们在那里可以听些大音乐家的CD。我在那时，他们为我播放了肯尼罗杰的歌。很显然他在这里也大受欢迎。
他们还带我们观光。看了凯旋门（看起来的确比巴黎的那个要大） ；巨大的石塔（显然比华盛顿纪念碑要高）；还有他们的有内外门的体育馆、溜冰场等体育设施。
一天下午，我看到朝鲜女子冰球队在慢跑，就跟上去跑了一小段。她们看到我跟着跑就开始大笑。大概是在想，这个拿着小型便携相机的外国人是不是疯子。
后来，当朝鲜宣布将对韩国的实弹军演进行报复时，我想到了这些姑娘和哪些在平壤见到的年轻人。他们看上去那么脆弱，如战争爆发，我非常担心他们的命运。我并不羞于讲，我为他们和他们的韩国同胞而感到伤感。
金日成和他的儿子，“亲爱的领袖”金正日的巨幅画像到处可见。我没有看到据称是下一代领导人金正恩的画像。
朝鲜首都的公路和隧道里都没有路灯。
朝鲜的电力供应是个大问题。外面很冷，室内急需暖气。教室里的学生穿着厚厚的大衣。屋里也不够亮。
尽管我们和理查森都再三要求，但仍未被允许前往宁边核设施和非军事区。朝鲜人称这是特别敏感期，他们说如果我在其他情况下来访，或许可以。
顺便说一句，2012年对朝鲜相当重要。那是金日成诞生100周年。朝鲜人正在筹备盛大典礼。如果他们邀请我重返，我将前往。也许更早，当然我不希望是为了报道战争。
我是否提到过，我为那些孩子们而担心？
　　------------------------------------------
　　原文如下：
　　Blitzer in North Korea: Life in a tinderboxSee
　　
　　Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- We certainly packed a lot into six days here.
　　
　　After receiving our visas at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, we arrived on Thursday, December 16, on a regularly scheduled North Korean commercial flight from Beijing on Air Koryo flight 252.
　　
　　It was a newish Russian-made Tupolev 204-300 aircraft and a very smooth 90-minute flight accompanied with patriotic music and a video showing the heroic struggle of the North Korean people. The attractive flight attendants wore red suit jackets and white gloves.
　　
　　We flew back to Beijing on Tuesday, December 22, a day after our original plan because of an incredibly thick fog. The flight back was on Air China flight 122, a Boeing 737. The flight attendants did not wear white gloves.
　　
　　Pyongyang airport is very small. It has only two or three flights a day to only a handful of destinations. This is not a very busy airport.
　　
　　CNN Beijing-based photographer Miguel Castro and I were covering the visit here of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations experienced in Korean diplomacy. Sharon LaFraniere, a Beijing-based correspondent for The New York Times, was the only other journalist invited by Richardson and approved by North Korea to cover this trip.
　　
　　Richardson was joined by his senior adviser, Tony Namkung, who’’s been to North Korea 40 times going back to 1990. He is very impressive with a wealth of knowledge about both Koreas, China and Japan. Also joining Richardson was Gilbert Gallegos, his deputy chief of staff; Gay Dillingham, chair of the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board; and State Police officer Mo Arteaga.
　　
　　The North Koreans took our passports, return flight tickets and cell phones upon arrival at the airport. They returned everything when we were about to board our flight back to Beijing.
　　
　　I think it’’s fair to say we all had an eye-opening experience. It was a roller coaster of emotions -- ranging from real fear of war on the Korean Peninsula to relief that the North had stepped back from the brink and even accepted some of Richardson’’s proposals.
　　
　　Maybe Richardson had played a positive role in calming down his hosts, including the chief nuclear negotiator, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan; the new Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ri Yong Ho; the military officer in charge of the armistice and Demilitarized Zone, Major Gen. Pak Rim Su; and the country’’s Vice President, Kim Yong Dae.
　　
　　Let’’s not forget what’’s at stake here. This is a tinderbox.
　　
　　---- CNN’’s Wolf Blitzer
　　 We arrived convinced the Korean Peninsula was on the verge of a war, the worst crisis since the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
　　
　　Let’’s not forget what’’s at stake here. This is a tinderbox. One miscalculation can quickly lead to all-out war and hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties on both sides. Millions of North and South Koreans live very close to the DMZ.
　　
　　The North also has a million heavily armed troops on their side of the DMZ; the South nearly has many. There are also nearly 30,000 U.S. troops along the frontier with thousands of artillery pieces and missile launchers facing each other. The North is widely believed to be building a nuclear arsenal.
　　
　　I believe this is the most dangerous spot on Earth right now.
　　
　　This was my first visit to North Korea, though I had been to South Korea, the DMZ and China. When Richardson called me and asked me if I wanted to go with him, I immediately accepted and am glad I did. I have known him for 20 years going back to his days in Congress -- long before he became U.N. ambassador and energy secretary during the Clinton administration.
　　
　　I was apprehensive going in, worried about whether I would actually get out. I was concerned that they would shut the airport if war erupted, and I would be stuck inside North Korea. I even began wondering about the prospects of driving across the North Korea-China border if necessary. Was that even doable?
　　
　　Every time I heard some martial music on North Korean television and radio, I wondered whether the regime was preparing the country for war.
　　
　　I’’ve covered wars and other dangerous situations over the years and usually go through a before, during and after cycle -- nervous before I leave about all the worst case scenarios; not all that worried while on assignment because my adrenaline is pumping and I’’m in the midst of a big story; but wondering after the trip whether I should do it again.
　　
　　Covering this story brought back memories of my early overseas assignments in the Middle East in the ’’70s and ’’80s: no internet, no cell phone, no Blackberry.
　　
　　I had a hard-line phone in my Pyongyang hotel room and could make outgoing calls to the United States at about $10 a minute. (No credit cards accepted; only cash and only crisp bills.) I could not receive incoming calls from the United States.
　　
　　They would not let us broadcast live via satellite but we took hundreds of still pictures and shot about eight hours of video which we are now going through. Get ready to see the best on CNN and cnn.com.
　　
　　I did get CNN International in my hotel room -- Zain Verjee, Anjali Rao and Richard Quest never looked better -- but no newspapers.
　　
　　Still, six days isolated without e-mail or a cell phone; it was quite a transition for me, but I sort of got used to it and even liked it. I had 983 e-mails waiting for me when I eventually got back to Beijing.
　　
　　We had North Korean officials with us all the time -- and I mean all the time.
　　The hotel and elite restaurant food was very good, especially if you like Korean food. I stuck with scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast; chicken soup and white rice and steamed veggies for lunch; and usually some grilled Korean chicken or fish for dinner.
　　
　　We had North Korean officials with us all the time -- and I mean all the time. They spoke English well and were very intelligent, polite and even nice. I never felt threatened. They had a job to do, and we understood. Let’’s not forget this is a communist, totalitarian regime.
　　
　　We were restricted as to where we could go, what we could film and to whom we could talk. They want to showcase the best and keep us way from the worst. We constantly pressed for more access and they sometimes relented. Sharon from The New York Times was especially persistent and her efforts occasionally paid off.
　　
　　Still, we saw a lot of the North Korean capital and even managed to get into the countryside to see a huge apple and fruit-tree orchard where thousands of farmers work what the orchard director said were some 2.2 million trees. That number seemed exaggerated but whatever it was, it was impressive.
　　
　　Once you get outside Pyongyang, you see very few cars on the roads. People are walking along the sides of the roads; some are riding bikes. It’’s eerie being in the only car on the road. This is a very poor country.
　　
　　Even as we feared there could be a war, we were taken to a silk thread factory where 2,000 women work diligently. We rode the jam-packed subway system from Prosperity Station to Glory Station. We went shopping -- again cash only and only crisp U.S. dollar bills. They really don’’t like the old, wrinkled bills.
　　
　　We spent one afternoon with well-dressed students at Kim Il Sung University and later at a foreign language high school where very bright 16-year-olds were learning English complete with American slang. I heard one student say: "That’’s very cool." He wasn’’t referring to the weather. We saw the computers at their national library. They were decent but not state of the art.
　　
　　There’’s a huge music room at the library where people can simply listen to CDs of great artists. When I was there, they played a Kenny Rogers song for me. He apparently is very popular here.
　　
　　They also took us sightseeing. We saw their Arc de Triumphe (supposedly bigger than the one in Paris); their huge stone tower (apparently taller than the Washington Monument); and their sports complex complete with indoor and outdoor stadiums and ice skating rink.
　　
　　I saw the North Korean girls’’ ice hockey team jogging one afternoon and briefly caught up with them. They laughed as I ran with them -- probably thinking who is this crazy foreign person carrying a little hand-held camera.
　　
　　Later, when it looked like the North Koreans would retaliate for South Korea’’s live-fire military exercise, I thought of these girls and all the young people I had seen in North Korea. They seemed so vulnerable, and I worried about their fate if there were a war. I’’m not embarrassed to say I got sentimental and emotional worrying about them and their counterparts in South Korea.
　　
　　Huge pictures of the late Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, and his son, the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, were all over the place. I didn’’t see pictures of the next generation’’s expected leader, Kim Jong Un.
　　
　　Electricity is a huge problem in North Korea. It was bitter cold outside. Indoor heat is at a premium. The students were in the classrooms wearing their warm overcoats. The rooms were not well-lit.
　　
　　There were no lights in the tunnels on the roads outside the North Korean capital.
　　
　　Outsiders have been predicting its demise for 60 years, but I didn’’t get the impression this country was on the verge of crumbling.
　　
　　We were not taken to the Yongbyon nuclear facility or their side of the DMZ even though we and Richardson repeatedly asked. The North Koreans pointed out this was an especially tense time. They said I could come back on another occasion and perhaps visit these places.
　　
　　By the way, 2012 is going to be a huge year for North Korea. That’’s the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. The North Koreans are preparing major events. Since they invited me back, I might go back then; maybe even sooner though I hope it won’’t be to cover a war.
　　
　　Did I mention that I’’m worried about the children?