By Michael Schuman

Posted Monday, June 27, 2005; 20:00 HKT
Sobbing devotees lay wreaths by a statue of the late Kim Il Sung, CDs bear song titles like "Warm Is the Motherland's Love," and women sport hairstyles that the rest of the world last saw in the 1950s: if you ever wondered where Stalinism went post-glasnost, the answer is North Korea. A visit to its capital, Pyongyang, is like entering a parallel universe where terms like "ultra-rightist" and "imperialist" are not anachronistic oddities but standard phrases in polite conversation. Even the journey to North Korea has vintage (though frightening) charm: national flag carrier Koryo Air flies authentically decrepit, Soviet-made jets.

If you visit, you'll be tethered full-time to a government "guide," but that's part of the fun. Have him regale you with tales of Kim Jong Il's extraordinary powers, or invite him to rant about the U.S., otherwise known as Enemy No. 1. And make sure to pick up some souvenirs while you're there—it's hard to beat postage stamps featuring a smiling Kim Il Sung with an assortment of deposed Soviet-bloc villains, like Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu. Of course, North Korea seems just as doomed. It's hard to say whether it will struggle on for years, or whether, like the former Soviet Union, it will suddenly implode. But one thing is certain: the weight of history is no longer on Pyongyang's side.

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