I feel my vague fascination with North Korea is slightly disreputable; a prurient interest in the surrealism of a failed state that 24 million real live people actually have to live with every day.
The above is a shot of Mangyongdae, which is apparently an amusement park ten miles out of Pyongyang that is the world’s least fun fun-fair:
The rides at the park are so ramshackle that repairs are done on an as and when, ad hoc basis. To avoid the deaths of important North Koreans or overseas visitors (whose foreign currency is rather more important) local farmers are often recruited to test the rides for safety. This must be the only place in the world where a knock on the door and the words you’re going to the funfair are met with dread.
The source is a site called Kuriositas. I don’t know how reliable it is.
EDIT:
The Daily Mail has this article, which includes this charming cutline:
Rusting ride: Freelance journalist Alex Hoban wasn’t allowed to ride the rollercoaster at the fun fair until two men had hammered in a some screws and a group of natives had been sent on a test run.
“Natives.” Freal.
