'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Amid a burst of fireworks and a haze of smoke, a burly showman in a white sequined suit and gold lame cape appears with a flourish. Over the next 45 minutes, he appears to make a Pyongyang bus levitate and wriggles free from a box sent crashing to the stage through a ring of fire.
Amid a burst of fireworks and a haze of smoke, a burly showman in a white sequined suit and gold lame cape appears with a flourish.
"They love magic shows, together with the circus," said Tony Namkung, a scholar who often serves as a liaison between North Korea and the U.S. and other governments. "Like so many other things, it hearkens back to a pre-electronic past when things were much simpler."
"This was right after the 'agreed framework' signing at a time when it looked as if the two nations would go down an entirely new path, and the atmosphere in Pyongyang was giddy," said Namkung, who also serves as a consultant to The Associated Press.
