Hundreds of foreigners lined up in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung Stadium on Sunday ahead of the Pyongyang Marathon, the highlight of the isolated country’s annual tourism calendar.
The 40,000-plus capacity ground was packed for the event, the crowd warmly applauding as the runners made their entrance to gather on the artificial pitch, with portraits of the North’s founding father and his late son and heir Kim Jong-Il smiling down benignly from the roof.
The event is part of the commemorations for the anniversary of Kim Il-Sung’s birth on April 15, 105 years ago, and a row of dignitaries sat in a high tribune, at least four of them in military uniform.
Nearly 2,000 people took part, more than half of them foreigners, most of those Europeans and other Westerners.
“It’s a bit surreal, where we are,” said Irishman Richie Leahy, 35, who likes holidays that are “more of an adventure”.
“This just ticked all the boxes,” he told AFP. “I took part in a sporting event in North Korea, it’s not something that everyone can say.”
Soon after the start the course passed an obelisk declaring “The great leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il will always be with us”, and the runners made their way on past city landmarks including Kim Il-Sung Square and Mansu hill, where giant bronze statues of the two men look out over their capital.
Local runner Pak Chol, 27, established a commanding lead in the men’s race several kilometres out and won easily in 2 hours 13 minutes 56 seconds — his third victory in the event — while his compatriot Jo Un-Ok was the first woman across the line in 2:29’23.
North Korea is subject to multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes — its latest rocket launch was only last week — but knots of spectators gathered along the route, cheering on and exchanging high-fives with the runners.
Spontaneous encounters with North Koreans are normally rare on visits to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known.
“Really being with people, greeting them, touching them. It’s really quite something,” said Soleiman Dias, an international school admissions director from Fortaleza in Brazil, who described the run as “the experience of a lifetime”.
American artist Tamara Bedford added: “To have so many people here to watch all of us is really an honour.”
Tourism to the North is not subject to the UN sanctions, but the US government — which diverted a carrier group to the Korean peninsula amid mounting tensions — advises against all travel to the country.
“The Western media’s portrayal of these places is different than the reality on the ground,” said Bedford, who is based in Beijing. “That’s one reason I wanted to come here as much as my government says not to. I didn’t do it in defiance, but I just wanted to experience it first hand myself.”
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