This is part two of a mini-series. Click here for part 1: All Aboard the Juche Express

In a second hand bookshop sometime in the 1990s, I happened upon an old copy of the Golden Guide to South East Asia, published by the Far Eastern Economic Review. Even then the book would have been of little use in my travels: it was dated 1969. But it contained some interesting historical analysis, some lovely photographs and cost next to nothing so I snapped it up.

The guide book’s account of North Korea came into my mind during my return trip