When recently talking to a senior Western diplomat, I learned that heavy drinking and associated psychological problems are considered normal occupational hazards among Western diplomatic personnel currently stationed in Pyongyang. In the late 1980s, I heard something quite similar from the Soviet embassy staff.

Indeed, Pyongyang has never been a good place for an expat, and the mid-1980s were no exception to this rule.

The life of an expat in Pyongyang was intrinsically boring – especially when we talk of leisure opportunities. Travels outside North Korea were expensive and difficult to arrange even for the minority of expats allowed to