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Google Exec’s Daughter Details Weird, Truman Show-Like Conditions in North Korea After Trip

Jan. 21, 2013 1:43pm Liz Klimas

Googles Eric Schmidts Daughter Sophie Shares Observations From Trip to North Korea

Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt stands on a balcony at the Grand Peoples Study House overlooking Juche Tower in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo: AP/David Guttenfelder)

While Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has taken the opportunity to advocate for North Korea to open itself up to the global Internet, it’s his daughter’s account of the unusual private trip to the country taken earlier this month that is causing a stir.

Sophie Schmidt went on what was described as a “private, humanitarian” mission to North Korea, which was not supported the U.S. State Department, with her father and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in the first week of January.

On her website detailing the trip titled “Sophie in North Korea,” she admits in a blog post called “it might not get weirder than this” that she is an “amateur” when it comes to the country. She calls her thoughts a “straightforward trip report” with no discussion about the meeting, the trips intentions, etc.

“Just some informal observations,” Sophie wrote.

Overall, she wrote that she would recommend people visit the country, if they can and if it’s not in January when it is exceedingly cold.

“Nothing I’d read or heard beforehand really prepared me for what we saw,” she continued.

Although they were required to leave “killing devices,” cellphones and “publishings of all kinds” at customs, Sophie said they weren’t regulated when it came to their cameras, so she has some photographs of her trip.

Here are a few observations that we’ve picked out from her post (in her words):

It’s like the Truman Show, at a country scale.

For a country that banned religion, and has sent thousands of practicing Christians to prison camps, the Christmas trees were rather incongruous. When asked, Minder 1 chuckled and offered, “New Year’s trees?”

(Photo: Sophie Schmidt)

Food overall? Solidly decent. Like Korean food, only with less pizzazz and more corn (?).

Three channels on the TVs: CNN International, dubbed-over USSR-era films, and the DPRK channel, which was by far the most entertaining. My tolerance level for videos of Kim Jong Un in crowds turns out to be remarkably high.

People there walk very long distances (miles and miles) in sub-zero temperatures, often in the middle of the road. (Not a problem because there are almost no cars outside the city center.)Conclusion: these people are really, really tough.

Our trip coincided with the “Respected Leader” Kim Jong Un’s birthday. On that day, the little stalls that dotted the city and sold small sundries had long lines as they distributed treats. When we asked how old Un had turned (29? 30?), we were told that “Koreans keep track of age differently” than we do. Alright, then.

(Photo: Sophie Schmidt)

In a fantastic bit of timing, as we exited the train, the station’s power cut out. The commuters around us immediately pulled out flashlights, which they presumably carry all the time.

The Kim Il Sung University e-Library, or as I like to call it, the e-Potemkin Village. [...] No one was actually doing anything. A few scrolled or clicked, but the rest just stared. More disturbing: when our group walked in–a noisy bunch, with media in tow–not one of them looked up from their desks. Not a head turn, no eye contact, no reaction to stimuli. They might as well have been figurines.

It was students in this room that Sophie said barely moved. She speculated the entire thing could have been a set up display. (Photo: AP/David Guttenfelder)

Expected to see more flags flying. Didn’t expect to see so many glitter barrettes.

Be sure to read more of Sophie’s fascinating account of their visit to North Korea here.

–

Related:

(H/T: Gizmodo)

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Comments (67)

peteto1
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 3:50am
Kind of like Obama’s Potemkin “improving economy”……

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- IndyGuy
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 9:55am
  “”Sophie Schmidt went on what was described as a “private, humanitarian” mission to North Korea, which was not supported the U.S. State Department,”" I call B.S…..Obama probably put the whole thing together….If Obama gets his way America will look just like North Korea…
  
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- turkey13
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 10:05am
  I love what she said about a trip over there. “Everyone should visit if you get a chance.” If you got across the border you would never be seen again. Little Sophy has led a Liberal sheltered life and actually believed she saw the real life of the folks controlled by a dictator.
  
  Report this comment
- WalkThePath
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 10:59pm
  This is what we are all in for, if you believe the Bible. This is the kind of king that is set over Godless people.
  
  Report this comment
- holy ghostbuster
  Posted on January 23, 2013 at 2:08pm
  @ Walkthe path – It has nothing to do with being godless and everything with being a tyrannical dictatorship. North Korea is about power and control.
  
  Report this comment
blackyb
Posted on January 22, 2013 at 12:33am
Would that be Communist News Network?

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- OldSkoolDJ
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 4:47pm
  Of course, we just don’t call it by its proper name in the US.
  
  Report this comment
alicat2441
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 10:39pm
I just returned from a trip to China and noticed the only English speaking news channel broadcasted was CNN International. Just like in North Korea apparently. I find it very amusing that Communist/Socialist countries allow CNN to be broadcast. That should tell anyone in the USA just what CNN is like and to stop watching it immediately.

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annieoakley
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 10:28pm
Fools. You are lucky to get out of that hellhole. If they had suddenly decided to keep you, the seals that all the libs (like you) hate, would be sent to rescue your sorry asses. This is not a GAME.

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- cowgirl
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 11:53pm
  This is truly a game ! We are being played by the commies in the white house. The name of the game is How Stupid Are the American People?
  
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Cosmos102
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 10:20pm
I don’t mean this to sound funny. I’m being serious. But N Korea reminds of of Obama’s presidency. He and Kim jong Ill have a lot of the same disorders. Like wanting their likeness to be enshrined everywhere. Obama also comes equipped with his own group of sycophants, such as those in the media, black people, Communists, etc. I believe he’d like to see America become like N.Korea.

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ThoreauHD
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 9:57pm
Sounds like Google freakshow is having second thoughts on Communism/Totalitarianism. How many times do they have to do this before they realize that being liberal means being a moron.

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- rosegrower
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 10:32am
  Unfortunately, too many leftists in the U.S. believe that if they were in charge, nothing like what Sophie described would ever happen because they are “good.” Leftists really do have serious mental issues – they all have daddy problems, and the narcissistic psychopathy that generally accompanies the personality of a leftist is what makes them dangerous.
  
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- tharpdevenport
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 1:29pm
  Don’t count of it. Liberalism IS a mental disorder. When one, like this Google executive, sees all this, they don’t connect ANY DOTS, instead they think it just wasn’t done right, it wasn’t handled properly — just make some changes here and there, have somebody like Obama in charge, and problem solved! Just Plato’s Utopia, variant 1,666.
  
  Report this comment
ginger100
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 9:30pm
Big Govt = Utopia

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- Pillar of Fire
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 9:58pm
  maybe in their Universe…not a clue between ‘em.
  
  Report this comment
Jimmielynn
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 9:05pm
Surely she realizes that what she saw was a santitized version of North Korea that the officials wanted her to see. She was sheltered from the starvation and death that is their daily life. And yes, their electricity is off frequently and most likely on longer than usual for her visit.

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tharpdevenport
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 8:21pm
“Nothing I’d read or heard beforehand really prepared me for what we saw.”

It’s now an appropriate time for one of those highly overused, extremely annoying, and cliched int abbreviaions:

LOL, we’ve been saying that about Google for about five years now.

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woodyee
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 8:03pm
Trumans World –

Everything she saw, smelled, tasted, heard and felt was cleared by authorities long before they set foot in Norkville. It’s why the food was quasi-good. It’s why the automatronic geeks behaved the way they did in “the library”. What a coinkidink that everyone was able to whip out a flashlight – boy, how prepared those Norks are! Get the picture?

Do you think that the boy wonder was going to allow a US billionaire and his daughter see the REAL N. Korea?!? Long lines for treats was about as real as it got…

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Beachmastermax
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:54pm
So does Sophie understand that what she witnessed is Marxism maximized and that her useful idiot father donates to Marxist in this country?

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- GumRock
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 9:14pm
  Very Good Point !
  
  Report this comment
ikemen1
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:29pm
This is what happens when we sit back and do nothing, before you know it we will be North Korea..

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Slowman101
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:20pm
Ahhhhhhhhh, North Korea. Land of the un-free!

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- gb123
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 8:31am
  Would be a great place to send Piers Morgan.
  
  Report this comment
- gb123
  Posted on January 22, 2013 at 8:34am
  Forgot to add they have plenty of gun control.
  
  Report this comment
Jim S
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:15pm
,,Liz, you say:….it’s his daughter’s account of the unusual private trip to the country taken earlier this month that is causing a stir.”….but I saw no mention of stir?..was this edited out?..I have not seen her account being question as to truthfulness or her impressions being wrong…did you write that her account was
causing a stir ? Do you have any evidence to back this up ?…This isn’t a planted phony story on a true story is it ?..I hope someone isn’t trying to “stir” something up was a false story !…such a N.Korean thing to do..IF true…

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ellietoo
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 5:50pm
What? They didn’t tour the hundreds of thousands of people that are starving to death outside the city? Only government official’s kids go to college. Korea must get their Christmas decorations from China. All Christmas decorations are made there now. It looks like Christmas city in their factories. Too bad no Americans are allowed to manufacture Christmas decorations anymore. They can pay some poor Chinese slave 10 cents a week to do the job that an American would make a living off of.

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SREGN
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 4:49pm
Behold: Obama’s vision of paradise.

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Techcon
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 4:08pm
ENCINOM-AN (among other “useful idiots” on the Blaze) wants this **** HERE!

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- mlgunner
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 4:25pm
  You really have a hard on for this troll, don’t you?
  
  Report this comment
- sillyfreshness
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 4:51pm
  Google is getting some fresh ideas from North Korea on how to “fundamentally transform” America to be more like North Korea. Working in conjunction with Obama so it wouldn’t be so obvious in the press if was an official trip.
  
  Report this comment
- DeathRattle
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 5:01pm
  Tech is just setting the record straight.
  
  This is paradise for Obama and his “ites”.
  
  Report this comment
- Fubared
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 5:15pm
  SillySally
  This lovely environment seems completely devoid of your chosen peeps. You align with NK? Wow. SillySally draws personal parallels with the commies. How is that individual and special in any way?
  
  Report this comment
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 3:45pm
The statement, “These people walk every where…are really tough people”, they are in a situation that they have no choice, you work, you walk, or you die. I will say this about that country, they weeded the weak out generations ago.

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Landon410
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 3:35pm
my uncle who defected from Cuba as a teenager is freaking out recently about this administration, and how in Cuba there were always people watching you, even friends and family

North Korea I guess just uses cameras everywhere, and the part where the people sitting at computers weren’t actually doing anything and never looked up.. wonder why, maybe because they don’t know how to read, got clean clothes and hair cut and were told to sit there or get shot

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- asybot12
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 8:13pm
  Do really think they got to keep those suits?? All they got was a free ride to the event and the suits will be used for the next batch (the one in the front sure does not look like a fresh faced student to me either). These guy will be lucky to get one free meal.
  
  Report this comment
thibx
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:52pm
i think every damn liberal in this country should go over there and live. liberals don’t like Jesus Christ neiher do north koreans. good place for both.

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- FoxholeAtheist
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 3:35pm
  We can’t dislike what doesn’t exist.
  
  Report this comment
- qualityrkc
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 5:10pm
  You think north korea is a liberal country??? Hahaha
  
  Report this comment
- chips1
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 5:24pm
  FOX:
  The only thing missing is a reason for you to exist. What a horrible mindset.
  
  Report this comment
- Fubared
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:10pm
  Foxholeatheists don’t exist. There are zero. Pie in the sky magic foxhole action.
  
  Report this comment
- aj14k
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 6:44pm
  You can’t dislike what you don’t know would be a more accurate statement. Knowing what exists and what does not exist is often beyond our comprehension.
  
  Report this comment
Cavallo
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:30pm
What a hoot. The only channel that Brilliant Comrade trusts to be communist enough is CNN!!!!

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- Todd P
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 7:22pm
  I’m surprised NBC or MSNBC was not their favorite!
  
  Report this comment
blanco5
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:11pm
How long until prez islama takes us to this level?

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- Berfie
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:20pm
  Well the moron who voted him for 4 more years plus the possibility that he will not relinquish his position for a 3 or 4 term. We should be there in no time.
  
  Report this comment
- Maji
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 4:27pm
  Fox_Hole!
  So I can’t dislike you for your intellegence!
  
  Report this comment
Berfie
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:10pm
Wow I hope and pray that she had opened her eyes to what liberalism leads to. I know wishful thinking. Now she saw it with her own eyes how blessed she is living in a free country.

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- SimpleTruths
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 3:49pm
  If there is a place on earth that is the exact opposite of liberalism it’s North Korea. Now I know what’s wrong, you don’t know the definition of any of the words you use.
  
  Report this comment
- GeorgieJo
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 4:57pm
  SOPHIE?
  Are you PACKED UP?
  Ready to GO?
  Liberalism is truly a mental disorder.
  
  Remember BENGHAZZI.
  
  Report this comment
alinskythis
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:08pm
Not that that is what was happening to her personally, but that is what a mobbing looks like.

A huge group of people pretending you don’t exist. A form of psychological warfare.

The Truman Show is real, and is really happening, at least to some of us.

I’m guessing N. Korea was putting on their Sunday best for this visit, and that conditions are MUCH worse than reported here. I’ve read there are no trees or foliage of any kind in most parts of the country, because they’ve either been used for food, or heat.

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- Advection
  Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:31pm
  Yeah, these sterilized zombies were the happy-go-lucky North Koreans.
  
  If they could have moved at will, they would have found emaciated babies being gnawed on by emaciated rats being gnawed on by emaciated fleas.
  
  Report this comment
media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on January 21, 2013 at 2:05pm
I doubt the rest of us would enjoy the hospitality afforded the daughter of a high profile business person, neither do I sense a stampede of US citizens trying to complicate the efforts of the US State department which believe it or not, Mr. Google, sees some minor problems that need to be taken care of?

Rush to get vaccinated, then convince Homeland Security this is a good idea, then wonder if you will make it back? No thank you. Nice try Mr. Google?

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