North Korea Sends a 'Message to the World'

Abraham DeKock, deputy country director for the U.N. World Food Program in Pyongyang, said in a telephone interview that the North Koreans had yet to confirm that offer. But he added that a North Korean delegation is scheduled later this week to visit the program's Rome headquarters, where officials hope to hash out an agreement.

Return visitors to North Korea, meanwhile, have noted that anti-American propaganda and slogans have been taken down in the capital.

Regardless of motives, the window of opportunity is providing thousands of outsiders with a rare glimpse inside the heart of one of the world's least penetrated societies.

During a 40-hour, strictly monitored visit by a reporter accompanying a South Korean tour group, there were odd scenes mixed with a feeling of real change.

At the run-down and mostly empty airport, a dozen young North Korean women stood in front of outdoor stalls, calling to tourists with a capitalist verve not unlike that of street vendors in other Asian cities. "Come and see our snake whiskey!" they beckoned. "It's all natural! We take euros -- and dollars."

Visitors were not permitted to speak with anyone other than designated North Korean shop clerks and guides. The South Koreans, who had paid $1,000 each for the trip, included members of citizen groups that support contacts with the North, along with curiosity-seekers and older South Koreans born in the North before the Korean War divided the peninsula.

Among them was Yoon Seung Bin, 78, a retired businessman who said he last saw Pyongyang 60 years ago when his father was executed by the communists.

"I thought I was going to die without visiting my home again," he said with tears in his eyes as he watched Pyongyang residents wave passionately to the tour group as it passed by in a bus.

The performance at the May Day stadium dazzled the visitors with its flawless choreography and dogged loyalty to Kim and his father. The crowd roared as massive images of the elder Kim, known as the Great Leader, and the younger Kim, known as the Dear Leader, were unfurled. "No one can defeat us!" sang a battalion of marching soldiers. At the same time, people dressed as flying angels soared from tethers above the stadium, singing, "Oh, we are so happy!"

The crowd joined in the patriotic songs and slogans, which rapidly changed tempo and theme. One minute, performers belted out a chorus of "Let the Moon Shine on the Path of Our Great Leader's Struggle Against the Japanese Colonizers," referring to Japan's long and still freshly remembered occupation of the Korean Peninsula in the first half of 20th century. Next, they crooned "Science and Technology to the Most Advanced Level," sung to a melody reminiscent of the theme from "Star Wars."

The spectacle often seemed particularly aimed at the South Korean visitors. At one point, participants held up flashcards creating a montage of South and North Korean children, while uttering the chant: "How much longer do we have to be split due to foreign forces?" Soon, most of the visiting South Koreans were chiming in for the chorus: "We are one."

Faiola reported from Tokyo.