Lady Gaga's News

Miss Kim, 20, a student studying English in Pyongyang, gave Eric Lafforgue a rare insight into North Korean life When she's not studying, she likes to play computer games and says she hopes to travel to the UK one day Unfamiliar with the reality of life in the West, she thinks Kim Jong Il invented the burger and Lady Gaga is male She is also convinced that South Koreans would like to shoot her and says she hates Americans Lafforgue says much of what Miss Kim believes is propaganda which North Koreans listen to from a young age

By Ruth Styles

She's convinced that hamburgers were invented by Kim Jong Il, thinks Lady Gaga is a man and refuses to ride a bicycle on the grounds that it's dangerous and would ruin the shape of her legs.

Meet 20-year-old Miss Kim, a student studying English at Pyongyang's University of Foreign Studies. As a reward for good behaviour, she was given the task of escorting French photographer Eric Lafforgue as he toured North Korea earlier this year.

'She had never previously left Pyongyang,' explains Lafforgue. 'It was a unique opportunity for her to visit her own country and to get to meet and speak to a foreigner.

'She was shy at first, but became quite talkative as the days went on and told me what life in North Korea is like for younger people, albeit without ever deviating from the party line.'

Miss Kim, who says her favourite place in Pyongyang is the dolphinarium and her favourite animals the dolphins, told Lafforgue of her penchant for Mozart, Bach and Beethoven and was baffled when he asked if she liked Lady Gaga. 'I don't know who he is, no,' she told him.

Perhaps her American nationality might have had something to do with it, with Miss Kim insisting she only speaks 'English English' and telling the photographer that she 'hates Americans'.

Unsurprisingly, she's also convinced that the hamburger was invented by Kim Jong Il in 2009, while Mickey Mouse is the creation of China. ' They talk nonsense Mr Eric,' she said of the inhabitants of the US. 'I hate Americans!'

She also declares herself to be less than enthusiastic about South Koreans, saying that while those crossing the border from the south would be welcomed, travellers going the other way 'would be shot'.

Miss Kim is, however, a fan of films, according to Lafforgue. 'My favourite film is Sea of Blood,' she told him. Asked what it's about, she added: 'It's about the mass killings perpetrated by the Japanese against our people.'

Gladiator is another favourite, although she did reveal that some scenes proved to make for uncomfortable viewing. 'Some scenes were embarrassing,' she said. 'The scenes where you see a couple together.'

North Koreans take a relatively old-fashioned approach to dating, with girls reluctant to even dance with a boy they've only just met, while according to Miss Kim, pregnancy outside of marriage and HIV are both unheard of. 'That [pregnancy] never happens,' she insists. 'It never happens!' What about AIDS? 'We don't have AIDS here. Zero.'

While Miss Kim is happy to talk about her feelings for the late Kim Il Sung ('he was a pillar of my heart'), she reacts with outrage when asked whether current leader Kim Jong Un is attractive to women. 'That's an outrageous question!' she remonstrates.

Other parts of North Korean life are strikingly similar to Western lifestyles, with Miss Kim revealing a penchant for computer games and ambitions to travel abroad.

'Would you like to visit a foreign country?' Lafforgue asks her. 'Yes Mr Eric, I would like to visit England,' she replies. Despite her English skills, however, she says she won't be travelling to the US any time soon. 'No,' she insists. 'I only speak England's English!'

Bizarre though much of what she says is, Lafforgue isn't surprised. ' The thing to remember is that almost everything she says is official propaganda, even the silly things,' he explains.

'People like Miss Kim are taught this sort of thing from kindergarten, so in that sense, she's a perfect citizen. North Koreans don't see the disparity between what they think is good to tell us and what we can see for ourselves.'

The latest videos of Kim Jong Un

SCARY SOUTH KOREA, ENGLAND'S ENGLISH AND CHINA'S MICKEY MOUSE: THE WORLD AS SEEN FROM NORTH KOREA

'No, it makes people lazy.'

'We are all equal.'

'We welcome him.'

'They shoot him.'

'Yes, it is! In 2009!'