it's obligatory to slow down when passing in front of the portraits of the great leaders so the temptation to reach for our cell phones and cameras is high and. we observe the portraits as they observe us. during our 1st visits here we were like many foreigners and treat by their omnipresence. but the more often we visited the less we noticed them. the same does not apply to north koreans cyclists are required to dismount from their bikes and look upon the statues of their leaders. cars must slow down. the 6 6 passers by turn to gaze at the images.

shortly after kim jong il's death by young upper class woman trying to explain what the leaders meant to her. it's a bit like you with your jesus she said except for us jesus would also be a member of the family. in the heat of the summer we occasionally saw a fan cooling a portrait of the leaders. north korean art like this fresco near the entrance to a sports shoe factory is designed to protect the country as the party would like to see it that it's not pure fiction but more often more an aspiration rather than a reality.

the real one factory or weeping willow paradise has 700 workers 70 percent are women they produce 1500000 sports shoes a year its assembly line work. for years local products were conspicuous in their conformity. now the factory is seeking to draw inspiration from foreign trends. in marketing jargon this is what's called benchmarking. you know guilty after he visited our factory a respected marshal sent us 142 pairs of foreign shoe models supply companies and all this but. dismissal to get it was. he

told us to display them at the workplace next to the ones which had been done incorrectly. but that when it should be settled i was technicians and employees to observe and compare them to ours so. our goal is to raise the quality of our shoes to an international level. that was just. copying foreign trends reducing imports and promoting local industry makes sense in a country that is often struck by sanctions but for the plan to work the products have to appeal to north korean consumers. one. new brand this cold body boss with the be the shoes all sport 3 stripes. in north korea patriotism is still a key sales driver. fashions are changing slowly too. in the early 1990 s. a foreign ministry publication was still proudly defending the goal of

a monochrome society something between grey and brown. the times have changed. we pay a visit to a bowling alley bowling popular in the 1980 s. has become trendy again. up stairs people are playing the slot machines. downstairs we get a good look at some of the latest passions here to banners tell the party line.

that reads let's advance the social revolution that ensures the happiness and well being of the masses. if it wasn't for the slogans on the walls we could be almost anywhere in asia. this young woman is an office worker. everyone dresses to suit their body type and coloring some women have square shoulders and try to disguise them well. you would see the heavier ones try to dress in the color that suits them. and men do the same don't take. everyone knows best which clothes shoes and makeup to choose so they can look stylish and you listen to. make on. have fun. with the curiosity we come here with friends and colleagues to get some exercise and relax. bowling alone is no fun it's the

atmosphere and good mood that counts when she went out if you were. there. it's. just. at this rest area along the motorway a bus full of chinese tourists has stopped on its way to k. song the city at the border to south korea. and 2017 nice visitors had all but disappeared due to sanctions. and $28.00 team they returned nearly $1000.00 chinese

tourists come each day drawn by the peace and quiet the unspoiled nature and perhaps a touch of nostalgia for a country that reminds them of china 40 years ago. though it might come as a surprise the training for jobs in the tourism industry is very popular in north korea nowadays. over the long term the country is hoping to increase the number of visitors by 30 percent each year. in the fall one sun beach on the east sea is deserted. it's the off season here 2 soldiers have the beach to themselves. this time we're allowed to film them since they're not in uniform but. this is the same beach in the summer.

on the right the premium beach for affluent visitors. on the left the public area where admission costs just a few cents. whether it's a group of workers a gathering of students or entire families everyone's enjoying themselves. and. people arrive by truck or on bicycles some come for the day others for a week. many come from rural regions. ok everybody dig in. we

come from the countryside north of pyongyang. the whole family has come here to relax it's the best place to rest and have tried. our leader kim jong long encouraged us to come on. they're building another tourist site in one sun and this year we're enjoying the beach here. next year we plan to relax into a new car or tourists on. but you know. in the distance we can see the construction site dozens of hotels are being built and that's another priority for the current leader. when donald trump met with kim jong un the us president was enthusiastic about the area and said the location had a lot of potential for development. in 20152016 north korean delegations discreetly inspected the french riviera and other mediterranean resorts for ideas

that they could bring back to adopted home. the manager of a famous local fish restaurant is pleased with what's happening. the madness of this is ok it's a great help to make one sound now in around the world. i do want us there are knots of guest houses and some will have towns i know some people even campaign because the sea is very. stressed because. because it i have many french people will come here to swim and try a famous simple. sea go look up what. except in the mining and nuclear testing areas there's lots of unspoiled nature here. due to embark owes farming uses very little artificial fertilizer. there's

little light pollution due to frequent electricity shortages. it comes as something of a surprise that north korea has never thought to market itself as a pioneer in sustainable development. on inhabited for the past 65 years the demilitarized zone has preserved a unique biodiversity. so far pyongyang doesn't seem inclined to take advantage of these natural assets. in the rest of the world north korea is seen as an anomaly. north korea also sees

itself as unique which it certainly is as frequent visitors we are struck by the endless repetition of the same songs sung everywhere at schools and on public transportation the same slogans decorate the streets the same films are constantly broadcast on t.v. north korea is a country under a bell jar a country marching to its own. pace it's impenetrable frustrating exhausting. but it's people are open curious and full of life. north korea is changing rapidly. poly or fast fast is a favorite phrase and both north and south korea. north koreans tastes are changing as are their hopes for the future. perhaps one day our image of north korea will change to.

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deep blue dot com for candidates to. give himself a clear cut or. place. blame. blame blame blame blame blame. blame. this is the of the news of life from a grizzly attack on a teacher near paris the victim beheaded outside the school work to talk to the sardines or treating it as a terrorist attack. also u.s. president donald trump has george on his mind in a state he won in 2016 this year it may be up for grabs meanwhile his rival joe biden makes

a more socially distanced return to the swing state of michigan. plus riot police in thailand crackdown on protesters defying a ban on demonstrations and the prime minister shrugs off demands for him to quit well look at what's next for the democracy movement in thailand. when welcome to the program a teacher has been brutally killed outside the school where he taught near paris investigators believe he was targeted for showing caricature of the prophet mohammad in class 4 people have been detained in connection with the killing and the suspected attacker was shot dead by police it's the 2nd knife attack within weeks in france linked to cartoons of mohammad which are consider blasphemous within the muslim faith. police at the scene of the gruesome attack on the

outskirts of paris. the victim a teacher decapitated. witnesses said the knife wielding attacker shouted. before being shot dead by police. french president. visiting the site condemned what he called an islamist terror attack against one of the country's fundamental principles. one of our fellow citizens was murdered today because he was a teacher and because he was teaching students freedom of expression freedom to believe and not believe. the murdered teacher had recently shown his students controversial caricature of the prophet muhammad as part of a civics lesson. parents said children had not been forced to view the images. my son who is a muslim was in his class. he is disgusted by what happened. he told me the teacher

was well liked nice pleasant teacher not islamophobia at all. we're not safe here i'm afraid of retribution i don't know if they'll come back to the school it's logical you put your children 1st ahead of everything else. friday's night attack is the 2nd terrorist incident since the start of a trial related to the 2013 charlie hebdo massacre an attack also sparked by the publication of mohammed cartoons. less than 20 days till election day in the united states and both campaigns are heading into their last lap focusing on must win swing states democratic contender joe biden has returned to hard fought michigan hoping to flip it back to blue in november if the polls to be relied upon trumps the candidate playing catch up in this race and he's been trying to regain ground

in georgia holding a large rally there despite the pandemic. earlier here dressed the nation's seniors in florida which is in important demographic that's been hit hard by the coronavirus the president defended his record with an upbeat message i'm moving heaven and earth to safeguard our seniors from the china virus to deliver lifesaving therapies in record time and to distribute a safe and effective vaccine before the end of the year and we're really doing even sure if you see what's going on the vaccines getting ready to go seniors will be the 1st in line for the vaccine and we will soon be ending this pandemic. now in macon georgia and so is our correspondent i mean s. if i'm in georgia their own health officials say 5600 people are in the i.c.u. there are 30000 hospitalizations and they say those are under estimates and here we

have a major rally a lot of people gathering where you are how are things going down there. there's certainly some concern in macon our local newspapers were speculating on the possibility of an outbreak after this event are all just have said that there's a 98 percent chance that somebody at this rally is 1000 positive so there is concern here there is even a billboard on i 75 the highway going toward the event that took a little bit ironically said trump's super spreader event this way but the people who went today at event supporters his fans were not concerned you know the coordinators were loading people into buses unmasked hundreds of people getting on buses shuttle buses taking them to the event that was the only way to get there not on foot not by personal car and this didn't seem to concern most people although i spoke to one woman who was wearing a mask in line to the bus and i asked her are you not worried about getting on

there and she looked hesitant but she said you know what i'm willing to risk it to see trump and i think that's why fire all just are worried about trump's events like this because they see it as him encouraging people who would otherwise socially distance to not do so just to see him before the election these risks beg the question i mean why trump is in georgia at all it's a traditionally republican state and he won it in 2016 so what's he doing there. well one biden supporter put it this way he said if trump is in georgia this close to the election his campaign must be in trouble that's because georgia has gone republican since the last time they elected a democrat in 1902 that was bill clinton won by a slim majority but since then it's been firmly in the pocket of the republican party that's trump's party. looks like he's in a little bit of trouble here latest polls show biden head or neck in neck with trump which is somewhat unexpected but some pollsters put this down to changing demographics here you have a rising latino population they tend to vote democrat and then black americans who

vote overwhelmingly democrat are going to the polls in higher numbers and we're seeing that with early voting so this could turn georgia into a swing state this election and it should be noted where you are in may in that county actually went for hillary clinton in 2016 and now we're seeing biden consistently ahead in the polls not necessarily in georgia but nationally in many swing states so what effect is that data having on both campaigns as they're looking towards the election just a couple weeks away well i think you can see trump coming to georgia is an indication that some places that he thought he had on lock down he does not have so you're going to see him going to places that might have not been on the bill a few months ago when he thought the swing states certain swing states where his but you know his supporters and he himself don't seem concerned about the polls and they have good reason to doubt that because of what happened in 2016 when clinton

was expected to win and she didn't so you see overwhelming enthusiasm on trump's side but the polls say otherwise. all right rena leave it there i mean as in macon georgia where donald trump is as well thanks very much. let's turn now to some of the other stories making news around the world british prime minister boris johnson has told his country to prepare for a no deal accusing the european union of not negotiating seriously the e.u. called his comments empty rhetoric the 2 sides of an unable to agree on their future trading relationship since the u.k. officially left the e.u. earlier this year. police and protesters have clashed in chile as the country approaches the one year anniversary of mass demonstrations against the government the protesters were back on the streets to again vent their anger about inequality and the policies of president sebastian pinera. romania's

caseload continues to grow with hospitals already operating at full capacity they warn patients may end up dying at home if the situation keeps on deteriorating the government is hoping the numbers will stabilize 3 weeks now that they've introduced tougher restrictions. for democracy protesters have clashed with police in the thai capital bangkok authorities say the gathering was illegal activists want constitutional change but the country's government and powerful monarchy have so far stood their ground. taking cover using whatever they can find. a wall of police advances trying to clear the protesters out but they hold strong. around 2000 pro-democracy demonstrators gathered in bangkok's main shopping district in

defiance of an emergency order that made the rally illegal. the government has been pushing us to the cliff and now we are on the edge so now we are we have no magical if we need to stand right now if not now then we don't know where a fire of restraint is over for all or even in like doing this protest it just makes. the fire even they are. demanding democratic reform of thai society where the government and marcie have unquestionable powers. the movement has long been calling for the resignation of this man prime minister prayed channel china and with his ministers laughing along in the background you know proudly stated he isn't quitting. what have i done wrong so that i have to resign it would protesters want the

removal of china or to who took power in a $24.00 to a military coup because they say he manipulated last year's election to keep his hold on power. much of the dissent has also been directed at thailand's powerful monarchy challenging the royal family in thailand is to boot and can lead to hefty penalties. but now thai king. kong is being criticised for his excessive loss style and for spending a lot of his time at this luxury resort in southern germany. protesters say they don't want to abolish the monarchy just to reign in some of its power was and lavish spending. let's get the latest now what's going on in bangkok i'm joined by philip farewell he's a journalist for the sunday times and he's there so what's the latest going on what's on what's happening now in bangkok well the the

main student umbrella body that has been organizing all these protests has said that. despite those scenes last night when the police went in in force with the. right units and watch the congress to disperse protesters they said they're going to take to the streets again today they are planning protests in town in bangkok the capitol hill and several other cities later this afternoon they have been careful not to say where they're planning to meet. and i think we're now into a sort of accounting now scandal and certainly from the hong kong protests last year who were very self fluid in their organization this is remember this would be the 3rd day that they've held protests which are in breach of a new state so they moved the decree that officially back in gatherings of more than 4 people on the roads. dozens of arrests such a $100.00 according to human rights groups last night and the police humph out that they will prosecute anyone who is seen at these protests they're using blue ink to stain the ocean water cannons to identify protesters and they're also using video

evidence they say so the you know that the odds are very high the stakes are of 6 very high indeed but the protesters say they'll be back today is there any evidence at all the suggest the authority the monarchy might be budging under the pressure. basically there isn't all that they. all that they are it is the government of general for you to use the full acutely to now the prime minister have said is that they will allow a 2 year process to review certain clauses of the jump to drafted constitutional which he came to power but they've said that any talk about the role the role families can teach completely off limits they king does not comment directly on politics but last night in pretty recorded comments that were put on roll television he did address some former communist rebels who once been fighting to overthrow the monarchy and praised them not for that contribution to society who

suggested they might be able to teach a thing or 2 to a new younger generation what's happening now these are the scenes we're seeing in bangkok it feels like it's part of a cycle of protests against the government new government comes in the place then there's more protest why is that an accurate perception why is why is the thing ever seem to have changed. well the. there's the post of senate certainly very intense the moment being has been political turmoil in thailand for 4 years for your last so 15 years including a couple of coups but at the end of the day the ruling establishment is backed by the military is very close to the royal family and you know has the has the power and the money the students say they have the numbers but so far that hasn't hasn't achieved those reforms for them but they they insist they're going to fight on struggling right philip cheryl joining us from bangkok from the sunday times

thanks very much for those of years thank you for watching t.v. news from berlin i'm william go across to next up is the w.'s covert special so stay right here they can always get more from our web site w dot com and on twitter and instagram at n.p.r. news thanks very much for watching. combating the pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. hour carona updates. covert 19 special next on d w. w's crime fighters are back africa's most successful radio

drama series continues this season the stories.