REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: Working in a Different World

Twelve days in a world astonishingly different from the one we inhabit; would the people be hostile, angry at those they believe to be their "great enemy"?

(ABCNEWS.com)

We knew we would have a high profile in North Korea -- there are only about 300 foreigners in the country. But the people in Pyongyang, their showplace capital, were consistently polite and friendly -- they may not like America (in fact, most denounce it, smiling) but we Americans were embraced.

They are clearly proud of their city, which is spotless, and of their devotion to their leader and their country. But putting together our report on the hidden world of the Hermit Nation was not easy.

A World Without Cell Phones

Here's how we lived as journalists: very well, from our hotel rooms to our work space. In the dining room every night there were pork cutlets, if you wanted them. We saw restaurants, though we surmised that most ordinary citizens would be unable to afford them.

But also every night: the arduous task of arranging the one phone line to set up a satellite that may or may not work. Our cell phones and BlackBerries were confiscated when we entered the country -- cell phone use is illegal in North Korea -- just one of the ways they keep their closed society "closed."

It took a bit of chewing gum and rubber bands to try to get our live shots on the air. Not to mention the extraordinary cost of every single phone call.

Lost in Translation

We spoke only the barest Korean. And make no mistake, running every question, every comment, through a translator just increased the degree of difficulty.

For instance, I asked one woman if she likes curly hair. The answer? As she fluffed her curly hair, "No!"

What does that mean? What did the translator say? We never really found out.

We realized at every turn, we are looking at two worlds with very different views and few bridges between.

We noticed a magazine that said the United States was the biggest human rights violator in the world. Why?

Because women make just 75 cents on the dollar compared to men, and there are 14 million people in America without health care. Facts indeed, but here they're seen as proof that it is our system that is failing, not theirs.

And there was the old man who told us capitalism was just fine -- if you're rich.