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Comment by dheera | Hacker News Reader

I wonder who works in those embassies. Are there some British dudes just living there that go to the embassy every day for work? Where do they buy food? What do their residences look like? Do have spouses and children? Where do they work and go to school? Do they enjoy life there?

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Some of your questions are answered in the actual article... no mention of spouses or kids, so most probably they don't come along.

Intelligence officers. Even your average friendly embassy is full of them. In this case it was probably more to handle secure channels of high level communication rather that recruiting agents. He even mentioned at the beginning that this was the official purpose for the mission.

If you want to arrange something quickly between nations you go through their respective three letter agencies.

You’d wonder less if you had read the article.

Why would anyone in their right mind accept a job like this? It's a lot like taking a job that requires you to live in a prison for several years.

In most cases it’s accepting orders

Orders? Diplomatic service (in the UK and other democratic nations) isn't part of the military; it's a civilian job. The guards might be soldiers, but the rest of the jobs aren't to my knowledge.

If someone is offered a particular posting but chooses not to accept it without good reason then I expect they won’t be offered anything better (more important, prestigious or more enjoyable).

(Saying that, I remember reading once that high-flying UK diplomats might be offered something less desirable as a ‘test of nerve’ - to see whether they had enough confidence and self belief to hold out for something better. It’s a never-ending test of character and ability to know which way the wind is blowing, I suppose)

Sounds like a good way of keeping young people from being interested in a career in that field.

If you read the article, they were allowed to travel freely.

Personally I would have loved the job. Seems like they had lots of free time. Very secure country without much crime. Really not much to worry about, just a bit isolating. Plus some cool stories to tell when you are back home.

Sure, not the type of job for people with family.

>If you read the article, they were allowed to travel freely.

What good is that in North Korea? The whole country is basically a prison, and after what happened to Otto, anyone with any sense of self-preservation should want to avoid the place.

In my grade school years I moved with my parents to Saudi Arabia for a couple years. It was voluntary on their part, my father had the opportunity to move their for his work (for a US company).

Saudi Arabia isn't North Korea, but it's still a lot less free than most developed countries, especially for females like my mother, who were not allowed to drive or work, could not go out alone, and legally forced to wear a stupid black thing in insanely hot weather while all the males of the country wore comfy white clothing.

I don't know the full story of their financials, but all I know is we got free housing, 1 free trip to the US every year, and 3 free vacations per year anywhere in the world, flights, lodging, and all expenses covered. We did lots of things that I believe they wouldn't have been able to do on their own money at the time. They also rented out their house in the US for extra income.

I wouldn't be surprised if diplomats who voluntarily take posts in North Korea also get a shitton of compensation benefits like that.

Don't Americans working in Saudi Arabia generally live in a large, separate compound, where they don't have to mingle with Saudi society and don't have to follow normal Saudi laws (like the dress code for women)? That's probably a little different from living in an embassy, which is just a single building.

Being an astronaut on the ISS is the most "in a prison" setting imaginable. Get out of that small box and you will die in seconds. It is also a dangerous, unhealthy and demanding job. And yet, it is also one of the most sought after job.

Less prestigious jobs but also desirable to some are sailors, or worse, submariners, and people working in Antarctica and other remote, hostile places.

Speaking about countries, North Korea is an oppressive dictatorship, but at least, it is not at war, and crime is limited. There are countries where your freedoms are just as or even more limited because you risk getting killed, mugged, kidnapped, etc... if you leave your armored vehicle and armed escort.

The positives of living in North Korea includes getting familiar with one of the most secretive culture in the world. There are some reports about North Koreans being quite joyful. People can have really shitty lives: war, crippling diseases, etc... and still find joy, so that shouldn't be surprising. And also, the article mentions travels, so, not really a prison.

And of course, there is the obvious aspect of compensation, which is probably substantial.

I can't tell if this comment was AI-generated.

It is not, but as a non native English speaker, and considering how good LLMs are at the technical aspects of writing (spelling, grammar, syntax, choice of words, etc...), I take it as a compliment.

They likely go to specialized shops for foreigners where you may only pay with US$-backed coupons, and can purchase most of stuff you can commonly buy in Japan.

> There were a handful of shops that catered for foreigners. All transactions had to be in Euros as possession of local currency by foreigners was forbidden. A lot of the items were imported from China and from time to time, local fresh produce would make a rare appearance. Meat was always in short supply.

Here's a video of what one of those shops looks like by an Indonesian diplomat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRYJ9u0sEE4

Lankov has described the coupon system in some detail. I believe Cuba has a similar system with CUC or had it until recently. I'm not sure at which point NK ditched coupons for Euros.

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