Top NBC anchor Lester Holt reveals what he was really thinking as he reported from a North Korean ski resort where people wore identical neon outfits

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February 9, 2018 6:46 PM

Many of the people at a North Korean ski resort were dressed identically, prompting conversation that the resort was staged by the government.

NBC Nightly News anchor
Many of the skiers that day were dressed in the same outfits, prompting conversation that the resort was staged by the government.
The North Korean government dictates where journalists entering the country can report.

Lester Holt began his reporting on t

"It's one of those places when you go there, unlike any other place that I've traveled, you don't know what you're going to get," Holt, who flew on the North Korean state airline from Beijing, China, said.

Midflight, the airline announces when the plane crosses into North Korean airspace, and once the flight lands a rigorous custom process begins. On his most recent trip, agents checked all personal items, even down to the specific books that travelers were reading and their toothbrushes.

Once through customs, North Korean government escorts told them the sites they would visit.

"We put in a wish list, but at the end of the day they say where you're going to go," Holt said. "They tell you what you can shoot. We accept that because it is one of the most mysterious places, potentially one of the most dangerous places. It's a place where we need to get a sense of what's happening there."

They received guidance on what they could and couldn't record. Holt's crew could record images of downtown Pyongyang, with it's high rises and new buildings. But rural areas, where citizens held manual labor jobs, were off limits.

And the ski resort trip was also planned by the North Korean government. There, skiers, some dressed in identical neon ski suits, enjoyed the slopes. The ski resort is in stark contrast to the poverty that many North Koreans experience. Holt said many of the skiers on the slopes the day he was there were government workers.

"You don't expect to peel the curtain back too much while you're there because of the nature of the place," he said.

Holt's Olympic coverage started at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

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