Anna Fifield is the Financial Times’ correspondent in Seoul. She will be in North Korea for the next two weeks and will write an online journal available only on FT.com about her visit to and life in the isolated hermit state. This is the first entry of her online journal. Go to www.ft.com/pyongyangdiary for future entries.

”Chollima sogdo imnida!” Koreans are known to exclaim. “What fast Chollima speed!”