It was unsettling to hear ordinary North Koreans talk of war with calm acceptance and buy their government’s propaganda happy talk about certain victory over the United States. We also heard some people say that while they hate the American government, they harbor no ill will toward Americans and would prefer to live in peace. One woman was nearly in tears describing her mixed feelings about the United States.

I have been writing about North Korea since 1992, when President George H. W. Bush’s administration held the United States’ first meeting with Pyongyang since the Korean War to discuss what was then an incipient nuclear program. I had long wanted to visit. What made it possible now is that North Korea, the world’s least transparent country, has decided to embark on a charm offensive, inviting major American news organizations on separate visits this year to learn more about its economic and political goals.

Our trip has not been without some risk, given the way the American student Otto Warmbier, who was detained in Pyongyang after allegedly trying to steal a poster, fell into a coma under circumstances that remain mysterious and died days after being returned to the United States. While I and the other Times journalists were invited by the Foreign Ministry (The Times paid all expenses), the diplomats don’t control the security services, and our attempts to report have been a balance between trying to get the most authentic information we can (a struggle) and not running afoul of security. Two government minders accompanied us except when we were in our rooms.

We were allowed to visit a silk factory, the science and technology complex (computers are connected to an internal intranet, not the internet), an elite high school and an anti-American war museum, as well as an amusement park, restaurants and a dolphinarium — evidence of Kim Jong-un’s efforts to allow citizens of Pyongyang, where the elite live, opportunities for fun. Our requests to see the three remaining American detainees were refused. Despite such controls, there have been some moments of spontaneous humanity. After dinner one night, a senior official led me briefly in ballroom dancing on the sidewalk outside a restaurant.