North Korea Travel Guide
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Start Planning Your North Korea 2010 Trip Now, Or Else
They won't take our advice, but they'll still take our money: Despite an absence of diplomatic relations between the countries, Americans can still travel to North Korea, so long as you go when they want you to go, and with whom.
Visiting North Korea is allowed only during the annual Mass Games involving thousands of North Koreans performing complicated choreography and moving into intricate patterns like a college marching band on steroids. The games are normally held August through October, during which Westerners can travel with a tour group—since the government will assign you an escort to make sure you only see the North Korea they want you to see. Now is the time to start planning and booking those trips.
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Help The Blind Read By Visiting North Korea
Wilderness experts teach campers to leave a place better than they found it. A tour group responsible for more than half of all Westerners visiting North Korea has taken that sentiment to heart, asking travelers to donate to help children in the impoverished, often aid-rejecting country.
Koryo co-founders Josh Green and Nicholas Bonner, both Brits, came up with the idea for the company when Green was working for a shipping company in Pyongyang in the early '90s. Using his connections, they were able to connect with the Korea International Travel Company, an official government agency that ushers foreigners in and out of the DPRK, and now contribute to the Pyongyang International Film Festival and produce documentaries as well as leading tours.
Tags: North Korea Travel / Pyongyang Travel / Communist Travel / Travel News / South Korea Travel / Seoul Travel / → All Tags
North Korea Inviting South Korea Over For The Weekend
Who's game for a nice little package trip to North Korea? Anyone? Bueller?
It was announced yesterday that Kim Jong-il is feeling a little neighborly lately and less bomby, and wants to restart family reunion trips from South Korea. Although South Korea hasn't yet said yes to allowing their people to venture over the border, North Korea is re-opening an enclave for reunions at Mount Kumgang, which was once a major money generator for the poor country.
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Clinton Kicks North Korea Into Giving Back Jailed Journalists
Thinking about heading to North Korea for the Arirang Mass Games? You better hope that former President Bill Clinton has got your back, just like he has with the two Current TV journalists who were arrested on the North Korean border in March and sentenced to 12 years in a hard labor camp for "committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry.
During Clinton's brief visit, which focused solely on negotiating the freedom of the women—Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36—and not North Korea's recent nuclear tests, he met with good old Kim Jong-il, who wasn't looking all that ill.
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Hold Off on that North Korean Vacation: Two U.S. Reporters Detained at Border
While other notoriously closed societies have cracked open their doors a bit to tourism, North Korea still remains highly suspicious of foreigners. Two American reporters from scrappy San Francisco-based Current TV are being held in North Korea, having been nabbed by guards as they filmed the country from the Chinese/North Korean border. The reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were working on a story about North Korean refugees when they were taken into custody for "illegally intruding" into the Stalinist dictatorship on Tuesday.
While it's not clear whether they actually did cross the border or remained on the Chinese side, the incident has provoked a minor crisis, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doing a whole bunch of diplomacy on the matter.
It would be difficult to make relations between North Korea and the rest of the world any more strained. Kim Jong Il's hermit kingdom only allows a trickle of foreign tourists to visit, and they're required to surrender their cell phones upon entry and travel only to approved sites with a government minder. I'm game for traveling almost anywhere, but North Korea seems like one of the bleaker destinations in the world, if Guy Delisle's excellent comic Pyongyang is to be believed.
Here's hoping the reporters are released unharmed, and that North Korea begins to engage the rest of the world a bit more. I know that the latter is a long shot, but today is the first full day of spring and I can't help but feel optimistic.
[Photo: AP/Boston.com]
Related Stories:
· Detained Reporters Drawn to NKorea Refugee Story [Associated Press]
· US Awaiting NKorean Reply on Detained Reporters [AP/mercurynews.com]
· Pyongyang by Guy Delisle [Official Site]
· Current TV [Official Site]
· North Korean Travel [Jaunted]
Tags: North Korea Travel / Dictatorship Travel / → All Tags
Dictatorship Travel: Pyongyang and Kim Jong Il's Arteries Both Doing Splendidly
Despite what the South Park guys identified as chronic "roneriness", Kim Jong Il's health is just fine, thankyouverymuch. At least that's what the Dear Leader's propaganda machine is insisting. Stroke? Don't even suggest it. Seriously. They'll arrest you.
This past week, an envoy of journalists were given a controlled, guided tour illustrating the country's booming economy and happy populace, of course. This is how an Asia Times reporter recounted his trip to Pyongyang:
Tags: Gumball 3000 / Celeb Travel / Bam Margera / Adventure Travel / Videos / → All Tags
Dictatorship Travel: Bam Margera in the DPRK
We already reported that the Gumball 3000 rally stopped by the Arirang Mass Games in North Korea, but video of the adventure just leaked out on YouTube.
Think Beijing's Bird's Nest is big, with its seating for 91,000? Try the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, where 150,000 spectators watch 100,000 performers during the Mass Games.
The full video is a little long, but just seeing Bam Margera's baffled face as he negotiates the closed country makes it worth watching!
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North Korea Travel: Not Entirely Safe
Walking around on the beach is usually only dangerous if a giant wave attacks or a shark decides to walk on land, but in slightly scary North Korea things can be a bit different.
Tourists from South Korea are allowed to travel to two tightly guarded spots in North Korea, one of them being the mountain resort of Mount Keumgang. Over the weekend a 53-year-old South Korean woman was shot dead there by a North Korean soldier because she crossed the boundary line of the resort during a walk on the beach.
Some sources say she ran towards her hotel once the guards approached her, while others say she was walking deep into the prohibited zone. Whatever the case, it's a reminder that although they can do some incredible crowd choreography, those North Koreans can be a really sinister bunch.
Related Stories:
· North Korean Soldier Kills South Korean Tourist [CNN]
· Can You Still Travel to North Korea? [Jaunted]
· Communist Choreography in North Korea [Jaunted]
[Photo: litlnemo]
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The World's Best Communist Subways
Wired has a gallery featuring photos of some of the world's "most impressive" subway systems. Moscow clearly wins best in show with "chandeliers, marble moldings and elaborate murals" in some of the city's stations. Opulent subways must be a Communist thing, because Moscow's seems quite similar to the infamous Pyongyang Metro in North Korea.
Perhaps Pyongyang's public transit system was missing from Wired's list because foreigners are only allowed to tour it on closely guarded single-station trips. Still, the photos that have emerged from the secretive North Korean subway show more chandeliers, marble columns and great propaganda murals such as "The Great Leader Kim Il Sung Among Workers."
If seeing inspirational artwork during your morning commute doesn't get your day started off right, maybe you'd prefer a refreshing river cruise?
Related Stories:
· Gallery: The World's Most Impressive Subways [Wired]
· Pyongyang Metro [Official Site]
· Public Transportation coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo of the Pyongyang Metro: Pricey]
Tags: North Korea Travel / Arirang Festival / → All Tags
Communist Choreography in North Korea
You might've thought that when Bush called North Korea a member of the "Axis of Evil" that he killed your chances to ever visit the world's most reclusive country. But every year between August and October the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea will grant visas to US citizens so they can attend the Mass Games--a colorful, tightly choreographed gymnastics display involving almost 100,000 performers.
Unfortunately, tours of the DPRK are just about as choreographed. Regime-approved guides keep a close eye on what travelers do, say and take photos of, and they certainly won't break from the party line if asked questions about the quality of life in the country.
That doesn't mean it won't be a fascinating experience, just don't plan on heading off willy-nilly with your point-and-shoot. Tourists supposedly have to yield their passport and plane ticket out of the country to the police during their trip.
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North Korea: Tears Into Crystal Into Marble
Aussie Flyertalker bensyd hooked up with Koryo Tours for a trip to North Korea, and apparently lived to tell about it. His message board post incited a bit of riot, but we'll steer clear of politics and just serve you with the cold, hard, and hilarious facts.
Most of the ridiculosity involves Kim Il Sung, but is there anything in North Korea that doesn't involve him? Moreover, what isn't ridiculous about a dead guy being crowned "eternal" president of a country? Bensyd reports:
On awards decorating Kim's palace
There is also an honourary degree from "Kensington University, USA" A google search on this revealed it had since lost its license for handing out degrees it was not entitled to....and on an audio tour of the palace
Next room is surely one of the highlights of the trip. To tell you the truth I cannot remember exactly what was in the room but as you enter you are given a small cassette player which has a commentary about KIS on it in English narrated by an English guy. The guy becomes more and more hysterical as he is speaking, at one point describing how "the people of the world were so devastated at the Great Leaders death that they wept tears that turned to crystal that became part of the marble you now stand on".He's also got a Photobucket account with pictures of his trip. Of course, you shouldn't expect to see anything besides officially approved photo sites. Feel free to address us as "Dear Blogger" in the comments from now on.
[Photo: deckwalker]
Related Stories:
· North Korea [Flyertalk]
· Can You Still Travel To North Korea? [Jaunted]
Tags: North Korean Travel / Arirang Festival / → All Tags
Can You Still Travel To North Korea?
Yes, and with all the current nuclear testing strife, we are sure this year's low season (November - March) will be, um, low.
If you are American, South Korean, or of South Korean origin, forget it. Without some sort of super special exemption you will have to holiday elsewhere.
One important exception to this rule, a handful of Americans do get to attend the world famous Arirang Festival, which is held between August 10 and October 10 every year. However, tour organizers are still awaiting word from the DPRK on if this will be the case in 2007 and beyond, so stay tuned.
Journalists, or those suspected of being journalists will have to obtain special permission to visit North Korea. Regardless of who you are, if you want to tour the DPRK you will need to book through a North Korean travel agency--no exceptions. Travel to North Korea is only possible as part of a guided tour, which is organized by the Korean Friendship Association--we kid you not--who kindly answer many questions about touring their country here.
