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Can You Take a Trip on North Korea's New Tourist Train?

North Korean leaders, for all that they've justifiably earned a reputation for insane paranoia, seem to be opening up their country to tourism. Very slowly opening up their country to tourism. Having lifted some restrictions on Americans last January, they've now taken the next step and inaugurated what might become a regular tourist train from neighboring China.

The train is part of a larger itinerary that will take 400 tourists on what we have to assume is an exquisitely planned, government-sanitized four day trip. Heavy restrictions still exist on where any foreigner can go in the country. Travelers can still expect to be corralled into specific foreigner hotels and taken on specific foreigner tours, and under no circumstances should they wander around alone. So much is this the case that the State Department's DPRK page tells US citizens to secure escorts before going to the Swedish Embassy—which is how Americans obtain consular services in North Korea—even for time-sensitive medical emergencies. It's true that even small delays can be devastating in those circumstances. But finding a guide takes substantially less time than, say, getting out of a Pyongyang jail. Or a rural gulag. Or, most likely, both.