Tag: North Korean Travel View All Tags
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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: Dangerous Travel / North Korean Travel / Tourists / Death / → All Tags
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]
Tags: Blogs / North Korean Travel / Airlines / → All Tags
Surprise of the Day: Knife Tricks Survives Air Koryo!
Earlier this month, we told you that Knife Tricks blogger Paul Karl Lukacs was off to North Korea. What we didn't tell you, out of respect for the blogger, was that we weren't entirely sure he'd make it out alive. To be fair, we're not sure we was free of doubt either. But survive he did, and the reports have been rolling in since his escape departure.
Particularly interesting is his Air Koryo flight report. As you might remember, Lukacs has a thing for flying scary airlines. Here we go:
Patriotic music was playing as we found our seats. After we settled in, the flight attendants offered a choice of in-flight propaganda. I chose the English-language edition of The Pyongyang Times. The off-lead story – headlined “Books and writings extol Korean leader” – began with the sentence: “The world people in the five continents are highly praising President Kim Il-sung with immense reverence for him.” Great, I quipped to myself, the mathematical computations needed to keep this plane aloft are being made by people who do not know the correct number of continents.Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Click through for all the fun, including much more on North Korea itself.
[Photo: Knife Tricks]
Related Stories:
· Flying The Communist Skies: Air Koryo To North Korea [Knife Tricks]
Tags: Blogs / North Korean Travel / → All Tags
Knife Tricks in North Korea
We turn away for just a second, and suddenly The Bloggers are off to North Korea! Knife Tricks blogger Paul Karl Lukacs is off to North Korea for the Mass Games, and should be returning today, barring any trouble with the ever-reliable state-run airline. (Could it be any worse than Turmenistan Airlines? Yes, probably.) Whether or not his flight is comfortable, we should at least get a tasty wrap-up of the experience.
Lukacs has been preparing his readers for the trip with some handy-dandy introduction posts, including a thoughtful Q&A that answers such important questions as "You’re really doing this?" While you're waiting for the post-trip reports to roll in, consider brushing up on Kim Il Sung's gigantic biography.
[Photo: Pricey]
Related Stories:
· Knife Tricks [Official Site]
· Koryo Air: The Communist Way to Fly [Gridskipper]
· Turkmenistan: It's Not Kazakhstan [Jaunted]
· North Korea: Tears Into Crystal Into Marble [Jaunted]
Tags: North Korean Travel / Love / → All Tags
My Employer Plans My Trips
Tired of working so hard that you never have the chance to travel or to meet a new partner? You need an employer like the Hana Bank in South Korea. They're sending 20 of their female employees aged between 29 and 33 on a two day trip to a Hyundai-affiliate run resort in North Korea. And they're inviting along 20 single South Korean men picked by one of the top dating agencies in the country.
These kind of blind date trips are, in fact, only subsidized--participants must pay half of the cost--but they're part of the bank's program of "full life service." So your employer owns you, but they send you on interesting trips and set you up with the right men. Perhaps it's just a short step before you and your new employer-approved partner won't get any more holidays but can just sleep in the office.
[Photo: yarra64]
Related Stories:
· Korean Bank Sends Singles on Blind Dates [Reuters]
Tags: North Korean Travel / Tourist Attractions / → All Tags
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.
