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Five Unique Ways to Visit North Korea in 2011
The answer to your problem is easy: North Korea.
I just heard from Koryo Tours that there are three great tours in the works for this year, each a cure for the common vacation. Even if you've been to this reclusive country in the past, there are some new opportunities that are bound to blow your mind.
1. Hang out in Hamhung: this is North Korea's answer to Boston. Once you've been to the big city (Pyongyang), explore its smaller cousin. The east coast city hasn't seen a whole lot of westerners. Most of the non-locals who have passed through were East Germans (I know, that's not even a thing any more) who were involved in rebuilding the region after the country's 1945 "Liberation from Japan." Last May, Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours became the first tourist to put leather on the ground in Hamhung since North Korea became a country. Now, the way is paved for you! Local attractions include the Hamhung Grand Theatre and the Hamhung fertilizer factory (where Kim Il Sung once imparted some wisdom!).
Gallery: Welcome to the DMZ
2. Make merry at Outer Mount Kumgang: Also an east coast destination in North Korea, Outer Kumgang is home to a Hyundai-run resort and is now open to access via North Korea for the first time since the 2008 incident when a soldier shot a tourist there (ouch!). It's a great place for hiking, and Samil Lagoon is apparently not to be missed.
3. Rock Rason: Koryo Tours is now offering independent tours of the Rason area of North Korea, making it the only western travel company ever to do so. This is a rare treat and a chance to see something beyond Pyongyang if you're an old pro at North Korean travel.
4. Take on the Tuman Triangle: visit China, Russia and North Korea in one trip, as you explore the area around the river that creates the borders for these three countries. According to Koryo Tours:
The last group was the first ever to cross into Russia by train at the town of Khasan, blazing a trail for you to experience what few can only imagine.
5. Sheer stupidity: you could always try to cross the border sans guide, visas and common sense, but that usually doesn't work out all that well. Your best bet when visiting North Korea is to find a travel company that really specializes in the destination.
3. Rock Rason: Koryo Tours is now offering independent tours of the Rason area of North Korea, making it the only western travel company ever to do so. This is a rare treat and a chance to see something beyond Pyongyang if you're an old pro at North Korean travel.
4. Take on the Tuman Triangle: visit China, Russia and North Korea in one trip, as you explore the area around the river that creates the borders for these three countries. According to Koryo Tours:
The route that our pioneering group of 18 took was a flight to Yanji in NE China's Jilin province, then to the North Korean free trade zone of Rason (previously known as Rajin-Sonbong, a place where western tourists are almost unheard of but which Koryo tours have been visiting since 1996). We spent 4 days in the area doing a diverse range of activities such as seeing ports and seafood factories, playing beach football against Russian railway engineers, shopping in a public market - the only place this can be done in North Korea - going to the obligatory revolutionary sites, visiting the doctors (!) and local kindergartens, going to a deserted casino, doing a boat trip around the nearby islands, and more!
The last group was the first ever to cross into Russia by train at the town of Khasan, blazing a trail for you to experience what few can only imagine.
5. Sheer stupidity: you could always try to cross the border sans guide, visas and common sense, but that usually doesn't work out all that well. Your best bet when visiting North Korea is to find a travel company that really specializes in the destination.
Filed under: Asia, China, North Korea, Russian Federation
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
J.E.B. Aug 1st 2010 2:18PM
Why not walk down the middle of Tehran, Iran wearing an American Flag shirt, too? Either way, you'll be kidnapped, and most likely killed and never seen again because North Korea is a terrorist nation with a psychopathic leader, JUST LIKE Iran.
Dennis Aug 1st 2010 2:26PM
Why not send the Mexican illegal aliens who want a better life in a country that is not theirs to have
Aaron Aug 4th 2010 5:02PM
Gentiles are welcome just to satisfy the criminal sex drives
Joel Aug 1st 2010 2:32PM
North Korea?
Damn! Too bad I didn't know about Koryo Tours two months ago. At that time I was *so* in the mood for committing suicide after a psychic friend disclosed I had only 75 years more to live.
Alan Aug 1st 2010 2:50PM
I came ashore near Wonson Harbor on an LSM in late 1951 or early 1952. It was very cold.
I was one of - the proud - the few and I survived !
I would like to go back and look around, if some will loan me/give me the money ?
Alan
Theresa Aug 1st 2010 3:38PM
I can't believe anyone would suggest traveling to N. Korea as a tourist destination. Why support terrorists and people who hate us. And leave American dollars there so, too? What idiot came up with that idea? If you're going to spend American dollars outside of the U.S. (which I'd discourage due to the trade imbalance - do you really want the dollar to be worth less than it is already?), at least spend them in places that are friendly - which would include going a little south to South Korea - I've heard Jeju island is fantastic - and a popular Korean honeymoon destination with beautiful scenery. I've heard N. Korea is beautiful too, but until they change their attitude and stop threatening the US and their neighbors to the south, they should be off anyone's list for a travel destination.
www.nulifeonline.com Aug 1st 2010 3:47PM
LOL..... sounds great.... why stop there..... go on a three country tour of North Korea, Iraq and Iran.......
Marko Aug 1st 2010 4:02PM
For some reason I was never interested to see Korea China or Russia! Russia, while some area perhaps pretty, but so many Europeans ..TENS of MILLIONS lost their lifes(Russians also) under the communist regime and under Stalin the most horrible dictator in the twentieth century, and I know the suffering in the gulag, I never ever want to see these countries!!! And the russians still >adore" him!!?????
Ed Aug 1st 2010 4:44PM
I'd like to "visit" North Korea as a bombardier on a B52. I think it would be a blast!
Youbet Aug 1st 2010 4:59PM
This is a joke right? I mean, the next article will be "Visit Afganistan to see the war in live action!" (sick). Any American who shows their face in N.K. would end up being kidnapped by the N.K. police, tortured and accused of espionage and given a "nice" twenty year crash course in rock removal. I repeat, this is a joke right?
Buddy Aug 4th 2010 9:30AM
Sorry, my last visit there (1951) was not very nice, it seems they were trying to kill me and I them. Any fool wanting to visit a USA hating country should have their head examined.
Masked Man Aug 1st 2010 5:31PM
UN CLE DICK VISITS NORTH KOREA WHENEVER HE DESIRES. HE RIDES HIS BLACK HONDA BIKE ACROSS THE BORDER. HE HAS A SHOT GUN ON EACH SHOULDER AND TWO SMALL SAWED-OFF VERSIONS ARE ATTACHE TO HIS HANDLE BARS. HE HAS SIX HAND GRENADES ON HIS BELT.. HE ARRIVES WHEN HE PLEASES, GOES WHERE HE WANTS TO AND LEAVES WHEN HE WANTS TOO. THAT SCOWL ON HIS FACE SAYS IT ALL. UNCLE DICK IS NO ONE TO MESS WITH.
Alan Aug 1st 2010 6:00PM
Gee! What a grand idea. Why not visit a nation where virtually everything is against the law and the government is run by a megalomanical dynasty that thinks the rest of the world is out of step. Sure. Go ahead. Don't forget to send lots of post cards....provided you can find the proper postage and not be accused of spying for the West.
B.Morris Aug 1st 2010 8:44PM
Everybody seems to know a awlful lot about a place the've never been. If your afraid to go say home, I've found most peoples are a lot like we are, maybe more honest but they love their home and families, work toward raising their children. Where did all the hate come from?
Joel Aug 2nd 2010 11:46AM
B. Morris: I think all that "hate" you mention is actually based on what I would term "rational skepticism" (to put it mildly), directed toward a renegade nation which spits on human rights and regards the sanctity of an individual's life only to the extent he or she is willing to serve -- with absolute, unchallenged obedience! --that abstract monstrosity known as the State.
And while I do believe it's possible to visit North Korea and live to tell about its little known beauty and myriad attractions, at this point in that country's evolutionary maturity, I must frankly confess I would feel much safer taking a guided tour of a lunatic asylum.
JASON Aug 15th 2010 8:40PM
Open a newspaper and see for yourself....
Duane Aug 1st 2010 6:18PM
You could get a "tour" of their prison system if you hike along the border with China. Room and board for a year, all expenses paid, daily individualized Korean language and karate classes included, single occupancy OK with no surcharge.
fastestruck Aug 1st 2010 7:12PM
No Thanks!
Stenson Aug 1st 2010 8:02PM
http://www.vbs.tv/search?commit=Search&key=north+korea
Believe it or not, Americans can and do go to North Korea. Sure, not many do, and you MUST do exactly what the North Koreans guiding your trip tell you to do, but it happens. Check out the link above as proof.
Pau Falcon Aug 1st 2010 7:58PM
The only way I will visit North Korea is when the whole country is leveled by one of their own nuclear facilities explosions.