The ban on UK visitors in the DPRK has been removed for the summer, according to an e-mail announcement from Koryo Tours. This was the last of the restrictions that the world was waiting for North Korean authorities to lift. Citizens from the UK will be able to travel to ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Infiltrating North Korea
Brits welcome in North Korea for Arirang
The ban on UK visitors in the DPRK has been removed for the summer, according to an e-mail announcement from Koryo Tours. This was the last of the restrictions that the world was waiting for North Korean authorities to lift. Citizens from the UK will be able to travel to ...American journalists get the max in North Korean court
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters with Current TV, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor this morning – the maximum sentence under law. The five-day trial yielded a verdict of guilt for the "grave crime" of illegally crossing into North Korea, the Korea Central ...A peek inside the North Korean courts
There's something chilling about journalists being detained and tried in a foreign country ... a prospect made all the more uncomfortable when you throw the "Dear Leader" into the mix. But, do we really know what's about to happen? Well, aside from the fact that they're ...June 4 trial date for American journalists in North Korea
Laura Ling and Euna Lee, both reporters for Current TV, will be tried in a North Korean court on June 4, 2009 for entering the country illegally and planning "hostile acts." Ling and Lee were picked up along North Korea's border with China on March 17, 2009
Anybody ...
Arirang gets green light in DPRK!
It is confirmed: the Arirang Mass Games will be held in Pyongyang, North Korea this summer. The event will run from August 10, 2009 through the end of September, highlighting the precision for which the DPRK performers have become famous. According to Koryo Tours, Americans ...Foal Eagle protests divert air traffic around North Korea
Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are followed by Air Canada and Singapore Airlines in routing flights around North Korean airspace. The change comes as a result of North Korean warnings that it "cannot guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger jets" if the United States ...More details on American access to North Korea in 2009
It may not be time to celebrate, but you can certainly be optimistic (with a dose of caution). Koryo Tours has received an update from its partners in North Korea about the upcoming Arirang (i.e., "Mass Games" event). The Mass Games are expected to be held in August and ...Destination on the edge: golf on the DMZ
The small golf course in Panmunjom is often called the most dangerous in the world. Nestled between North and South Korea – which are technically still at war – sending a ball off the fairway means that it probably won't be retrieved. Welcome to the strangest ...Infiltrating North Korea Part 19: A Final Word
Infiltrating North Korea is a 19-part series exploring the world's most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here. Although it was a short trip of only five days, my time in North ...Infiltrating North Korea Part 18: A Tale of Two Cities, Pyongyang vs. Seoul
Infiltrating North Korea is a 19-part series exploring the world's most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here. When it came time to leave North Korea and check out how ...Infiltrating North Korea Part 17: Video Tour of Pyongyang Highlights
I was a bit concerned bringing my camcorder into North Korea because I had read that zoom lenses 10X and higher were prohibited in the country. No one checked my camera on the way in, however, and I was therefore able to use my zoom throughout North Korea. I had ...
Infiltrating North Korea Part 16: A Sunday Drive through Pyongyang
Infiltrating North Korea is a 19-part series exploring the world's most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here.
Travel within North Korea is tightly regulated; tourists pile into ...
Infiltrating North Korea Part 15: More song and dance, and a conundrum about chocolate
Since posting last week about the North Korean talent show I attended at the Mangyongdae Children's Palace in Pyongyang, I've received a number of requests asking for more video of these outstanding child performers. And so today, we present a short compilation of some of ...
Infiltrating North Korea Part 14: Pyongyang Sock Hop
Infiltrating North Korea is a two-week series exploring the world's most reclusive nation and its bizarre, anachronistic way of life. To start reading at the beginning of the series, be sure to click here.
Yesterday's video captured the playful, innocent spirit of North ...
Infiltrating North Korea Part 13: Kids will be kids
After enduring five days of stoic faced North Koreans held hostage in their Mao suits, it was comforting to discover that children are the same everywhere regardless of political indoctrination. We'd certainly seen plenty of children during our tour of North Korea and ...
Infiltrating North Korea Part 12: A North Korean History Lesson about the U.S.S. Pueblo
The largest symbol of anti-Americanism in North Korea is undoubtedly the USS Pueblo. Naturally, this is an obligatory stop for all tourist groups. The Pueblo is an American spy ship that was captured just off the coast of North Korea on January 23, 1968. The North Koreans ...Infiltrating North Korea Part 11: North Korean Style Advertising
Billboards are a ubiquitous presence in most any major city. Depending on local ordnances, they may fill the entire side of a building, dominate cityscapes, or simply appear on the roadside in a variety of shapes and sizes. The city of Pyongyang is no exception. The only ...Infiltrating North Korea Part 10: The Followers of Kim
Every messiah has a birthplace to which the faithful must make a pilgrimage and pay their respects. North Korea's Bethlehem is Mangyongdae, a suburban park just outside Pyongyang's city center where the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, was raised in a small, thatched hut. Today, ...Infiltrating North Korea Part 9: Worshiping at the Altar of Kim
It's impossible to visit North Korea as a tourist without being forced to personally pay respects to the Great Leader oneself.
This is always done at the capital's Mansudae Grand Monument where an enormous bronze statue of the Great Leader towers above the city. According ...Photo of the Day (12/13/07)
This is probably the worst quality photograph chosen for Photo of the Day, but the subject matter is one of the most interesting in my opinion. That's because the featured automobile is a steam engine pickup truck in North Korea. That's right folks, this car actually runs ...
