Opinion | As North Korea reopens to travel, should you visit? I recount my experience
By Tom Fowdy
News is circulating that for the first time in 3 and a half years, North Korea is set to re-open its borders to foreign travelers, albeit with a mandatory 48 quarantine period. For me, this brings back a lot of memories, that is because from 2014-2020 I visited the DPRK for a few times and even for that matter, promoted travel there under the banner of "Visit North Korea". That ended of course with COVID, and throughout that time my life structure, outlook and incentives have changed in ways that make it no longer feasible or desirable to resume such.
The world has changed, I now must wrestle with the reality of living in South Korea under an unhinged Yoon Seok-Yeol Presidency (who will probably accuse me of espionage if Pyongyang doesn't first), the collapse of the Moon Jae-in peace regime and a resurgence of tensions with the US, as well as changed geopolitical tectonics that has ushered in a new global power struggle. I was always a firm advocate of saying travel to North Korea was safe, and for me in those years it actually was, but I guess when you are older you look at things differently, and I certainly do now given my circumstances.
Thus, I can no longer say that with an absolute certainty for myself anymore. I now back on this time as an adventurous chapter of my youth, one which opened my eyes and horizons about the world, giving me critical skills in distinguishing propaganda from fact (on both sides). But the main question is, do I recommend it to others? If for that matter, you are a "low stakes" person without any underlying political risk factors, then yes I do. It is an eye-opening, thought-provoking and educational experience, if not a little unnerving. We should experience the world in its entirety, rather than through the lens of Western idealism.
The travel experience of North Korea for a typical foreigner involves entering the country via a train from the Chinese border city of Dandong in Liaoning. The train crosses the Yalu River, which divides the two countries and enters the DPRK at Sinuiju. This original railway line, built by the Empire of Japan during the occupation period, runs continuously past my home window in the South, save of course for a break at the DMZ. After a very lengthy customs and border experience often amounting to several hours, the train trundles onwards towards Pyongyang, revealing the impoverished scenes of a country consisting of small villages where locals engage in hand farming work with cattle plows.
Eventually, after about 5-6 hours, you reach the retro-futuristic-styled capital of Pyongyang. On getting off the train, you will meet your two guides who will effectively take you everywhere for the entire journey outside of the hotel. These guides are not cold or unfriendly, and you should invest time and resources in getting to know and understand them, although you should not try to cross their boundaries, and they also have a niche of finding out about things very quickly. For example, taking just one unauthorized photograph will see locals report you to them instantly, a reminder of the extreme political insecurity that pervades the country. Still, the better your personal relationship and their trust in you becomes, the higher quality experience of the country you will get.
A lot of your trip will involve you being toured around countless political monuments and museums which of course glorify the DPRK, its leadership and its official narratives. That includes the gigantic bronze statues of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-il, known as the Mansudae Grand Hill Monument, the "Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum", which depicts the Korean War as a singlehanded triumph of the DPRK against the US and the extremely unnerving Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a grand facility where the perfectly preserved bodies of the Kims are presented you lying in state in a dimly red-lit room, which you must then bow to. You must place all your possessions in a locker and go through an airport level of security just to see this.
Usually, such trips also involve a visit to a local school or kindergarten, where very young children are made to perform on stage for the visitors, including singing, dancing, and playing instruments displaying a level of discipline that could only have come from coercion. This is disturbing, as they will also "love bomb" you, such as when a little boy decided to "voluntarily" declare he'd like to give me a clay model tiger he made. These types of things have of course led to the accusation a trip to the DPRK is "staged" to a great degree. They certainly try, but my argument has always been that the reality of the country is so blatantly obvious that becomes a lesson in and of itself, nobody is pretending or for that matter, is convinced the DPRK is a "paradise". But beyond these staged events or locations, there were many real things I experienced in the country too which remind us amidst the political system, normal life still exists.
Be it a simple glance at a young man sitting on a bench with headphones, a toddler running along the street wearing a Barcelona football shirt, a long personal conversation I had with a group of North Korean men on a train (albeit in China), self-improvised North Korean snacks and goodies using Winnie the Pooh imagery, and people having more worldly knowledge than I realized, what I ultimately learned from all my experiences is that North Koreans are real people, with hopes, dreams and aspirations, who want to have fun and make the most of it.
They live in a political system which by and large to the world is completely unacceptable, but the media circus over its leadership and nuclear war becomes a distraction for this, and that is why I valued the human aspect of visiting so much because I connected and engaged with North Koreans as human beings, and that's why I even I am not willing to do so again, other people should not be put off providing you do nothing stupid.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
Read more articles by Tom Fowdy:
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