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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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 Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| My understanding from guidebooks is that it's damn near impossible for an American to get into North Korea. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| My understanding from guidebooks is that it's damn near impossible for an American to get into North Korea. |
Nah. There are loads of tours you can go on. That's the only way to do it (you can't go independently), but it doesn't seem too difficult. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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iselynjenniep
Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Location: bundang
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:04 am Post subject: |
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| i am thinking about going through http://www.koryogroup.com/. i thought i had read that they don't stamp your passport or anything but can't find that info now... |
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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:47 am Post subject: Re: Tour to North Korea and the drama that goes with it |
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| Stalin84 wrote: |
Are there any stock to these? What say you?
Does it make me a monster? 
Oh and who here went? How was it? |
I would never support the North Korean regime and its enslavement of the citizens. If that seems like an okay thing to you (directly funding their military) so you can enjoy a trip there, then go ahead. Would you buy diamonds that fund murderous dictatorships in Africa too? |
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chungbukdo
Joined: 22 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 4:52 am Post subject: |
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| Stalin84 wrote: |
As for the morality of actually visiting North Korea... I agree with partymop. I mean, yes I'm giving them a little bit of money but on the other hand I'm interacting with them |
No you are not, you are going on a guided tour of North Korea. You will not be interacting with the enslaved North Koreans, just government officials. Some bystanders may see you bowing to Kim Il Sung, but that's about it.
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| I'm learning about them which is also, something that could greatly benefit me in that I could share my experience with other people and help people understand the place. |
No it won't. Buy a book--it would give you a more objective view of the country than a Potemkin tour.
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| ...and the people that give people crap about doing a DPRK tour, well, shouldn't they also give crap to people who go to China? Cambodia? Thailand? Those countries have corrupt governments as well, they're just not batshit like the DPRK's. |
You're rationalizing. Those countries are not absolutely totalitarian like DPRK, nor does your money go directly to a military which directly enslaves the people if you go to Thailand. |
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Stalin84
Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 5:19 am Post subject: |
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| chungbukdo wrote: |
| Stalin84 wrote: |
As for the morality of actually visiting North Korea... I agree with partymop. I mean, yes I'm giving them a little bit of money but on the other hand I'm interacting with them |
No you are not, you are going on a guided tour of North Korea. You will not be interacting with the enslaved North Koreans, just government officials. Some bystanders may see you bowing to Kim Il Sung, but that's about it. |
I had a few friends come back and tell me it was different now. They were allowed to walk down Pyongyang streets and struck up conversations with people just walking around. Sure, they live in Pyongyang, so they weren't poor farmers but they weren't officials either.
| chungbukdo wrote: |
| Stalin84 wrote: |
| I'm learning about them which is also, something that could greatly benefit me in that I could share my experience with other people and help people understand the place. |
No it won't. Buy a book--it would give you a more objective view of the country than a Potemkin tour. |
I'm sure actually going somewhere will give you a different perspective than just reading the book. I read Michael Breen's "The Koreans" twice before going to South Korea and while being an excellent book, it provided me limited understanding on what South Korea is all about. That understanding came from being there as is the case anywhere.
| chungbukdo wrote: |
| Stalin84 wrote: |
| ...and the people that give people crap about doing a DPRK tour, well, shouldn't they also give crap to people who go to China? Cambodia? Thailand? Those countries have corrupt governments as well, they're just not batshit like the DPRK's. |
You're rationalizing. Those countries are not absolutely totalitarian like DPRK, nor does your money go directly to a military which directly enslaves the people if you go to Thailand. |
I'm pretty sure a sweatshop feels pretty totalitarian from the inside. No better than being in North Korea. |
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buster brown
Joined: 26 Aug 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Don't worry about the stamp in your passport. Your visa is on a seperate piece of paper that they stick in your passport. When you leave the country they take it out...there will be no evidence that you've been there. |
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thegreg52
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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I went last month during the Chuseok vacation for 6 days. It was a great experience. You'll never have a trip like it in your life.
They won't stamp your passport. You have a stamp saying you left China (I went through Koryo as well, they're in Beijing) and then a stamp saying you came back to China 6 days later (or however long you go). There was an Irish guy on our tour that got a legitimate full-page visa (much like China's) in his passport. No one knows why he got it, but no one else did. He was a bit concerned that he wouldn't be able to travel to the US with that in his pages.
My recommendation is to wait until next summer, when the Mass Games start up again. They just ended this year and it's truly something spectacular.
Don't let anyone get in your head about where the money goes. You're more of an open minded person than they'll ever be even considering such a trip.
Feel free to private message me if you have any more questions. I'd be more than happy to help. |
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thegreg52
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, the tour is fully guarded and guided, but you do interact with the people in Pyongyang. While some people are in the shops or museums and the others were waiting for buses, we were kicking a football around or throwing around a frisbee. Citizens walking past joined in and practiced their English with us. It was great.
We were also at a football match between Middlesboro's (England) women's team against the DPRK's women's team. We were in the stadium with the citizens talking with them and we all watched the game together.
Of course, the people in Pyongyang are the elite class and the most loyal Party supporters so they're more trusted by the government than anyone else in the country. |
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alpope23
Joined: 15 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:33 pm Post subject: |
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Hey OP, go for it!
With your choice of user name, I'm sure you'll dig it! Hell, maybe they'll let you beat a dissident in Camp 18! |
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kardisa
Joined: 26 Jun 2009
Location: Masan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:47 pm Post subject: |
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| The Visa they put on my passport will make it impossible to get jobs in government in my home country, especially if the job requires security clearance. |
Not impossible at all. I have friends who have been to some pretty anti-American countries and they were still able to get high level security clearances AND govt jobs. Of course, their background investigations took forever, but at least they still passed them
I say go for it. It'll definitely be an interesting experience. |
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Stalin84
Joined: 30 Dec 2009
Location: Haebangchon, Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| alpope23 wrote: |
Hey OP, go for it!
With your choice of user name, I'm sure you'll dig it! Hell, maybe they'll let you beat a dissident in Camp 18! |
Golly, gee! I hope they let me beat ten. That would be swell.
In all seriousness, my name was supposed to be "Lenincrushcapitalism84" but Dave's wouldn't let me sign up with it because I don't think the mods got the Simpson's reference. I got annoyed and became Stalin.
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Feel free to private message me if you have any more questions. I'd be more than happy to help. |
Will do! |
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interestedinhanguk
Joined: 23 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 12:09 am Post subject: |
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| I don't understand how people can argue that you'll be of a benefit by interacting with the people there. It's not like you deal with ordinary citizens. You only deal with government pawns. |
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mc_jc
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Location: C4B- Cp Red Cloud, Area-I
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| Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:19 am Post subject: |
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| I have been there several times, it is a very fascinating adventure, to say the least. |
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