Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

Does anyone know if there are any repercussions for visiting North Korea from either South Korea or the United States?

I am entertaining the idea of doing the Koryo Tour in August for Americans.

http://www.koryogroup.com/

[seoulunitarian]

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

The Koryo Tour is to Pyongyang via China. The Geumgang tour is not of interest to me right now.

[RACETRAITOR]

You could be blocked from entering South Korea, and I'm sure you could be deported to Sudan for torture if the Americans catch you. When you go through North Korean customs, they staple a sheet to your passport and stamp that, so you can tear it out later and thus avoid going on a date with Lindy England.

[hellofaniceguy]

Just as with Cuba....Americans' wanting to visit NK do so from a third country....your entry visa will be stamped on a seperate piece of paper and attached to your passport....and removed when you exit the country as to not let American immigration folks see where you have been.
If the idiots...and they really are idiots....American customs and immigration folks...... see a visa from Cuba or NK....you WILL be spending a day or two of being grilled over in custody. You might pay a fine. Hard to say....
Going to that mountain with the other tourists'...does not count as a visit to NK.

[seoulunitarian]

It's cold in here.

Peace

[Rockwell Bergstrom]

[quote="RACETRAITOR"]You could be blocked from entering South Korea, and I'm sure you could be deported to Sudan for torture if the Americans catch you. When you go through North Korean customs, they staple a sheet to your passport and stamp that, so you can tear it out later and thus avoid going on a date with Lindy England.[/quote]

Can I ask how you know that a sheet is stapled to your passport so that it can be removed?

[RACETRAITOR]

[superacidjax]

[peppermint]

Seriously- check with the state department on this one!. An American gyopo friend of mine did the Koryo tour back in 2002 with no repercussions, but that was during the Arirang festival and a special case I think.

[sadsac]

Done the Geumgang tour, there is no record kept of you entering NK. You have an exit and entry stamp from South Korean immigration and nothing else to indicate where you have been. The Americam couple we met there went through the same procedure as us.

[SPINOZA]

[kprrok]

I'd like to know if there are any repercussions as well. I'd love to visit the North. My only problem is that I WANT the stamp showing I'd been there.

KPRROK

[Cerebroden]

[buster brown]

I visited twice with an American passport: your visa will be a slip of paper that's placed inside...no staples or glue. Upon exiting the country your visa is removed and there's no evidence of you ever having been there. Sorry kprrok and cerebroden, but thems the breaks.

On a side note, when you return to the US there's a place on the customs form asking which countries you visited during your stay abroad. I debated on whether or not to write down the DPRK, and finally decided it wouldn't be a big deal. At LA customs in 2003, I wasn't even a blip on the radar...they sent me through without a hassle. In 2004, after my second visit, I was stopped and had everything taken out of my bags and searched. It wasn't a full-blown interrogation, they were just curious about why I'd been there, what I'd done, etc. One funny thing that they did...I'd been shopping in Beijing and Shanghai, so I had several Chinese business cards in one of my bags from random shops I'd visited. The customs guy insisted on making photocopies of every one so they'd have a 'record'. I guess it didn't delay me more than 30 or 45 minutes, but I'll think twice before including it if theres a next time.