North Korea’s tourism push comes with a security catch

[yuiyoshida]

PYONGYANG – While North Korea is making a push to increase the number of tourists who visit each year — currently a few thousand from Western countries and more from China — it is stepping up its enforcement of strict but ambiguously implemented regulations about what foreign visitors can bring with them or what they can do while in the country.

North Korea’s push for tourists began in 2013 and visitors can now enjoy a surprisingly broad array of options, from helicopter rides over the capital to surfing on the country’s scenic eastern coast. With winter now setting in, the North is hoping its newly opened luxury ski resort near the city of Wonsan, which was largely empty of tourists last season while Pyongyang closed its borders over Ebola fears, will be a big draw.

Even so, the pro-tourism policy, like many other business opportunities that involve dealing with and possibly making concessions to the outside world, poses an obvious conundrum for Pyongyang — the potential of economic gains that require change, versus concerns about how that might undermine regime security.

“Despite the policy of getting more tourists, they still see security, or at least perceptions of security, as a bigger concern, and tourism is pretty far down the list of priorities,” said Simon Cockerell of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which has specialized in North Korea travel since 1993. “It’s clear that the restrictions, rules and so on often act against increasing tourist numbers.”

For those visitors who do break the rules, the risks of detention, arrest and possibly even jail sentences are real enough, especially if the offender is from the United States. The U.S. State Department recently updated and expanded its already blunt warning against North Korean travel. In a nutshell, its advice is simple: Just don’t do it.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/12/03/asia-pacific/north-koreas-tourism-push-comes-security-catch/#.VmCUoV7E_Mr

[Marrah_G]

1. It's hard to attract tourists if they are constantly chaparoned

and they are unable to speak to the citizens of the country.

[KamaAina]

3. Sounds like what the Soviet Union used to do with Intourist

[randys1]

2. I would be very worried that if I spit or something in the wrong place I could be held

indefinitely.

[snooper2]

4. You have to have big balls to ride on that plane LOL, last proper maintenance?

[VMA131Marine]

5. The last fatal accident of an Air Koryo flight

was in 1983. However, the EU has banned the airline for safety concerns other than for flights using Tu204 aircraft.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Who wouldnt want a relaxing vacation in the worlds most totalitarian hellhole?

And no, I wouldnt visit Saudi Arabia either.

[hifiguy]

7. Forced to make a choice between the two I'd take NK.

At least I could get drunk and try to forget I was in NK.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. I suspect the accomodations are better in Saudi Arabia, though.

At my age, these things matter!

[Nay]

9. Jeezus. Really. I guess some people go for the novelty factor, but I'd figure

I was just making a tyrant richer than he was already. Never.