Tourism in North Korea

Ryugyong Hotel - Pyongyang, North Korea by markpanama, on Flickr

For around £2000 you can get an all-inclusive 8 day trip, where you will visit museums, art studios, water parks and zoos. You'll get to see mass games and mass street dancing, and visit some incredible sites such as waterfalls and palaces. Sounds pretty good? What if I told you this was all in North Korea? Would you still be interested? Well, every day more and more people are visiting the country, with North Korea aiming to get their annual tourist numbers up to 1 million within the next decade. My question to you is this. Should we be fuelling the North Korean tourism industry or not? In order to answer this question you should first know a few things about the country itself.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on this topic. To the best of my knowledge this information is correct, but I cannot claim that there will be no inaccuracies.)

North Korea: 1860-Today

Since the 1860's North Korean history can be defined by the ruling of the Kim family. In 1894, Japan conquered Korea, long before it split into North and South. The Japanese weren’t exactly kind to their conquered nation, suppressing their freedom of speech and forcing them to work for the Japanese economy. Independence activist, Kim Hyong Jik, was arrested by the Japanese in 1917. Whilst in prison he heard of revolutions taking place in Russia, and made the decision that Korea should follow in Soviet footsteps towards a communist future.

In 1926, Kim Hyong Jik dies, and his 14 year old son, Kim Il Sung, follows on his fathers path to become a large political influencer. Kim Il Sung establishes the DIU (Down with Imperialism Union), in an effort to reclaim Korea back from the Japanese. In 1929, Kim Il Sung begins to employ guerrilla tactics in order to attack the Japanese. (Guerrilla warfare is where a small group of individuals use military tactics such as ambushes, sabotage, raids etc. to fight a larger and more traditional army). In 1939 WWII begins, and Japan tightens its control over North Korea, forcing Korean men to fight against the allies, and women were drafted as 'comfort women' (or sex slaves) for the soldiers. For Japan, the war ends with their Kwangtung army being defeated by the Soviet Union, followed imminently by the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima by the US. Consequently Japan surrenders Korea, and 1945 is remembered within the country as 'the liberation of Korea'. During the war Kim Il Sung gained notoriety within the Soviet Union as a strong leader, and so they appointed him head of the country. After years of talks, in 1948 an official divide was declared between North and South Korea. The North was backed by the Soviet Union, where the South was backed by the US.

In 1950, Kim Il Sung convinced Joseph Stalin, that there was going to be an inevitable attack from South Korea, and so in order to defend themselves, they should attack first. (Although Korean literature does not report this, and claims that the US unnecessarily invaded the country). What then ensued was the Korean War. After a short battle with South Korea, the US joined to aid them, however after a year of fighting it was evident that the battle had reached a stalemate, and so a treaty resulting in no fighting was established between the north and the south, however an official end to the war has never been declared. Following the war, Kim Il Sung heavily instated the political ideology of 'Juche'. This is based around the concept of self-reliance, resulting in North Korea having no interaction with the outside world, with a large emphasis on self-defence, and has led towards the oppression of the North Korean people. By the 1970's Korea had cut practically all ties with China, resulting in a massive decline of the economy by the mid 80's. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed, removing Korea’s only external supply of income.

Kim Il Sung chats with farmers, south of Pyongyang (www.theatlantic.com)

In 1994, Kim Il Sung dies, and is replaced by his son, Kim Jong Il. Very quickly Kim Jong Il applies a new policy, which translates to 'military first'. As a consequence of the fall of the Soviet Union, the redistribution of resources to the military, and a devastating flood, North Korea faced a horrific famine. This famine caused ~ 3million deaths, children were abandoned, and there were reports of cannibalism and diseases due to malnutrition. Despite their policy of 'self-reliance' , North Korea were desperate, and accepted help from the UN, and from South Korea via the ‘sunshine policy’, however this was retracted in 2010 due to North Koreas testing of nuclear weapons.

In 2011, Kim Jong Il dies, and his son, Kim Jong Un comes into power as the 3rd supreme leader of North Korea. Despite having a more relaxed approach to the free market and trade than his predecessors he still strongly promotes the North Korean military, and under his ruling there have been three nuclear tests - one in 2013 and two in 2016. This brings us to Korea today.

North Korea Today

Today North Korea remains nominally communist, and whilst it still receives protection from China, it does not receive aid in the form of material goods, and tensions between the countries are running high. Along with the retraction of the sunshine agreement, and reluctance from the US to provide aid whilst they are still growing their military, the threat of another famine is always on the horizon. Nuclear ambitions still lie strong within the country, prolonging tensions with the US and the rest of the world. Last year North Korea began talks with the US to officially end the war with South Korea; however these were cut short after more nuclear testing from the country.

Kim Jong Un greeting crowds in Pyongyang (Andy Borowitz - The New Yorker)

Today Korea is separated from the South by a 2.5 mile wide strip of land that reaches across the border of the two countries, known as the DMZ. No one is allowed to enter this zone from either side, although they would be mad to anyway as it is full of land mines, and is buffeted with the sound of propaganda being blasted from both countries.

In addition to no one entering the country via the DMZ, no journalists or press are allowed in at all. As a result reports of the true state of the country are limited, but here are just some of the human rights atrocities that are allegedly taking place in North Korea today:

• Forced labour from as young as age 11
• Criticism of the government can result in execution or being sent to a ‘re-education’ camp
• Reports of executions due to religious practice (North Korea is an atheist country, following in Kim Il Sung's influence)
•  Individuals cannot travel around the country – if they attempt to flee to China they will be sent back
•  Major censorship of media
• Babies born with birth defects are rapidly put to death 
• Individuals who escape to China and fall pregnant whilst in the country will be forced to abort their babies if they are sent back to North Korea
• Forced prostitution
•  Imprisonment for disrespecting the leaders, e.g.: folding a newspaper with the leaders face on.

So.. Tourism?

Tourism in North Korea is increasing, with many thousands of people now visiting each year. These trips are extremely controlled, where you follow a strict tour and unless in your hotel room, you will have to be accompanied by two people at all times. As a consequence the image you receive of North Korea will be one that the government chooses to project to you, and not a true reflection of the state of the country.

North and South Korean gymnasts at 2016 Olympic games. (REUTERS)

That being said, in very recent years it would appear that North Korea is trying to make some steps in the right direction. Kim Jong Un is much more liberal towards free markets, which will hopefully allow their economy to grow. Despite nuclear testing cutting talks short, he did attempt to finally bring a close to the war with South Korea. And more and more the North and South are publicly showing to be working towards peace, such as the moving display of friendship between North and South gymnasts at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The question that this all boils down to is, where do you want to spend your money? Should we boycott any tourism in the country as a protest against the reported atrocities that are still taking place? Or should we aim to fuel their tourism so they can grow and provide more for their citizens, at the risk that they may pour the income into military, rather than people.

Personally, I'm going to play the waiting game. Whilst I would love to visit such a fascinating country, I feel not enough is known about what goes on behind the scenes for me to make an informed decision about partaking in their tourism. However a lot can change with time and my hope is that 30, or 40 years in the future, North Korea may be an open and safe place to live and visit. And then I will be on the very first plane over to marvel at this mesmerizing country. But until then, for me at least, it will remain largely a mystery.

Happy Travelling

Vicky

NOTES:

If you want to help those who have successfully defected from North Korea:

http://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/

If you want to read up on a few topics here are some great places to begin:

https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/186491.pdf   (A 'state of the country' document issued by the US'

http://www.korea-dpr.com/ (North Korea's official website. Lots of history all from Koreas stand point - very interesting reading)

A few popular youtubers talking about North Korea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8z7u7Agdo8 (Emma Blackery gives a sound summary of the last 100 years of North Korea)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmCpTzA6SKc (FunForLouis goes on an actual tour of North Korea, this was a very controversial video last year)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5LY4Mz15o (A brilliant video on the history of Japan, gives a Japanese perspective to their relationship with North Korea).