While the concept of coronavirus-related travel restrictions might seem like a distant memory, that’s not the case for the world’s most isolated country. That’s going to be changing soon, though…
In this post:
North Korea border reopening in late 2024
In early 2020, around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea closed its borders to foreign visitors. While this was presumably at least in part to prevent the spread of the virus, I have to imagine that continuing to isolate the population from the rest of the world was also a factor. Well, this will finally be changing…
Two tour companies based in China with connections to North Korea have announced that the country is planning on reopening as of December 2024, and details should be finalized in the coming days and weeks.
Even once it is allowed, tourism to North Korea is still heavily restricted, as it was before the pandemic. You can only travel there as part of a group, and have to be accompanied by a guide at all times.
Keep in mind that United States passports also aren’t valid in North Korea, and the Department of State classifies North Korea as a “Level 4: do not travel” country. North Korea will also be selective with the countries from which it accepts tourists, with plans to first welcome people from “friendly” countries, like China and Russia.
The plan is reportedly to first open up tourism to Samjiyon, the mountainous city that’s also the birthplace of the late Kim Jong Il. However, the country may immediately open up beyond that as well, including for travel to Pyongyang and beyond.
Separately, keep in mind that North Korea is working on opening a previously abandoned seaside resort town, which should finally welcome visitors in May 2025. That might also explain why North Korea is finally once again planning a bigger reopening.
It’s worth noting that despite North Korea’s borders having been closed for nearly five years, there was one exception to this. Earlier this year, we saw a small tour group from Russia, traveling on an Air Koryo plane from Vladivostok. This was made possible thanks to the closer ties between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.
I’d love to visit North Korea some day*
It goes without saying that North Korea is a fascinating country, unlike anything else on earth. In the 21st century, there’s simply no other country with such little connection to the outside world.
I’d absolutely love to visit the country in its current form. As a tourist, you of course don’t see the “real” North Korea, but rather the tours are a carefully orchestrated performance that shows you only what the government wants you to see.
Now, I wouldn’t even consider visiting North Korea in its current form, even if I had the opportunity. It’s just too risky, and it’s not something I want to put my family through either. There’s just too much to lose.
That being said, I can’t help but wonder if we might one day see a “regime” change in North Korea, and see the country become part of global society. All kinds of countries have gone through major transitions over the years. Can a country really remain shut off to the rest of the world without a revolt for decades on end?
My hope is that one day North Korea becomes a place that it’s safe to visit, and that’s connected to the rest of the world. I’m not holding my breath, but you never know…
Bottom line
North Korea has plans to reopen to tourists as of late 2024. No, don’t expect United Airlines to launch a nonstop San Francisco to Pyongyang flight, but instead, the country will once again open to very small tour groups, initially from countries like China and Russia.
North Korea remains a true mystery to me, and I continue to wonder if we’ll ever see major changes there…
Do you think North Korea will remain shut off to the rest of the world for decades to come, or could we eventually see a revolt?
British travel documentary maker (and former member of the Monty Python comedy group) Michael Palin, went to North Korea to make a short series for the UK's Channel 5. It was really interesting; obviously all totally stage managed, but he visited the brand new ghost airport (all fully staffed, but with no passengers) at the beach resort that was then under construction, and even got to fly on Air Koryo.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN-GuLUgIqK3LbufJpBXZdaJpDJ3eBwvx&si=jA2reK4_p0MOigMU
There are...
British travel documentary maker (and former member of the Monty Python comedy group) Michael Palin, went to North Korea to make a short series for the UK's Channel 5. It was really interesting; obviously all totally stage managed, but he visited the brand new ghost airport (all fully staffed, but with no passengers) at the beach resort that was then under construction, and even got to fly on Air Koryo.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN-GuLUgIqK3LbufJpBXZdaJpDJ3eBwvx&si=jA2reK4_p0MOigMU
There are some clips or the full series available to buy on YouTube
Why anyone would want to put money into the hands of this regime by visiting it is beyond me. Traveling there only strengthens the dictator and prolongs the suffering of the population. Showing off on Instagram is not worth the price North Koreans have to pay.
Well its about time! I have been waiting to cash in all my Air Koryo miles.
If you decide to travel to North Korea, I know one of the approved tour companies based in China that is run by a British man and his company has been operating for many years. Furthermore, there are other isolated countries in the world, it is just that they tend to not make as much attention. Your posts about such an experience would be very different than other places you have been to. You also...
If you decide to travel to North Korea, I know one of the approved tour companies based in China that is run by a British man and his company has been operating for many years. Furthermore, there are other isolated countries in the world, it is just that they tend to not make as much attention. Your posts about such an experience would be very different than other places you have been to. You also do not mention that American services are represented through the Sweedish consulate there.
My brother and his wife visited the DPRK with the company based in Beijing, and they had a very interesting time without getting into trouble. There are rules to follow, which the company insists that everyone takes seriously. Failure to do so can endanger not only yourself, but also the official DPRK guides. You also have to accept that you’ll be under surveillance 24/7, and that your hotel room is probably bugged.
Are you allowed to jack off and cum on your hotel sheets?
As someone who has actually been to North Korea I can assure you that your safety is of utmost concern to their regime and your guides.
I traveled to all but one of the provinces and while you are rarely permitted to interact with locals, you certainly see daily life outside the window. At one point we were forced to take a detour and even the guides had to ask directions - this lasted...
As someone who has actually been to North Korea I can assure you that your safety is of utmost concern to their regime and your guides.
I traveled to all but one of the provinces and while you are rarely permitted to interact with locals, you certainly see daily life outside the window. At one point we were forced to take a detour and even the guides had to ask directions - this lasted a couple of hours.
In the north at dinner our tour bus was broken into and I had a small backpack stolen. Within a day it was located and the North Korean govt even reimbursed the cash that had been stolen (nothing else was missing).
You are infinitely safer traveling in North Korea than the inner cities of nearly every US city.
If you do not want to support a regime that favors war and terrorism, I suggest you stop traveling in the US. Its support of coups around the world do not demonstrate a respect for democracy.
Let Otto Frederick Warmbier family know how safe NK is. He was killed by the regime for foolishly taking a poster to impress a girl at home. There is no reason a Westerner to be in NK (or Russia).
Safer like Otto Warmbier? Seems more like you just wanted to bash the US.
Sure, an enslaved nation that supports terrorism, brutaizes its people and threatens to nuke us and Japan, seems like a good idea to spend tourist dollars there. Are you serious? Aside from the fact that one wrong move and you end up in prison for life (if you're lucky).
US is a nation enslaved by corporations that supports genocide yet people come here ....
For those interested in North Korea, take the JSA DMZ tour from the south. It is one of the coolest things I've ever done. You're right there, just like you see on TV, and get to enter the building with the line painted down the middle, technically standing in the north. But beware. There are other tour companies that do not take you to the border and the blue buildings.
AFAIK, the option to go into that building has been closed for years. We went to the DMZ in 2019, and the closest we could get is the tunnel that takes you to a metal door (behind which there is more tunnel and more metal doors between the North/South.)
I confirm, no blue houses anymore. All thanks to that US idiot that had the brilliant idea to run over the line whilst on a tour of said blue houses.
"I’d absolutely love to visit the country in its current form" and one paragraph lower
"Now, I wouldn’t even consider visiting North Korea in its current form, even if I had the opportunity."
Which one is valid?
There is no contradiction. There is a woman in my office whom I would absolutely love to kiss. At the same time I wouldn't even consider kissing her, even if I had the opportunity, because she is married.
Turkministan is another country very similar to North Korea. Ruled by a dictator, borders closed except to group tours (not sure that even group tours are permitted today) & obtaining a VISA taking a year or longer; government guides accompany you everywhere you are allowed to visit; communication with citizens not permitted. However, Ashgabat is an extremely fascinating & modern capital city that we visited. Every high rise building in the city is lit up...
Turkministan is another country very similar to North Korea. Ruled by a dictator, borders closed except to group tours (not sure that even group tours are permitted today) & obtaining a VISA taking a year or longer; government guides accompany you everywhere you are allowed to visit; communication with citizens not permitted. However, Ashgabat is an extremely fascinating & modern capital city that we visited. Every high rise building in the city is lit up with multi-colored neon lights at night. A once in a lifetime experience that was well worth it although clearing customs at the airport was many hours long.
Turkmenistan is nothing like NK.
You are allowed to roam freely, access the internet, and the locals are loaded not poor.
With an annual GDP per capita of 8k USD, and an average salary of 300 USD / month, i don't think you can call the population "loaded" by any means.
It's the USA that forbids its citizens from visiting DPRK as tourists. I've been to DPRK twice (2011 under Kim Jong Il and 2017 under Kim Jong Un) and hope to be able to visit again. I still remember when Trump announced forbidding Americans from visiting in summer 2017 the first thing I did was book a trip to DPRK last week of August and I'm glad I did!
I meant to say Travis KING incident.
This is interesting and news I didn't get from anywhere else; thank you.
I'm curious if there's any news (I haven't seen any) about reopening the JSA at the DMZ. This remains a more realistic goal of mine: to physically but safely step foot in North Korea. This area had been open until the Travis Scott incident. Do you have any intel on this?
Thanks.
I often wonder about the girls in North Korea as I love Korean girls.
I find it perverse to love an ethnicity of girls that is not your own (in your case White).
Ben, I do not believe that you will visit NK if it does not have 5* chain hotel, based on your travel history. I personally hope to visit Iran and Myanmar in a decade. Three M countries are on my wish list include Myanmar, Mauritius and Madagascar. I already visited Mongolia last year. Iran is so rich in history, especially Persian rugs, such as Isfahan and Tabriz, take my breath away. Persian rugs are hand...
Ben, I do not believe that you will visit NK if it does not have 5* chain hotel, based on your travel history. I personally hope to visit Iran and Myanmar in a decade. Three M countries are on my wish list include Myanmar, Mauritius and Madagascar. I already visited Mongolia last year. Iran is so rich in history, especially Persian rugs, such as Isfahan and Tabriz, take my breath away. Persian rugs are hand made by children because their fingers are small to weave/ knit the rugs. You can see them in palaces of the monarch families in GCC states and the rugs are in giant sizes. Off topic a bit, but NK will change government only from the top not bottom up. No male leaders ever gave up power and wealth, whether an authoritarian or elected politician. Shouldn't NK share the same culture with SK, except opposite kind of government? Kim Jong Un will not give up power after witnessing violent deaths of Hussein and Gaddafi.
When you visit foreign countries, you support local livelihood if you stay at local hotels, dine in local restaurants and hire local guides. The government collects your money via entry visa. If you stay in global chain hotels, you support hotels that, at home, deny your privileges as an elite, abuse you when dealing with their employees, and blow you off when problems arise. You bitch about it but eventually align with them shortly thereafter because you adore the illusion of elite status.
Not following your logic here. There is no possibility of staying in a "local" hotel or dining in "local" restaurants in DPRK. Even going back to before Covid, you're required to go with government minders and tour guides and stay in hotels they put you in. I don't see this changing without a regime change. I agree it's no longer safe to go, even with one of those tour groups (run out of China). I...
Not following your logic here. There is no possibility of staying in a "local" hotel or dining in "local" restaurants in DPRK. Even going back to before Covid, you're required to go with government minders and tour guides and stay in hotels they put you in. I don't see this changing without a regime change. I agree it's no longer safe to go, even with one of those tour groups (run out of China). I satisfied my craving by doing the USO Koridoor tour out of Seoul, including the JSA, in 2017, and it was fascinating. The website still lists JSA.
globetrotter: I am not sure you are conveying the meaning you intended. I hope you are not trying to romanticize child labor with respect to Persian rugs. If you meant something else, please say so.
I have solid proof North Korea is not worth visiting: Detla does NOT fly there.
Detla only flies to Detla-worthy countries. @Dim Sum will affirm this fact.
All these delta comments, very annoying
Can you try to stick to the point
Bahahaha
Can a country really remain shut off to the rest of the world without a revolt for decades on end?
Err it's been the case for decades so what's going to change?
North Korea is open to China and Russia, and this is how they live on.
You have a very high chance of being held hostage for the next prisoner swap. The Americans that returned home recently from the prisoner swap with Russia -- many were unforced errors that ended up just costing the major sacrifice to the country and to themselves.
You have only yourself to blame if you ever think it is safe enough to go visit North Korea before there is a real regime change to democracy.
What do you mean with "very high chance"? I'm shure that the chance of not returning from the USA alive as tourist is higher than from the DPRK. So "democracy" is not a garanty for safety.
As long as you do follow the rules you will not be in problems and can enjoy interesting places and beautifull scenery.
I don't want to end up as a bargaining chip.
Are you worth anything?
All i can see to THIS post and all the comments . . . take a look, to see what those WHO HAVE BEEN THERE (pretty recently) have to show!
THEN . . . try to comment here on what you know from any (ANY!) Government regulated media!
Take a look:
https://youtu.be/lGLF1FjpTHE?si=k8CQfey7P0kNjKmW
I guess they need more hostages :)
It is probably the best trip ever in my life, I visited there more than 10 years ago by train. It is a live museum. I hope you will enjoy your visit. But do be careful about the way Americans acts that are quite different than tourists from any other countries. Be mindful about what you say and do act with a bit cautious and anxiety, it is always good to ask before you doing anything.
So, it's like visiting a zoo? I always feel bad about the captive displays. Americans can sometings be bad tourists. Others sometimes, too. I'd like to see a reality game show with different nationality. The US wouldn't be the most favored by a good measure, but She would be at least Ms. Congeniality. The stereotype is accurate, but those outside the US who meet many Americans love us.
Not got the time to research but from memory I believe some countries will not allow visitors who have visited North Korea within a set time period to use visa waiver or esta type entry protocol meaning you need to apply for a proper visa at an embassy or consulate.
Some is actually just one.
@Eskimo your my new research assistant cheers mate! :-)
Thumbs up for being subtle and not naming the one.
To me, it's like visiting Chernobyl. I'd probably find it inreresting, but not much fun. And, it'll take a long time before I'd feel it was safe to go.
Chernobyl was fascinating. Truly.
Hi, just a point of correction: there's absolutely no risk, none at all, associated you with visiting North Korea -- despite what you hear. As long as you follow the laws, there's zero risk. None.
Have you visited there to confirm that?
Ryan is very knowledgeable. I checked with the Great Leader who also confirmed that North Korea is a land of the rule of law, which happens to be identical with Kim’s whims.
And, drink this beverage; it will calm your spirits.
To be honest though even if it becomes safe for tourists why would you want to visit such an obscenely bastion of violation of human rights, it's borderline like visiting Nazi Germany from what's happening there(and I genuinely don't believe this is an exaggeration). No, many citizens aren't responsible, but since practically everything is so controlled by the state it's like supporting the slavery directly in my opinion....
Germany under the Nazis was safer. They were not as much a one man dictatorship. Hitler was initially elected but his reelection was corrupt.
I hope you know how they treated anyone who isn't white straight and from certain religions and ethnic backgrounds before you say it was "safer". I'm actually appalled you said that.
"Germany under the Nazis was safer."
I guess for aryans, and then only those who managed to avoid being drafted and/or having their homes and cities carpet-bombed, sure it was.
Force me to choose between living in North Korea in 1950-1955 versus Germany 1940-1945 and I might pick Germany. (Did you know that the US dropped 635,000 tons of bombs on North Korea during the Korean War versus 160,000 tons on Japan during World War II - so much that the US ran out of targets to bomb...no more bridges left, no more airfields left, no more paved highways left) Force me to choose between...
Force me to choose between living in North Korea in 1950-1955 versus Germany 1940-1945 and I might pick Germany. (Did you know that the US dropped 635,000 tons of bombs on North Korea during the Korean War versus 160,000 tons on Japan during World War II - so much that the US ran out of targets to bomb...no more bridges left, no more airfields left, no more paved highways left) Force me to choose between living in North Korea now versus just before World War II in Germany and I would choose Germany.
You think gay people do better in North Korea? Ha ha no.
Besides, who carpet bombed Germany? Definitely not Hitler. It was the British and Americans.
I wasnt talking just about gays, what about jews, what about black(jew or not), what about disabled, and much more.
we get it you probably would not be prosecuted just for who you are good for you I guess.....
What about Hiroshima?
MKUltra?
Cluster bombs?
There's more than one person in history.
"I’d absolutely love to visit the country in its current form."
"Now, I wouldn’t even consider visiting North Korea in its current form, even if I had the opportunity."
Make up your mind, Ben :-)
It already has remained isolated for decades now, and it's not completely isolated it has Russia and china on it's side. So yes, it can and many countries across history have survived centuries as oppressive dictatorship regimes. all I'm saying is don't get your hopes up.
Not to get into geopolitics, but as much as I would hope for peace and maybe even reunification, it would take a generation for positive change and even that's a stretch. The North acts a buffer between the PRC and the West. And it will take generations at least to rebuild if that were to happen. Could you imagine the cost of rebuilding alone?! And would the North even want to reunify if ever given...
Not to get into geopolitics, but as much as I would hope for peace and maybe even reunification, it would take a generation for positive change and even that's a stretch. The North acts a buffer between the PRC and the West. And it will take generations at least to rebuild if that were to happen. Could you imagine the cost of rebuilding alone?! And would the North even want to reunify if ever given the chance? They're just too different culturally and even the language.
Check out Simon Wilson's YouTube channel. Real cheery guy.
Just remember, the money you'll be spending goes to the regime.
Right, if you like them, you call them administration. If you hate them you call them regime.
Money everywhere eventually ends up with different regimes, even the Western ones.
Regimes are for dictatorships, even the ones the West were allied with especially during the 70s-80s.
What about Catholic Church, a regime too?
It seems more like the other way around to me -- that the PRC is a buffer between the West and North Korea. After all, as tense as relations are between the U.S. and China, we get along a lot better with China than we do with North Korea.
“ Samjiyon, the mountainous city that’s also the birthplace of the late Kim Jong Il.”
It should be noted that this is the “official” birthplace according to North Korean propaganda, chosen because of its proximity to a culturally important mountain. In reality, Kim Jong Il was born somewhere in the far east of the Soviet Union where his father was operating as a communist revolutionary against the Japanese occupation of Korea during WWII.
it is the US which forbids its citizens to travel to North Korea. North Korea has no issues welcoming US citizens, unless like Warmbier, they feel it is absolutely fine to venture alone in a forbidden part of their hotel, rip apart a propaganda poster and try to smuggle it out of the country.
and if you do that, assuming he even did it, they will beat you to a pulp and return you home brain dead.
Despite what you've heard, he likely wasn't beaten at all but probably attempted suicide https://www.gq.com/story/otto-warmbier-north-korea-american-hostage-true-story
Holy crap, I was such a sucker for the US propaganda on that one. Had no clue, thanks for sharing.
The truth about this is that we'll never know the truth. Using the GQ story as the complete truth is optimistic.
I would be very careful about believing anything that comes out of that publication.
assuming he did? There is a video of him tearing down the poster.
For good reason, the US government doesn't want to have to rescue your ass from a gulag just because you accidently folded up an image of Kim Il Sung's face when you tossed your morning newspaper. If North Korea wants to imprison you as geopolitical credit against the USA, there is nothing preventing them from doing so.
I agree. It's the USA that forbids Americans from visiting DPRK.
After their comparative medal haul at the Olympics, I think it's safe to say that the world has "North Korea Fever!"
Watch Breeze try to start flights to Pyongyang
lol, or even Delta with their Premium product.
Southwest's new red-eye !
Every other Tuesday from Toledo.
And then cancel all of them a week later.
Is Breeze offering that flight from New Haven or Bradley?