China (not North Korea) has decided to allow Chinese tour groups to visit North Korea. North Korea tour agencies will also be allowed to open offices in the north-eastern city of Shenyang (China).
I am sure there will be no back shooting of Chinese going on either . . .
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“I am sure there will be no back shooting of Chinese going on either . . .”
…that will be reported by either the Nork or Chinese media.
(PS: To quote Dogbert - “First!” Oh wait, I gotta wait to say that on the open thread, my bad.)
Chinese have been free to visit NK for sometime now, so it doesn’t really make sense at all. Also, Chinese travel agencies have been advertising trips to NK, both by train and plane.
What would attract Chinese tourists to North Korea? The place would seem to be somewhat lacking in good food, good hotels, good resorts, good nightlife, good casinos, or any other infrastructure one would normally associate with tourism. The only things I can think of would be the wierdness/novelty factor (which would probably have a very limited appeal) or ideas (misguided probably) of starting some kind of business venture there. Would ethnic Koreans from China be interested for sentimental/cultural reasons?
globalvillageidiot, it is cultural revolution nostalgia.
#3 aside from proximity, the same reason as why I’m going there in later this month.
-Mass Games
-Best possible way to ‘time travel’ back in time
-See the most closed country in the world
-Curiousity
Also Chinese already are allowed to travel there and have done for business, trade and study without a full time tour guide or group package (to SEZ anyway).
There were plenty of Chinse tourists when I went there, particularly at the Mass Games. I remember, because I had to do a dump in a squatter at the stadium and in every booth I ventured into the last (Chinese) fellow had left a litle present in it for me to ponder (and then flush).
Later we went to Kim Il Sung’s Mausoleum and they were notibly absent. The guides later told us that the Mausoleum was off-limits to the Chinese tourists because of their indefatigable habit of spitting on the polished marble floors.
There are also plenty of Chinese tourists at the border city of Dandong; they cruise the NK shoreline throwing foodstuffs onto the bank so they can snap the skinny Sinuiji Norks grabbing the offerings. Kind of like a human safari.
The main reason Chinese choose the DPRK as a destination is cost followed by a desire to go to a foreign country. Gambling has been another draw for some.
Btw they can gamble and enjoy the services of (Chinese) prostitutes in the basement of the Yanggokdo Hotel, which is Pyongyang’s current alcatraz-esq tourist pen. It’s actually quite a surreal experience to go down into the bowels of the hotel, where there’s an egyptian-themed disco, mini-casino, bowling alley and massage parlor.
Baekdu boy, here’s a tip, and remeber this if you can:
If you’re leaving NK by train, at the border there’s an inspection. The guards will go through all your photos and sometimes if they see something they don’t like they’ll make you delete all your pics. Take a couple of memory sticks and bury the one with the juicy photos in your shoe.
2nd tip: at the train station, when they’re done, you’re allowed to go into the adjacent building to use the toilets. Skip the toilets and go upstairs. There’s a bar for railway workers and other ordinary NK folk (whom you’re not allowed to associate with or talk to during the previous part of the tour.) Here you can buy some tap beer and actually chat to people, no guides hovering at your shoulder.
of course, I’m presuming you haven’t already been, which in hindsight is silly. I think i remember you mentioning somnething about the DPRK before. no, yes?
I, too, was puzzled by this “news.” I have seen multiple-day, multiple-destination packages on the internet and have talked to Chinese who visited Pyongyang as tourists. I’m guessing this regulation change is just legalizing what has already been occurring.
Good on China, and the North. It is in there interest (China’s) to have visitors to the ‘buffer state’ A Chinese citizen is in all truth a lot more subversive than any big nose could hope to be.
#6, 8, cheers for the tips.
I’ll be sure to carry an extra memory chip. However won’t get to the train sttion bar. Fly and fly out on this one.
I’ve read about the Yanggokdo Hotel. Not sure where I’ll be staying, but most likely in one of the major three.