And, for the typical tourist, uninviting. Since its founding in 1948 by the late “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has spurned all efforts to engage the world. Stubbornly clinging to its hard-line juche (self-reliance) ideology, the Stalinist state has continued to prop up its million-strong Army even as its economy has ground to a halt. And yet, precisely because of its wanton disregard for development, North Korea remains one of the most unspoiled countries in Asia. “It has some of the cleanest and most beautiful places on earth,” says Nicholas Bonner, whose Koryo Tours takes about 200 Westerners a year to the communist enclave. “Mount Paektu is the highest point on the peninsula and the legendary birthplace of Korean civilization–it’s truly spectacular.”
The Chinese have the easiest time visiting–they don’t need visas–but like everyone else, they must travel on organized tours. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 come each year, to gamble in one of the country’s two casinos (both off-limits to North Koreans), visit the DMZ and take cheap package tours. “Many want to enjoy the beaches, eat fresh seafood or get away to less crowded places,” says Iris Ying, international president of the Emperor Group Hotel and Casino. “Some just want to see what [North Korea] is like after being closed for so many years.”
But by far the largest number of tourists to North Korea are South Koreans. They are permitted to visit only Mount Kumgang, in the southeast, which is cordoned off from the rest of the country. The Hyundai Group operates a resort there that has welcomed more than 500,000 South Korean visitors since it opened five years ago. It has also been the site of recent family reunions between North and South Koreans.
North Korea scores particularly well with those looking for the eccentric, whether it’s bird watching along the DMZ or visiting the world’s tallest hotel–still unfinished at 105 floors. “It’s like a Stalinist theme park,” Tony Wheeler, cofounder of the Lonely Planet guidebook series, says of Pyongyang. “All those huge monuments–you half expect to walk behind them and see everything’s made of cardboard.” Bonner agrees. “It must be one of the most bizarre destinations on earth,” he says.
Of course, as in Burma and other countries frozen in time by international opprobrium, some raise an eyebrow at the idea of dropping vacation dollars on a regime that willfully ignores the starvation of its own people. Others hope that foreign visitors could be the first step toward opening the Hermit Kingdom to the wider world. “It’s having an impact,” says tour guide Bonner. “People smile at us now.”
