North Korea / DPRK

citykid5

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Suspect that Belgium is fairly low on many people's holiday wish list. Dont know anyone who's ever mentioned wanting anything in Belgium other than Bruges

Yes I tend to agree , but been checking it out on trip advisor and I'm getting really excited now and really looking forward to it. We're planing on going to Belgium holland Luxembourg and central france. The best thing about planing the trip which begins in sept is there's no need to book any campsites in advance and take it as it comes:beer::beer::beer:

agrinnall

AubreyMac wrote: »

I understand N.Korea has a awful regime and that the vast majority of it's citizens live in extreme poverty, it's probably the poorest country on earth.

However, almost all countries (as well as companies) will have some policy I strongly disagree with and I can't be boycotting them all.

I too worry that I may just say something or speak my mind which I often do anyway. But it still sure sounds like an experience.

Btw, that document is 36 pages long!!

Well if you can't find enough reasons to boycott NK then you'll probably be happy to travel anywhere. Personally I think that a regime that imprisons, tortures and kills its citizens for any or no reason, and deliberately starves large sections of the population, is one that can do without any of my money.

36 pages should give you an indication that there's a lot to find fault with (it wasn't actually the document that I want to link to, which I couldn't find, and is even more harrowing).

Danyúl_II

Yes, been. Spent five days there last year in March. Had a great time as I am fascinated by the country.

You can only go as part of an organised tour, and it costs a pretty penny - approximately 200 pounds a day including flights there and back (from Beijing - you organise your own travel to and from Beijing).

There is a wonderful company called YoungPioneerTours (google them for more info) which is who I went with, and another called Koryo (bit more expensive if I remember correctly).

If you do end up going to Pyongyang, don't expect to see anything remotely real or how you've read on the internet; the whole city is set up to impress foreign tourists and have them think it's a wonderful city in a great country without any problems of famine, starvation, drought, poverty, inability to forge ones own opinions, no freedom of speech, etc.

However, there are many tours where you can get a better 'taste' of the country, for example visiting the north is completely possible, and I am sure you'll get a much more realistic picture of how life is for north koreans there.

All in all, I'd say if you have the chance - GO! To anybody saying people visiting are funding torture camps - LOL. The country has plenty of money (mostly stolen through illegal trade, fake goods (cigarettes, electronics, drugs, alcohol, money, etc) and a few hundred quid from a foreign is so insignificant it's not even worth discussing.

Actually, on the flip side, the more foreign visitors the better in my opinion, as it increases the chance of those poor folk seeing people from real countries, who have real lives and can speak and think for themselves. Maybe if enough people visit, one day there will be some sort of revolution against the leader, but I wouldn't hold my breath ...

HTH!

lauriemac

I'm strangely drawn to wanting to visit North Korea as well, sounds fascinating.