Newsletters

Koryo Quarterly – December 2008

Dear All,

This year was notable for being the 60th anniversary of the creation of the DPRK, the anniversary itself falling on September 9th which was marked by a military parade and of course the Arirang Mass Games. Also unique for 2008 was the occurrence of a second concurrent Mass Games 'Prosper the Motherland!' (also called Prosper our Country!) which ran at the same time as Arirang, giving visitors two chances to see the definitive DPRK art form in its highest manifestation; truly an unforgettable experience for anyone who attended.

2008 was also the year in which we continued our innovation in new kinds of tours; we ran a football tour where a foreign side played against a Korean team in a friendly, and the first ever Ice Hockey, Volleyball, and even Cricket (yes, cricket!) tours took place, all of them between visiting westerners and local Koreans. We continued our school trips and cultural exchange programs and assisted in several interesting and worthwhile projects, some of which are outlined further below. We also ran Pyongyang’s first ever pub quiz. It was a very interesting year for us all and we hope to repeat this innovation in 2009 so if you have any ideas for trips to DPRK then we would be more than happy to hear them, there are a great many restrictions on what can be done there but we have many years of experience and a track record of getting things done which is second to none, if it can be done, then we will organise it for you.

So again thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter, we hope it is of interest to you and we hope to get you to Pyongyang and beyond in 2009.

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Tours update

• Mass Games update – On or off ? Despite earlier claims that the Mass Games would not take place again until 2012 (the 100th anniversary of the birth of DPRK President Kim Il Sung), it seems possible that the increasingly famous event Arirang will again be staged in 2009. The most likely dates are from August to October and although at the time of writing there is no confirmation of this we are optimistic that the event will take place as planned. We will of course update our entire mailing list as soon as we have any more information. North Korean Mass Games consist of a 90 minute performance featuring 100,000 participants in a monumental display of synchronized gymnastics, dancing, propaganda, and many other forms of performance; truly a unique and unforgettable experience which could exist only in the DPRK and also the Mass Games season is the only time US citizens are permitted to enter the country as tourists, so keep those dates penciled in and await updates on the Mass Games of 2009, this is an event not to be missed!
• 2009 tours - we have published our tour dates and rates for 2009. Next year we are offering a wider range of tours than ever before at a wider range of prices to suit (almost) all budgets. We have standard tours taking in the highlights of the country, more in-depth classic tours accompanied by Koryo Tours’ expert staff, and exclusive tours for the best services the DPRK has to offer. We also continue to offer independent tours for those wishing to go alone or with a group of friends and with these tours too a greater range of hotels and sights are available than have been offered before. We will add more tours to the list as and when we are able to include the Mass Games (when dates are finalised), tours for US citizens, and tours around any other events that are unfixed as yet so do check back for updates. We also have a charity golf tour this year in June that is a must for anyone wishing to play every hole in the entire country while contributing to a good cause, contact Hannah for more details on this tour. We hope you can make it to DPRK with us in 2009 and look forward to seeing you there!

Hannah's 2008 Turkmenistan tour review Our group of intrepid travellers, which was mostly made up of DPRK veterans, met up in Ashgabat having come from different destinations, and our week of the weird and wonderful (and heavy vodka consumption!) started there. I thoroughly recommend the trip to all – details of our 2009 tours below. The highlights of the trip for me included: swimming in the smelliest and darkest location ever (underground sulphur lake) the coldest night of my life camping out by the flaming Darvasa Gas Crater (pic right) – and warming up by the world’s largest gas fire the following morning discovering Barf detergent – available in powder form and bars seeing the biggest dog in Ashgabat – and its puppy (which was also the size of a small horse) – actually what was more memorable was the excitement and anticipation that this visit created! a vodka-fuelled engagement bash followed by karaoke (it’s everywhere!) watching the camels being winched onto trucks at the bazaar

• Turkmenistan tours in 2009 Entering our 4th year of offering trips to Turkmenistan we once again have two tours on the schedule for 2009, one in May and one in November (nice weather at those times, avoiding the worst of the sweltering summer heat while dodging the winter temperature drop). Our tour list is online with full itineraries and we are taking bookings now. Generally our groups to Turkmenistan are very small and as we don’t advertise anywhere else everyone has a common interest in DPRK and other exotic destinations. We visit the capital city Ashgabat, the Darvaza flaming gas crater, the Caspian Sea resort of Turkmenbashi, ancient sites such as Merv, Konye Urgench, and Nisa, an underground sulphur lake, some museums and monuments (rotating gold statue being among the best!) the world’s largest market and much much more besides, travelling around by plane, train, boat, bus, and even horse if you dare. This is the trip for you if you want something completely different and to see it in the company of like-minded folk. Email for more information and spread the word!
• November Tour Review This year’s Winter Tour to DPRK was well-subscribed with 32 people joining the group. Due to the size this tour was run as 2 separate trips and so it was that both groups set off into the unknown on 15th November this year aboard Air Koryo’s trusty Ilyushin-62. We spent 5 days in the country in which time we managed to see all the highlights of Pyongyang (including the President Kim Il Sung Mausoleum which was supposed to be closed, but we managed to get in anyway), as well as a trip down to the DMZ and to Kaesong city and an overnight stay at Mount Myohyang where we took in the International Friendship Exhibition and had a brief hike in the stunning mountain surroundings. Koryo tours staff on this tour went to look at a mineral water factory so see if it had potential for future tours and some of the evening highlights included visiting the Golden Lane bowling centre in the heart of Pyongyang to throw a few balls with the locals, as well as a final night Karaoke party in the world’s most unusually and bizarrely decorated room (location: a secret, you have to come to Korea to find out where it is!). This was the last group tour run by Koryo Tours in 2008, trips resume again in February next year and we very much look forward to going back, especially to see what changes have happened in the meantime; more Ryugyong hotel construction and even a mobile phone network may be up and running by then (see below for more details). The train ride back to Beijing was relaxing and necessary after a fully-scheduled tour and the TVs in every room of the brand new Chinese train were an added bonus. With any luck we’ll see you in Pyongyang in ’09!

Koryo Tours News

Pyongyang Art Studio Sale! The latest incarnation of the Pyongyang Art Studio has just opened at our offices in Beijing. Here we will be exhibiting various types of North Korean art with exhibitions rotating every 3 months. We have exhibits on propaganda, film art, comic book art, and more already planned so if you are in Beijing please come on by. We have a vastly expanded retail section with a great many artworks on offer with prices to suit all budgets and all different styles of paintings available as well as Korean books from Pyongyang, bags, mugs, documentary films, DPRK magazines and newspapers, postcards, T-shirts, scarves, and oh so much more. We have an ongoing sale until December 20th where certain framed pictures are selling for as little as 50RMB and we have a clearance on certain DPRK books, all proceeds from discounted items go towards a children’s charity we are supporting in North Korea. The Art Studio is open Mon – Fri 10AM – 6PM and on Saturdays 11AM – 3PM but can open at other times on request. This is the perfect place to get Christmas presents for hard-to-buy-for people, they may have everything but we bet they don’t have a laptop bag made in Pyongyang, or a collection of Pyongyang Times newspapers. Please come along and have a look at what we have, window-shoppers welcome and while the sale is on every visitor gets a free set of postcards map

DPRKanada? – We are pleased to be able to announce that the first Koryo Tours franchise operation has opened in Canada (site still under construction at the time of writing). Koryo Canada is run out of Winnipeg and operates with the full authority of Koryo Tours. Events are planned in Canada such as film screenings, lectures, etc so if you’re in the great white north drop an email to Christopher on koryocanada@gmail.com to get on his mailing list and to wish him luck in the new venture

• Monthly DPRK film screenings Starting in February 2009 we will be running monthly screenings of North Korean feature films in our office in Beijing. Films we plan to show include Our Fragrance (about a Korean tour guide overly-influenced by western tourists and her path to resentment), Pulgasari (the cult classic DPRK monster movie), Order-027 (about an elite unit of soldiers infiltrating South Korea during wartime), and many more. A dedicated mailing list will be set up for those interested in coming to these events and learning more about DPRK cinema and each month a film will be shown and then discussed. Please write to info@koryogroup.com to be added to the mailing list for these screenings, and look forward to popcorn and some of the most-interesting but least-seen films around.
• Koryo Tours YouTube channel We have recently established the Koryo Tours YouTube channel - it is still under design at present but we intend to put as much content as possible on the page; trailers for our films, tour videos, and all manner of DPRK related clips and films. If you have a YouTube account please subscribe. Also if you haven’t already, don’t forget to join the Koryo Tours Facebook group
• Reviews of recent film screenings Over the past couple of weeks a pair of Korean film events have taken place in Beijing, firstly on November 30th an event was staged in co-operation with Cherry Lane movies at Yugong Yishan bar in Beijing where we screened our documentary The Game of Their Lives, along with the recent DPRK feature film The Schoolgirl’s Diary, and a brief DPRK documentary on the capture of the US espionage ship Pueblo. Around 200 people were in attendance for this event which featured a Q&A from Koryo Tours’ Simon Cockerell after every film.
  On 11th December at Bar Blu in Beijing, Koryo Tours organised a screening of the cult North Korean monster movie Pulgasari as well as another DPRK documentary. Pulgasari is fascinating film described as DPRK’s Godzilla and more can be read about it here. Thanks to all who came along. We hope to have many more in the future.

Nick’s tour of the USA Nick Bonner traveled to the US for a three week lecture tour of ten US Universities from east coast Berkeley to west coast Harvard, screening the documentary films he produced and talking on Korean art. The trip was organized by the Korea Society whose New York office and gallery are showing a collection of our woodblocks. This is the first time DPRK art has been exhibited in the US and will continue touring around the US in 2009. More info Talks in SK in Jan 2009 In the second half of January 2009 Simon Cockerell will be in Seoul, South Korea on a brief film and lecture tour including the International Club, Professional Women’s Association, and the Royal Asiatic Society. Exact schedule is not yet fixed but we will update all on our mailing list who live in South Korea as soon as it is finalised, we hope you can make it along to one of the talks, tell your friends too! Koryo Tours merchandise and some artworks will be available at the events also.

• Humanitarian Appeal In 2009 Koryo Tours is launching another charitable appeal, this time to assist in funding various projects run by the Korea Education Fund, DPRK’s only indigenous NGO. Full details of the projects we intend to raise money for will be available on our website soon as well as ways in which you can donate money to the projects but we intend to focus on improving facilities at institutions for children on the east coast of DPRK, including residential homes for children with disabilities and educational facilities. Our intention is to raise funding for essential items that many places lack such as soap, adequate clothing for inclement weather, kitchen equipment for safe and hygienic preparation of food etc. In many parts of the country great hardship still exists despite the best efforts of those inside the country as well as foreign donors and NGOs so there is an ongoing need for donations and support. If you would like to donate then please get in touch or wait for the relevant page on our website to go online and you can see what is needed and where it will go. Korea Educational Fund works in partnership with foreign organisations such as the Korea Maranatha Foundation of Australia and is an accountable body. All funds donated to any such project are used in full to fund the specified projects, being based in DPRK makes overheads for the organisation very low so direct donations such as these go a long way. If you are interested please give generously to those in need.

Art In All of Us in the DPRK In November we arranged a school visit to Rungwa Primary School in Eastern Pyongyang for Anthony Asael from ART IN ALL OF US. This is a non-profit organisation which, through the mediums of art, photography and poetry, aim to promote peace and foster awareness and tolerance of other cultures between children from all over the world. With the children in Pyongyang Anthony had them taking photos of each other, drawing pictures of their country and writing poems about the DPRK. To find out more about the project please watch their promotional video.

• A Postcard From Pyongyang In order to help promote our tours we are offering a postcard service. If you send us the name and address of a friend/relative who you would like to receive a postcard from Pyongyang we can arrange for this to be done. If you are interested in this offer please contact us for more details. Postcards are limited to one per applicant.
• Happy 10th Birthday KBC Koryo Tours would like to wish our friends at Korea Business Consultants (KBC) congratulations on reaching the 10th anniversary of the establishment of their company. Since 1998 KBC have been acting as a bridge to bring outside investment into the DPRK, as well publishing an essential monthly newsletter and being involved in a variety of fascinating business projects in North Korea. Well done to everyone at KBC and we wish you many more years of success.

DPRK News

• Rumours - Since September North Korea has appeared frequently in international news mainly due to ongoing speculation over the health of DPRK leader Kim Jong Il. Cutting through most of the slightly madder speculation (not quite as unlikely as the recent claim that he in fact died in 2003) the claim, originally from South Korean intelligence sources, is that in late August Kim suffered a minor stroke, he is expected to recover fully but was not fit enough to attend the Sept 9th parade marking the state’s 60th anniversary, a report can be found here. DPRK news in institutions fully deny that the Leader has any health problems at all and released photographs of Kim Jong Il out and about. There followed speculation that the pictures had been tampered with but this remains inconclusive with Scientific American magazine publishing an article refuting this claim. So as ever with DPRK the only certain thing is that there is uncertainty; nobody at Koryo Tours has access to any information regarding DPRK’s leaders other than that which is published, and the average DPRK citizen has only domestic news reports to go on, so speculation continues, keep an eye on news sources such as www.nkeconwatch.com for updates on what is being claimed and counter-claimed.
• Border disorder? - In addition to rumours such as the above there has also been a recent flurry of news over the closure in part or in full of the border between DPRK and China, as well as that between DPRK and South Korea. Much of the news is murky and confusing but facts that appear to be established now include that the Kaesong day trips run by Hyundai Asan from South Korea into the North are currently suspended which means that no tourists can enter from the South for the time being (the Mount Kumgang resort is still closed at the time of writing also) and there are also reports that movement in and out of the Kaesong industrial park are being limited as well as the cancellation of a daily train between North and South Korea (which ran empty almost all of the time, so this is less of a shock). It remains to be seen whether this will be a temporary closure just for winter or a longer-term scaling back of what was a very lucrative project for the North.
  Also much speculated upon has been the alleged restrictions applying to the DPRK – Chinese border, this is an easier one for us to clear up; every year sometime in mid-November DPRK restricts entry to Chinese tour groups entering the country by train, this is an annual event and despite this there are always reports that the border is closed and something unusual is afoot. No reason is given for this restriction but it means that the number of Chinese tourists dwindles dramatically, as for them, air travel is the only way to reach the DPRK until the land border re-opens in February of the next year. For non-Chinese tourists the border remains open and group and individual tours continue until December 15th when the country is closed to all tourists for a month. Again this is an annual event and although no reason is given for this policy is is predictable and anticipated. It is possible to enter the DPRK as a tourist up until December the 15th 2008 and then again from January the 15th 2009 (be the first western visitor of the year, book now!), this has been the case for many years now and it is therefore no surprise at all that this policy is continued, We hope this clears up at least some of the speculation regarding policy towards tourists on the China – DPRK border.
• And now over to our sports desk – 16th November saw the final of the FIFA under 17s Women’s world cup played in New Zealand between the USA and DPRK teams. After a shocking start conceding an utterly unnecessary goal in the first few minutes the Koreans fought back over the following 90 minutes and 2 periods of extra time to take the match 2-1 with a pair of very well taken goals including a real captain’s goal to clinch the title. Read the FIFA report. This made DPRK reigning world cup holders in Women’s football at both under 17 and under 20 levels, however their under 20 crown was snatched by the American team on 7th December in a 2-1 thriller in Chile. Congratulations to all teams involved and lets hope that DPRK and the US can have many more top level football matches, both countries have excellent women’s football at all levels and look set to contest many more trophies in the near future.

Ryugyong Hotel construction continues apace – Well known to lovers of unusual architecture as well as DPRK watchers in general the 105 floor pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel in central Pyongyang is one of the most recognizable buildings in the North Korean capital. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, work resumed in May 2008 after a 16 year hiatus as a contract was signed with Egyptian company Orascom to make the building functional, if anyone knows how to build a pyramid it’s the Egyptians and although it looked at one stage as if total construction time would rival those at Giza, the Ryugyong has recently been undergoing a growth spurt with glass cladding spreading across two sides of the structure, and even the rare sight of electric lights inside being seen in the evenings as work goes on. Planned opening date for the hotel is April 15th 2012; the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung, massive events will obviously be taking place at this time so book a tour now! Of course Koryo tours will have a full range of trips on offer at that time. “I can’t hear you!, I’m on the subway!” - As the Wikipedia page linked above mentions, the Orascom deal includes their contract to provide a civilian mobile phone network in Pyongyang, the current network is only used by foreigners and some high-ranking Koreans. There is a rumour that the network may in act go online by mid-December this year. Handsets will then go on sale to the general public and slowly the still and silent air of Pyongyang will fill with the sounds of people yelling “yobosaiyo!” down handsets after a blast of the latest Cantonese pop music alerts them to a call…..or this may be a few years off yet, handsets are expected to be expensive at first and out of reach of most people until prices come down, no information is available as to the compatibility of the new network with international networks; whether calls can be made into or out of the DPRK, whether tourists can finally take in their phones, what the costs will really be, etc but watch this space for more news.

And finally

Bespoke Beijing For independent-minded travelers coming to Beijing to join a DPRK tour (or even just coming to Beijing) there is a new company run by friends of ours which offers a new concept in suggested (as opposed to arranged) travel – long-term Beijing residents have put together unbeatable packages to help out visitors who want to know the best places to go, eat, sleep, and visit but don’t need to be guided around. Go check out their website for what they have to offer, we unreservedly and enthusiastically recommend their services for anyone coming to China’s capital for any reason.

• Google Earth – The latest and expanded edition of the labeled North Korea map on Google Earth compiled by our good friend Curtis over at www.nkeconwatch.com is now online, many updates have been made and it is better than ever. Explore the country from the air before you take the tour. Download as a patch (you need Google Earth already, it is a free download so easy to get).
  

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS NEWSLETTER – PLEASE PASS ON THE LINK TO ANYONE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED AND OF COURSE WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS!

Nick, Hannah, Simon and Emily at Koryo Tours