Tour Updates and Travelogues

TRAVELOGUES:

Tony Wheeler (founder of The Lonely Planet books)-we took him into Korea and assisted with the writing of the guide. If you want to hear from our tourists of their impressions have a look at these sites: a tourists who came on our football friendship tour also some very striking images from a French tourist Ambroise in May 2004 . A great insight into travel in North Korea from Arne a German tourist who travelled back in 2000 but still very relevant.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

We have various articles writtend about our work in North Korea- mainly in print form but here are a few on line: CNN interview on tourism with Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours also the following recent article:

PYONGYANG, April 7, 2005 (Agence French Press AFP) -Englishman Martin Boyle is not a defector, an aid worker, a diplomat or an undercover journalist. Just what is he doing, then, in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated and maligned nations?

Over a game of pool in one of Pyongyang's few luxury hotels, the 42-year-old university lecturer from London recounts his meetings with North Korean soldiers on the demilitarized zone that divides the communist north from the capitalist south.
With excitement and enthusiasm, he explains his week in North Korea has also taken him to an urban school where he has helped teach students and to rural areas of the country that very few Westerners have ever visited. Boyle is one of a tiny number of Western tourists who venture to North Korea each year and, although his travels may make the likes of US President George W. Bush incredulous, he has thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

"I don't know whether it's the best place I have been to but it's certainly got to be the most memorable. I'd certainly like to come back," Boyle tells an AFP correspondent who is in North Korea to report on the nation's recent World Cup football qualifying matches.Fewer than 2,000 Western tourists visit North Korea annually, according to Beijing-based Nick Bonner, the director of Koryo Tours who has been taking foreigners into the land of the mostly unknown for the past 11 years.
The numbers have crept up only slightly since North Korea began allowing Western tourists in during the late 1980s...(click the ling to read the full article)

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2005 and TOUR REPORTS

APRIL TOUR written by ex tourist.

Just returned from an amazing week in the DPRK and am already boring people senseless as we're finding hard to talk about anything else. Backing up what I read elsewhere, it's difficult to appreciate the otherworldliness of the DPRK until you've seen it for yourself, right from embarking on the '60s style kitsch-decorated Russian jet of Air Koryo at Beijing airport, with splendid in-flight service (although I think we were all glad when it landed...), to leaving, slightly wistfully, by train across the Amnok river back into noisy, bustling China.

Of course we didn't really get to see how the average DPRK person really lives, but did get a feeling that just seeing us there helps them engage with the world just a little. Our guides were excellent, both Mr Pak and Mrs Lee spoke superb English and once they'd got to know us, relaxed and were warm, interesting and surprisingly open. Mrs Lee also has an excellent singing voice! As well as the guides, everyone we met, in restaurants, hotels etc was helpful and courteous.

Everything was an experience, be it the Stalinist grandeur of Pyongyang, the surprisingly smiley military at the DMZ, trying dog soup, playing volleyball with the locals in Wonsan, to the Egyptian nightclub and casino in the hotel.

Now I can't wait to go back, hopefully for a Mass Games, and can't praise Simon and Koryo Tours enough for organizing everything so well. The itinerary was varied and interesting, and obtaining the visa almost felt easy...

George Clayton

LI PO CHUN UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF HONG KONG March 2005

'...UWC provides small but poweful cells of innovation...opening up broader vistas of experience for both pupils and educationalists' Nelson Mandela

Dear Simon and Nick

Thank you so much for all your work in arranging for our school group to visit North Korea, the first group of foreign students ever to visit DPRK. May I take this opportunity to than you for the for the wonderful job you both did in preparing our students for their experience, both through this information and the insight you provided, and through the impeccable attention to detail in your organisation. The students have had quiet a life-changing experience, and we remain indebted to you for all your efforts on our behalf. Needless to say, we are hoping to take another group of students to North Korea at the same time next year, and I look forward to working with you both once again towards that purpose.

"I remember a very sad moment at the border between North and South Korea, our school which comprises of students from all over the work is a symbol of unity, whereas the border separating North and South Korea is a sigh of failure, of disunuity, (student Yahya, Tanzania). (Dr) Stephen Codrington's website who arranged the trip Images form students on the trip

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2004

Where to start.....the broadcast of our film A State of Mind and the record of 350 tourists - the most a travel company has ever taken to North Korea in a year. We also recorded our radio show for BBC4 on a trip into Korea, updated the Lonely Planet Guide and all in all a very exhuasting but spectacular year.

We have just completed our football friendship tour which was a great success- an ex pat Hong Kong term and a Dutch team based in Beijing playing two DPRK teams. The highlight of the day was the picnic where all nations sat down and shared a meal and then a big mixed match, male and female players, Korean Dutch English, Chinese, African some fit and some fat- some stretching whilst others smoking and drinking for their warm up....to be seen to be believed...the sort of event that shows we are all basically the same..and we are wanting to make it a bigger event for 2005.

It has been an amazing year so far with incredible access to the Korean people and the opening up of new sights. We have also managed at last to start localised tourism - ie getting funds paid direct to locals for putting on activities. This includes a cooking demonstration put on by locals for thse who stay ovedrnight at Kaesong, traditional music and a visit to a co-operative farm. We had a superb May Day where we were taken to the local celebrations on Daesong Park and allowed to mix freely with the locals and even invited to join in. This is the second time that such contact has been allowed and it impacts greatly on tourists and locals alike. The travel notes and picures from a couple of our tourists in February can be found here and well worth a look.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2003

In North Korea they do not refer to 2004 but to Juche 93, based on 1912 the year Kim Il Sung was born and inaugurated in 1997. We follow with some anecdotes from our 2003 experiences and we hope to be able to take you there to experience it yourself.

'SAATCHI and SAATCHI' IN PYONGYANG? the first ever advert in DPRK has been erected- that of a joint venture car (ex Fiat) which has been craftily captioned to show 'Korea is one' by the advert suggesting it is a strong car driven by all the Korean nation from Paekdu to Cheju (the north and southern limits of Korea)

BBC and 'A STATE OF MIND' In February we started filming 'A State of Mind' the follow up to our award winning documentary 'The Game of Their Lives' The film follows the training and family life of two young female gymnasts over an 8 month period as they prepare for a Mass Games performance. We had the most amazing access and have made what we believe to be an incredible film which will be broadcast on BBC4 in April and then worldwide. Links to both films can be found on www.verymuchso.tv During filming one of the family's pet dogs had a puppy which was presented to Nick Bonner to take to his niece in UK.

PEACE IN A TIME OF WAR You are cocooned from the outside world in North Korea, for example one of our groups did not hear of the fall of Iraq until their return to Beijing. The nuclear crisis continues, six way talks come and go and North Korea remains a thorn in the side of the USA, Japan and South Korea…but visiting gives you the rare opportunity to hear their side of the story. Whether you believe it or not, at least you have made the effort to find out.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SINGER ON EARTH In November we took in BBC radio presenter Andy Kershaw and made the first ever music program on the country. We discovered Comrade Chae the very beautiful and talented 25 year old waitress who performed Sinatra's 'My Way' (which has found itself into North Korea somehow) amongst other classics such as 'A Big Rabbit of Our Sub Branch', 'I Love An Unmarried Disabled Soldier', and the memorable 'Who Is the Women's Association Chairman?' Download this award winning show on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world/northkorea.shtml
"As Kershaw discovered, there's a beating heart behind the façade of the average soldier or spokesman, and often real musical talent. One of the waitresses he coaxed into song had a vibrato spanning half an octave but other singers were bewitching. Most children in this "uncivilised" land learn an instrument. The Axis of Evil may not be buried yet, but this documentary represented one more nail in its coffin." (Michael Church, The Independent, 06/01/04)

WEBSITE WORLD'S BEST AWARD (for trips to North Korea) revamping the website was one of the tasks we were able to do during the closure of North Korea due to SARS. We used the time to expand our repertoire of tours and places we visit and we now offer an even better product than before. www.koryogroup.com

THE LAST HOLE ON EARTH We added a Golf Tour (golf and communism?) for April.

KORYO TOURS LIFTS THE BAMBOO CURTAIN: NORTH, WEST and EAST! We have been allowed more destinations to visit with tours heading west to Nampo Kuwol mountains and east to Nampo and the Kumgangsan mountains. We are keen to visit new sites such as the Ulim waterfall area (recently discovered by Korean People's Army soldiers while cutting a new road through the mountains), We are also take an internal flight north to Mount Paekdu in August. In February Simon Cockerell visited Rajin Sonbong Economic Zone in the North East of North Korea. This area is in it's own enclave separated from the 'Fatherland' proper and a long weekend tour combines a Hong Kong Casino with Revolutionary Museums…even US citizens may be able to visit, Our tour to Paekdu is in August (limited availablilty), Rajin Sonbong tour (please contact us) and Kumgansan tours we have tours in June and October.

OPENING UP? After eleven years of tours we have at last persuaded the Korea tourism authorities to provide us with some new activities which include the option of visits to the Pyongyang garment factory and even a cookery demonstration for some tours.

FOOTBALL POLITICS we took an amateur Irish team based in Beijing to play a local team and expat residents of Pyongyang (approximately 130 expats in Pyongyang and of these 99% are aid workers or embassy staff). The opposition was supposed to be made up of rather unfit Korean tour guides and the Irish team promised to 'throw' the game…..however, on arrival they all looked a little young and fit compared to the tour guides and drivers we were used to dealing with! They also had the wise words which Kim Il Sung gave the World Cup North Korean team of 1966 'run hard and shoot straight' … with advice like that how can you fail? The Irish broke a few hearts with their singing and did more for cultural relations than many a politician - we even had the British Ambassador playing for the Irish. Coincidence it may be but Ireland established diplomatic links a month later. Check report here. We hope to have two more teams this year, one from Hong Kong and one from the Dutch Embassy in Beijing. If this type of visit appeals to you and your local football/sports team then please e-mail us for more information.

SUN, SEA and SEX may not be the attractions to North Korea but the country is getting more talked about. We were endorsed this year by the newly published Bradt Guide to North Korea to which we contributed information and photographs. Of 2,500 books published two thirds have been sold in the US…yet US citizens cannot visit North Korea! We also have our continuing endorsement by the Lonely Planet, whose founder Tony Wheeler we took on a trip. He remains in contact and 'hooked' as do many of our ex tourists.

FOOD SITUATION The UN humanitarian Coordinator in North Korea reported that whilst the situation is still very serious (malnutrition, lack of medicine etc) the UN and other aid organisations are helping turn the situation around and have established a preventive capacity against another famine. Fundamentally, what is changing is the attitude toward change itself. Instead of stoutly defending a supposedly perfect system that needs no amendment, authorities now allow for the possibility of change and adaptation. Tourism obviously does not alleviate any of these problems but we do direct any donors to aid agencies as well as doing our small part in helping with funding aid projects. Of the aid agencies we know in DPRK they all agree tourism is a positive factor. In October we are arranging a charity hike in the Myohyangsan mountains - contact us for details. Pyongyang has flourishing restaurants for locals and we visit a few of them on the tour. Other meals are seved at the hotel and is of good quality, varied and plentiful. Vegetarians can be catered for.
NO US CITIZENS but CHEWING GUM given for change Unfortunately the nature of travel to North Korea means that there are restrictions as to who is permitted to make the tour and at the time of writing the DPRK are not issuing visas for citizens of the United States, South Korea. Professional journalists of any kind are not permitted to take tours. However, in exceptional cases such as our two documentary films and BBC radio show we have enabled the projects and also produced them. The Koreans abandoned the US$ currency in favour of the euro - but your change may come in Japanese Yen, Chinese rmb or chewing gum.

MASS GAMES The Mass games managed to go ahead despite the disruptive efforts of the August tour group who joined in Mass Dance preparations in a most ungainly and unsynchronised manner, much to the enjoyment of local observers. The April group even joined in the actual Mass Dance performance in Kim Il Sung square. The games managed to be a success in spite of the participation of these unrehearsed foreigners! The next mass games will likely be in September 2005 and IF it goes ahead we will be taking in a tour.

KARAOKE COLONEL ON THE DMZ On the September tour heavy rain had damaged the road from Kaesong to the Concrete Wall observation post, making the road through the DMZ un-passable by bus. Undeterred the group hiked the 2 km through the world's largest minefield to arrive at the top drenched and greeted by visibility of about 20 metres (the Wall itself is about 1.5km across a valley). The local Colonel praised the group's "Revolutionary" zeal and cheered everyone up with several sessions of one-man Karaoke on the bus ride back to Kaesong.

KOREANS CRUSH WESTERNER In April the 'State of Mind' film crew followed one of the families on a trip to a co-operative farm outside of Pyongyang and witnessed a kind of harvest festival featuring tug-of-war, basketball competition, and wrestling matches to determine who were the champions of the co-operative. Koryo Tours' director Nick Bonner's attempts to become the co-operative's wrestling champion ended when he was unceremoniously dumped in the sand by the local champ, an event captured on film by the crew. It remains to be seen whether or not this event will make the final cut of the movie, he did manage to break his opponent's belt first though!

TRAVEL REPORTS

October 2003 - Simon Cockerell Friendship Football Tour This tour, the very first of its kind was made in order for Beijing Celtic, a Beijing-based amateur team made up predominantly or Irishmen but also including Brits, Chinese, Belgian, Swedish and other, to play in a specially arranged event against an amateur team from Pyongyang made up of employees of Korea International Travel Company and others (including a token effort by the staff of Koryo Tours). The event was sponsored by DHL.
The football event lasted all day and featured a full scale match in the morning which the Korean team won 2-0 and then a 6 team 6-a-side tournament in the afternoon with teams made up of a mixture of Koreans, Beijing Celtic players, and members of the expat community living in Pyongyang. This event went very well and culminated in the final going down to a nail-biting penalty shoot out. All in all a very successful event which we hope to repeat next year. The whole long weekend was very lively with the team making the most of their stay in DPRK to have a good time.

The next day we attended an international football match as DPRK played at home against Iran (which whom we had shared a plane from Beijing) in a qualifying match for next year's Asian Football championship in Beijing. The Iranians managed to defeat the DPRK 3-1 despite the rousing support lent to the Koreans by the Beijing Celtic group. Later that evening we met with one of the Korean players to congratulate him on his team's efforts and to present a souvenir Celtics shirt which he is no doubt wearing with pride. There was also time on this trip for a spot of more conventional tourism and in the gaps between football events we managed to squeeze in trips to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace (where the body of Kim Il Sung lies in state), and Panmunjom DMZ area where the soldiers were very interested to hear about the match we had played the day before. All in all we were very pleased with the whole event; despite being defeated in the main football event the Celtics players had a great time and represented their team and their sponsor well on a long weekend that neither of the teams, nor indeed the hotel staff will soon forget. Check out the Media reports and the Beijing Celtic tour testimonies. Michael's report is here.

September 2003 – Simon Cockerell This group was made up of myself and 13 others from diverse locations such as UK, Australia, Poland, Russia, Lithuania, Austria, and Ireland. We spent a week in DPRK.

We travelled in by train which took several hours longer than expected due to a bridge in DPRK having been damaged by recent rain storms. We finally arrived and met our guides (one English speaking and one Russian speaking) and went to our hotel which was quite busy due to the presence of the delegates to the DPRK parliament who were just departing for their home towns and the arriving ‘heroes’ (Korean war veterans and others) who were in the capital for the National day celebrations.

In Pyongyang we visited the Juche tower, the Fatherland Liberation War Museum, The USS Pueblo (where we met one of the sailors who captured the ship), The Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery, and various other monuments and sights. We also hit the shops and risked a ride on a rollercoaster at the Mangyongdae funfair.

Unfortunately the military parade marking DPRK national day was off limits to tourists (although it was filmed by Nick Bonner to form part of our next documentary film project, after the ‘Game of Their Lives’) so that was quite a disappointment for all the group, and all other groups in Pyongyang at that time. We instead saw a military circus. On this tour we ate in a range of restaurants including one on a boat, one in the former headquarters of the Neutral Nation’s Supervisory Committee inside the DMZ, a couple in local districts near to the hotel, and a Duck Barbeque restaurant.

We finished off the tour with a walk in Moran park and joined in some groups of Koreans singing and dancing to celebrate their national holiday and finally managed to extricate ourselves just in time to make it to the airport to fly back to Beijing (via Shenyang) to complete the tour.

August 2003 - Simon Cockerell The first post-SARS tour of DPRK run by Koryo Tours has successfully entered and exited North Korea. We were a group of 10 including Brits, Norwegian, Spanish, French. We stayed in the country for 6 nights, 4 of them in Pyongyang and one in Kaesong at the beautiful folk hotel, and another at the coastal city of Wonsan. Highlights of this tour included meeting large groups of South Koreans and Korean-Americans who were in town specially invited to participate in the liberation day celebrations (this is a holiday North and South of the border), we joined a practice dance for the September mass games, we probably managed to set the practice back a few days with our clumsy dancing but we were welcomed by the participants and enjoyed the experience of attempting to dance in synchronisation with thousands of people.

We visited the Concrete wall running along the DMZ on the South side and experienced first hand some ‘psychological warfare’ as southern speakers blared out messages across the 4km wide DMZ. We swam in the sea at Wonsan, clean water and no garbage at all! We also visited a co-operative farm and the British embassy to have them issue the first ever emergency passport from Pyongyang. This tour entered the DPRK from Beijing by plane and returned by train (a 25 hour journey), we ran into very few problems at all on the trip and everyone on the tour got along well with the guides and had a good time. We are now looking forward to our next tour, missing out on the seaside this time but instead heading to Myohyang Mountain for some hiking and beautiful scenery, and also the chance to see how the mass games that we practiced for will turn out, perhaps they will have incorporated some of our uncoordinated moves, although this seems unlikely! August 2003 News We sent out first post-SARS tour of 10 people who had a great time in Pyongyang, Kaesong and at the beach at Wonsan. New visa regulations have been brought in which complicate even further the application process so when you apply for a tour please be sure to let us know your nationality and location as early as possible.

During the August tour we saw several people using North Korea’s new mobile phone system and also the country’s nationwide intranet system, evidence of some technological advances. Also present in August were a large group of South Korean tourists and a large group of Korean-Americans. All members of re-unification organisations specially invited by the DPRK government.

May 2003 - Nick Bonner Just back from filming with Dan Gordon and VeryMuchSo Productions. We are currently filming an observational piece on a couple of young gymnasts in the lead-up to the indoor mass games for North Korea's national day in September. We have had incredible access to their families, day to day life from dawn to dusk and on locations from home, work, camp and countryside- a great insight into a part of North Korean society never before allowed. April, May, June, July 2003 News During this period travel to North Korea was effectively impossible due to fears that the outbreak of SARS which was ravaging Beijing (the main gateway to DPRK) would spread into North Korea. The border re-opened in July but unfortunately didn’t give us enough time to send a tour in July as we had planned. March 2003 News The 'Team Spirit' military exercises between the USA and South Korea as well as current US international policy have worried North Korea that they face future problems with the US government, however the South Korean government has vowed to resolve all issues peacefully and to continue the 'Sunshine Policy' of ex-president Kim Dae Jung. We have started filming our new documentary in conjunction with VeryMuchSo Productions- following the life of a gymnast in the lead up to the indoor mass games for national day September 9th. This will be an observational documentary and we hope to get an insight into Pyongyang family life.

February 2003 News We have send our first tourists of the year into the DPRK, they reported a fascinating visit, including the celebrations for Kim Jong-il's birthday (mass synchronised swimming, flower exhibit of the flower 'Kimjongilia' (really!), mass dances and other events.

January 2003 News North Korea has moved a step closer to setting up a mobile phone network. DPRK will allow Thailand's Loxley Pacific to setup a GSM network with a capacity of 300,000 from early 2003 which will operate in a 40km radius around Pyongyang, after a pilot programme with 300 users since last April. The Post and Telecommunications Ministry has opened a cellular phone shop in the DPRK International Communications Centre. Mobile phones bought in from outside North Korea will not operate on this network.

December 2002 News This month the Government of North Korea officially banned the use of US Dollars in the DPRK, this is of importance to tourists as before now almost all transactions were made in dollars. DPRK will now use Euros as its official foreign currency. People travelling to North Korea with US Dollars will be able to change them for Euros or Korean Won (although this currency is difficult to use due to the recent re-valuation) in hotels in Pyongyang. A New President was elected in South Korea; Roh Moo-Hyun defeated his more hardline rival Lee Hoi-Chang by a slim margin.

November 2002 News North Korea says has designated Mt. Kumgang (mountains on the east coast joining the 38th parallel) as a "special tourism zone." where foreigners can invest freely. South Korea's Hyundai group has run tours to Mt. Kumgang, or Diamond Mountain, since 1998 but have been a financial drain on Hyundai resources. The Koreas had agreed to open a new overland cross-border route to the mountain resort by the end of this month, but political tension has delayed that plan. Currently, a cruise tour of three nights and four days costs about 700,000 won ($580).
In September, North Korea designated Sinuiju, a city on the border with China, as a special economic zone. Note: Tourists cross into DPRK at this border zone.

Just back from taking the DPRK football heroes of 1966 opn their return to Britain and the sight of their historic victory against Italy. It was a great trip - see www.thegameoftheirlives.com for further information. Not much on the tourism front as exhausted at the moment and DPRK gets cold at this time of year.....preparing for next years tours in Feb.

October 2002 News Koryo Tours and VeryMuchso Productions (who together made the award winning film 'The Game of Their Lives' are proud to take the North Korean Football team of 1966 back to England. Look out for it in the news- we are headlining the Sheffield Film Festival (biggest in Europe) and taking the players back to the scene of their victory against Italy where they will be welcomed on to the pitch in front of the home crowd as the 'home side'. It will be the biggest cultural event between DPRK and Europe....and as Pak Do Ik (who scored the winning goal against Italy) said:

'The English people took us to their hearts and vice versa. I learned that football is not only about the winning. Wherever we go . . . .playing football can improve diplomatic relations and promote peace.'

August/September 2002 News Politically all sorts of things are bubbling away with slight reforms to a market economy meaning the won in now valued at US$1 to 150 won (previously we had foreign exchange certificates at 1 US= 2.2 won) and the potential of a new economic zone at Sinuiji on the border with the Chinese city of Dandong (where we enter or lever DPRK by train).Our plans to take the 1966 North Korean football team who created the greatest shock in World Cup history are going well...and it looks like we have sponsorship with Virgin Airlines to fly them from Shanghai to UK return.

The film 'The Game of Their Lives' was shown 3 times in North Korea and twice in South Korea as well as 3 times on BBC4 in UK. We are very proud of this. We also won the 'special prize' at the Pyongyang Film Festival (open tocompetition from 'non-aligned countries' film makers only but Nick Bonner and Dan Gordon were presented with a special award in front of an audience of 2000 Koreans. . We have just visited a few new tourist areas on the East coast in Wonsan and these will be put in next years itinerary- some really stunning mountain landscape, historical relicts and swimming if not mud spa treatment!. It takes about 4 hours to drive across from Pyongyang.

July 2002 News Firstly Koryo is growing and it looks like we will be taking on Simon (British) to help us increase tours to DPRK- still under 1000 western tourists visit a year!! US citizens still allowed visas to DPRK - first time since 1995 but cannot last for long and that the Arirang Mass Games has been extended. The recent naval clash between North and South was a rather chilling reminder of the tension on the Korean peninsula but on a good not the DPRK Football Association sent a letter of congratulations to it's southern counterparts on their performance in the World Cup. As Pele commented 'Football- the beautiful game'. Talking of which VeryMuchSo and Koryo (we made the film The Game of Their Lives together are trying to get sponsorship to tak the North Korean team of 1966 and a contemporary youth team back 'home' to Middlesbrough in October- a long shot but we will see!