DPRK sports and tourism16

Sports and Tourism
Includes eyewitness accounts from foreigners on the ground in DPRK
2016
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DECEMBER 2016

Pyongyang Beer Festival to return in 2017!
If you love beer then, boy, do we have some exciting news for you. As you know, the Pyongyang Beer Festival made a surprise debut this year. And it was — in a word — awesome. Well, we're happy to announce that, what was one of our absolute highlights of this year, is set to return. That's right, folks: we've had word that next year's edition has now been scheduled, and will take place every evening throughout August 2017, from 7pm until midnight. And so any tourist visiting Pyongyang at that time is welcome to attend, and try one (or all) of the seven beers produced by North Korea's most famous brewery: Taedonggang. Koryo Tours acted as consultants for the first beer festival, which took place in 2016, and we're happy to have been able to help make it such a huge success, and somewhat of an unexpected smash hit! During its run, over 45,000 people visited, of which more than 40,000 were locals. Hundreds of people crowded the festival area each night, and took river cruises on the Taedonggang Cruise Ship. [Beer] [Daily life]
Special Announcement — Pyongyang Marathon 2017
Koryo Tours is the official partner of the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon — aka the Pyongyang Marathon . As such, we are very pleased to be able to announce an exciting update to the race route around Pyongyang city on 9 April 2017. We've been informed by our partners on the marathon's organising committee that the route next year has changed significantly from the previous 10km loop around the city centre. For 2017's race, the race is now a return course — rather than a loop — with the route being run through the city centre. Runners will go past many of the iconic buildings, monuments, and streets of Pyongyang, before heading out into the countryside, just outside the urban centre, before running back again. This new route — which is IAAF certified — gives runners the chance to see more of the capital than in previous years, and also allows more interaction with people along the course, as it takes in more parts of the city than ever before. [Marathon]

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NOVEMBER 2016

Why are Chinese tourists flocking to N. Korea?
A Chinese woman poses in Korean clothing as trucks carrying Chinese-made goods cross into North Korea on the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge at the border town of Dandong. Chinese tourism to North Korea is on the increase. / Courtesy of AFP As a relaxation of travel restrictions draws inquisitive Chinese tourists to North Korea in ever greater numbers, can such visits bring the neighbours closer together? By Maria Siow So near yet so far. That is how one journalist described his photograph of the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, taken from the Chinese border in Dandong, Liaoning province, opposite Sinuiju in North Korea. As a Singaporean correspondent based in Beijing, he was lamenting the fact he could not enter North Korea via Sinuiju ? instead he needed official approval to enter via the capital, Pyongyang. But he might equally have been describing the sentiments of many Chinese towards their neighbour. So close geographically, but so different and far apart. While Chinese are fascinated by life across the Yalu River, many know precious little about their controversial neighbour ? despite the much-touted ties between the two countries, supposedly sealed in blood during the 1950-53 Korean War. This much was evident on two recent trips this writer took to North Korea ? the first a day trip to Sinuiju, and the second to Sinuiju and Dongrim, which has been open to tourists since 2014. Both cities are in Pyongan province. [China]
Kiwi skier offers glimpse into North Korea's luxury Masikryong Ski Resort
CoLab Creative / YouTube Kiwi freeride skier Sam Smoothy goes to North Korea on a ski trip like no other Kiwi freeskier Sam Smoothy is used to going off-piste - but when it comes to strange ski destinations, North Korea is right up there. The Wanaka-based athlete spent 10 days in the isolated nation in February, hitting the slopes at Kim Jong-un's Masikryong Ski Resort. In a video posted on YouTube this week, Smoothy can be seen staying in a luxury lodge, and eating skewers of delicious barbecue lamb. He sings karaoke with resort staff, before heading up the near-empty mountain. {Media] [Trivialisation] [Masikryong]
An Englishman in North Korea ... Beijing-based Briton engages with Hermit Kingdom through tourism and moviemaking
Nicholas Bonner’s Koryo Tours took eight visitors to North Korea in 1993. This year, they expect 2,000 Saturday, 12 November, 2016, 11:04am Laura Zhou To Nicholas Bonner, North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), is not as isolated as most outsiders believe. Bonner, who runs Koryo Tours in Beijing and offers Westerners trips to North Korea, believes that engagement with North Koreans is an important way to connect the country with the rest of the world, through travel, sports, art and films. He spoke to Laura Zhou. ' How did you first get connected to North Korea? I’m a landscape architect and was teaching at Leeds Metropolitan University in England. I paid a visit to my friend who studied Chinese in Beijing in 1993. At that time, many North Koreans were studying Chinese in China too, and we met a North Korean and played football with him. I was the goalkeeper, and after a few football matches we became friends. And he went back to North Korea, and worked for a travel company. [Tourism]

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OCTOBER 2016

N. Korea grabs U-17 Women's World Cup title
North Korea has clinched a victory in a title match for the U-17 Women's World Cup, beating its archrival Japan. The North's U-17 World Cup title for the year is the second since its first-ever championship in 2008. North Korea's women's U-17 team defeated Japan in penalty kicks after playing a scoreless draw in a match held Jordan, Friday (local time). The championship, for players aged 17 and younger, started in 2008 and takes place every other year. (Yonhap)
Pyongyang Marathon - Participation Information & Booking
Pyongyang Marathon Banner HOW TO TAKE PART -- please note that applications for 2017 are NOW OPEN! We are the EXCLUSIVE travel partner for amateurs wanting to join next year's race. Click here to apply. We have five Pyongyang Marathon Tours for 2017. Please see below for the links to these tours. Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to become one of the very few people in the world to have run the Pyongyang Marathon. We'll see you at the start line! [Pyongyang Marathon 2017]
S.Korea, U.S. Seek to Clamp Down on Tours to N.Korea
By Kim Jin-myung October 10, 2016 10:15 South Korea and the U.S. are seeking to strangle North Korea's tourism industry since the hard currency foreigners bring could be used to develop nuclear weapons and missiles. A government official here said, "North Korea's tourism industry is also a source of foreign currency revenues for Kim Jong-un. We're considering applying UN Security Council sanctions or sanctions by individual countries since they are funding North Korea's nuclear and missile programs." Around 100,000 tourists visited North Korea in 2014, 5,000 from the West and the rest Chinese. Yoon In-joo at the Korea Maritime Institute said the North earns anywhere from US$30.7 million to $43.6 million in tourism revenues. Hongxiang Industrial Development Co. in China, which recently became the target of U.S. sanctions for aiding the North's nuclear program, has a travel agency in Liaoning Province recruiting Chinese visitors to the North. According to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency's office in Xiamen, China, North Korea aims to attract 1 million Chinese tourists by 2017 and 2 million by 2020. Leader Kim Jong-un has named nurturing the tourism industry "the most important objective." In April, the South Korean Consulate in Shenyang identified 52 Chinese travel agencies selling tour packages to North Korea and banned them from handling visas for South Korea. But a government source said, "Chinese account for 90 percent of foreign visitors to North Korea and continue to travel. We can't completely block travel to North Korea unless we resort to broader sanctions." . © This is copyrighted material owned by Digital Chosun Inc. No part of it may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. [Tourism] [Sanctions]

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AUGUST 2016

Park Thanks Olympic Athletes
President Park Geun-hye on Thursday gave a luncheon for athletes returning from the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics at her office. Korean athletes came home with 21 medals and finished in the top 10 in the medals table for the fourth consecutive summer games. President Park Geun-hye (center) and Olympic athletes attend a luncheon at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Thursday. President Park Geun-hye (center) and Olympic athletes attend a luncheon at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Thursday. Park also pledged to make history at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018, which she said "will be a great opportunity to showcase Korea's potential and its beautiful culture for the whole world." "On the basis of our experience with hosting several international sporting events, the government will make the upcoming event the best Olympics to date," she added. [Olympics]
Let the Peace Games Begin
As the Olympic games in Rio draw to a close, another set of games will begin: military exercises between the United States and South Korea to prepare for a possible armed conflict with North Korea. By Christine Ahn, August 22, 2016. The contrast between the two games couldn’t be starker. On the one hand, the world’s most technologically advanced militaries and weapons systems are deployed to practice combat. On the other, despite tremendous nationalist pressure to beat the other, athletes from North Korea and South Korea competed with each other peacefully, even gracefully, in the 2016 Olympic games. Among the most touching moments from Rio was when two gymnasts, Lee Eun-Ju from South Korea and Hong Un-Jong from North, posed for a selfie with Eun-Ju holding up a peace sign. The photograph went viral, particularly in South Korea where the 17-year old Eun-Ju became a celebrity diplomat. Her gesture— to walk over to Hong, a fellow Korean but from a nation considered to be an enemy of her own—captured that Olympic spirit where humans are able to triumph over fear and pain to move the world forward. And it wasn’t just a female thing, either. A few days later, Kim Song-Guk, a North Korean athlete, won bronze at the men’s 50-meter pistol shooting competition. Instead of expressing remorse for coming in behind gold winner Jin Jong Oh from South Korea, Song-Guk reflected, “If the two [Koreas] become one, we could have a bigger medal.” Overnight, South Korean social media went wild over Song-Guk’s heartfelt wishes for Korean reunification. In a few hours, the video had 2.2 million views and 160,000 likes, including comments like, “Even though you got a Bronze medal, your words deserve a gold medal.” [Olympics] [Joint US military] [THAAD]
Sensationalist Squad: Olympic Coverage of DPRK Team Misses the Mark
By Andray Abrahamian 22 August 2016 Ah, North Korea at the Olympics. A chance for the world’s media to see the DPRK’s fittest citizens up close and ponder how unusual a country it is. Yet missing from all this hype, is just how normal the role of sports is for North Koreans. Gymnast and gold medalist Ri Se Gwang holds the North Korean flag at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty) (Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty) At each Olympic games, the media unavoidably get a little obsessed and speculate—sometimes wildly—on the North Korean athletes: their thoughts, their motivations, and their potential fate. This is for a few reasons. First and foremost, these are sports writers and generalists, not usually Northeast Asia based or focused correspondents, who can generally better understand the nuances, dead-ends and cultural barriers covering North Korea. The only North Korea stories journalists covering the Olympics write are, well, at the Olympics, once every four years. So when North Korean gymnast Ri Se Gwang didn’t smile much, despite winning a gold medal for men’s vault, the media guessed it was because of how oppressed he feels.[1] When the North Koreans weren’t marching in the opening ceremony with the Samsung phones given to all athletes by the Olympic partners, the media speculated it was “likely in an attempt to control their access to information. Tight control may be part of an effort to prevent defection.”[2] The former sentence is probably true, the latter probably isn’t. The biggest reason was probably that carrying the symbol of your rival and enemy country’s greatest corporate success is a worse public relations look than not carrying them at all. [Media] [Olympics] [Propaganda]
By twisting 'this,' North Korea can rank top in Rio medal standings
North Korea is placed first, according to Total Medals by GDP. / Captured from Medals Per Capita
By Park Jae-hyuk As of Friday, North Korea ranks 37th at the Rio Olympics with two silver medals and two bronze. But it will readily jump to the top if the ranking system is overhauled to add "this" as a critical element: gross domestic product (GDP). Statistics-providing website "Medals Per Capita" actually did it and under its untested system North Korea outperforms the United States, China and other sports powerhouses to be top as of Friday. The system divides a country's GDP by the total number of medals a country wins, regardless of color. The lower the outcome, the higher ranking. According to the website, the North's "GDP per medal" is 5.5 as of Friday ? achieved by dividing its GDP of $22 billion by its four medals. The runner-up is Kyrgyzstan (5.92), followed by Georgia (7.18) and Mongolia (8.56). The U.S. ranks 45th with 431.26 and South Korea 20th with 101.48. Craig Nevill-Manning, who made the website and the system in New Zealand, said neglecting a country's wealth and population in medal standings is unfair. "Larger countries tend to win more medals," he wrote on the website. "The obvious next question is: who leads the world in medals per capita? This site, which is updated daily during the Olympics, provides the answer." [Olympics] [Statistics]
- Medals per capita
  As you scan the Olympic medal tally, one thing stands out: larger countries tend to win more medals. An obvious exception, especially in 2008, is Australia, who won the fifth largest number of medals with a population of 23 million, 52nd largest of Olympic countries. The obvious next question is: who leads the world in medals per capita? This site, which is updated daily during the Olympics, provides the answer. In addition, it calculates the leaders in gold medals per capita, as well as a weighted medal count where gold is worth four points, silver two and bronze one (weighting as suggested by the New York Times.) Finally, it's a little unfair to ignore the relative wealth of countries, so the site counts medals relative to GDP (provided by the World Bank.)
  My bias? I'm originally from New Zealand, which has consistently been in the top half-dozen or so countries for total medals and gold medals per capita, and in 1984 won the most golds per capita. Others have thought about this, of course. Here are some links to other discussions: •BBC4 More or Less •Chuck Culpepper of the Los Angeles Times Craig Nevill-Manning [Olympic] [Statistics]
Top N.Korean Apparatchik Quits Rio in a Huff
Top North Korean apparatchik Choe Ryong-hae abruptly left Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday after the isolated country's Olympic athletes failed to prosper under his withering gaze. Choe arrived at Galeão International Airport at 10:30 p.m. and boarded a plane three hours later. The rooms for Choe and his entourage in a hotel on the outskirts of Rio had been booked until Thursday. North Korean athletes have won only two silver and two bronze medals in the ongoing Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. [Media] [Canard]
Rio 2016: North Korea wins 1st gold in weightlifting
Gold medalist Rim Jong-sim of North Korea wipes tears as she listens to her national anthem during the awards ceremony for the women's 75kg weightlifting competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. / AP Weightlifter Rim Jong-sim claimed North Korea's first gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics Friday. Rim won the women's 75kg class with a total of 274kg -- with 121kg in snatch and 153kg in clean and jerk. Darya Naumava of Belarus was a distant second with 258kg total, followed by Lidia Valentin Perez of Spain with 257kg. In 2012, Rim won the Olympic gold in the 69kg class. She is only the second North Korean athlete, after freestyle wrestler Kim Il, to win two Olympic gold medals. Prior to Rim's victory, North Korea had won two silver and two bronze medals. Rim said she didn't feel any pressure to deliver the country's first gold medal in Rio. [Olympics]
The Olympics are tough for all athletes. For North Koreans, they’re worse.
By Adam Taylor August 10 at 2:34 PM ? Om Yun-Chol of North Korea competes during the men's 56 kg category at the 2016 Olympic Games' weightlifting events in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 7. (Nic Bothman/European Pressphoto Agency) It's hard to fathom the excitement and stress athletes from all over the world feel when competing at the Olympic Games. But imagine if you were in Rio representing one of the most notoriously authoritarian regimes in the world. How would you feel then? Would you be proud to show the wider world that your home country isn't as bad as it's portrayed? Or would your interaction with other nationalities and experience in another country prompt you to reevaluate your home? Might you even try to defect? Bear these considerations in mind when considering the 31 North Korean athletes and their supporting team members in Rio for the 2016 Summer Games. [Media] [Olympics] [Propaganda] [Unique]
In vilifying Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, Americans are splashing murky waters
By Sally Jenkins Columnist August 10 at 6:07 PM RIO DE JANEIRO — Feels good, doesn’t it, to slap water in the face of the rest of the world and go all jingoist? Lilly King kept America strong and pure when she sent a blast of chlorine into the eyes of that Russian criminal mastermind Yulia Efimova and prevented her from melting the earth’s core. Or something like that, right? But there is a disquieting aspect to the narrative going here at the Olympics. It’s not a moment of perfect American moral clarity. King, 19, is a swaggeringly great swimmer, but the rivalry between her and 24-year-old Efimova in the breaststroke is hardly a simple matter of a clean swimmer prevailing over “drug cheating,” as King put it. The facts of Efimova’s case aren’t nearly so clear cut despite the self-righteous Cold War shunning of her. It’s worth looking a little more closely at the human face of Efimova and maybe even standing in her place for a minute. As she suggested tearfully the other night, “You can just try and understand me, like if you switch you and I.” For starters, Efimova doesn’t live in Russia; she lives in Los Angeles, where she has trained with Southern Cal Coach Dave Salo since she was 19. He says via email, “She is a sweet kid and not the monster she is being branded.” She was born in the war-torn Chechen capital of Grozny and raised in the Russian swim-club system in Volgodonsk, but in 2011, her coaches feared she was wearied by the grind of the Russian program, so they asked Salo to take her on. [‘I’m not this sweet little girl’: Lilly King, doping sheriff, won’t back down] Efimova has two offenses for performance-enhancing on her record, and let’s take a closer look at them. One day in 2013 she went to a local GNC in L.A. and bought a nutritional supplement. Her English was poor, and she didn’t check the contents, which included the banned hormone DHEA. Efimova’s offense was deemed unintentional, and the normal two-year suspension was reduced to 16 months. [Russia confrontation] [Olympics] [Canard] [Drugs]
N.Korean Athletes Disappoint at Olympics
Senior North Korean apparatchik Choe Ryong-hae has been having a glum time in sunny Brazil as one top athlete after another from the isolated country has disappointed in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. The North sent 31 athletes to Rio to compete in nine disciplines, and Choe has attended six. As the head of the North's national sports organization, he could be spotted in the stands flanked by three or four equally glum attendants and bodyguards. There have been two silver medals in weightlifting on his brooding watch -- Choe Hyo-sim (no relation) in the women's 63-kg category, and a disappointing second in the men's 56-kg event from Om Yun-chol, the runaway favorite and reigning world champion. North Korea had hoped to grab at least five gold medals in Rio following four in London four years ago. But besides Om, favorite Jo Yong-suk also failed to make it into the finals in the women's 25-m air pistol competition. Weightlifter Kim Myong-hyok was disqualified in the men's 69-kg category after failing to achieve even a single clean and jerk. Something is making North Korean athletes nervous, but only they can say whether it is Choe's oppressive presence. [Media]
N.Korean Weightlifter Crestfallen for 'Only' Winning Silver
North Korean weightlifter Om Yun-chol poses after winning a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil on Sunday. /Yonhap North Korean weightlifter Om Yun-chol poses after winning a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil on Sunday. /Yonhap North Korean weightlifter Om Yun-chol apologized for failing to be a "hero" to his people on Sunday, when he came second in the men's 56-kg category at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Om, the world's top-ranked weightlifter in his class, took silver by lifting 134 kg in snatch and 169 kg in clean and jerk for a total 303 kg. He was a gold medalist in the 2012 London Olympics. But on Sunday gold went to Long Qingquan of China with a world record total of 307 kg. It was North Korea's first stab at a gold medal in Rio. The powerful Workers Party Secretary Choe Ryong-hae was there to cheer Om on but left the stadium in a huff when Long's win was confirmed. "I got nothing to say because my performance says it all," a crestfallen Om told reporters. "The [North Korean] people's support really gave me a lot of energy, but it's a pity that I didn't perform well." He vowed to go for gold again in the next summer Olympics in Japan in 2020. When asked if he is treated as a hero in the North, Om said no because he let his people down. [Media] [Propaganda] [Unique]
Rio Olympics 2016: North and South Korean gymnasts pose for selfie in moment of heartwarming unity
Hong Un-jong and Lee Eun-ju By Telegraph Sport 9 August 2016 • 9:01am With relationships between nations, especially the USA and Russia and Australia-China, at a real low during these Olympics, a moment of unity has been found in the most unlikely place. North and South Korean gymnasts Hong Un-jong and Lee Eun-ju have shown the world that the Olympic spirit can in fact bring people together... in the form of a selfie. [People-to-People] [Inter Korean]
Even Olympic selfies are complicated by Koreas’ rivalry
In this Sunday, Aug 7, 2016 photo, South Korean gymnast Lee Eun-ju, right, and her North Korean counterpart Hong Un Jong pose together for photographers during the artistic gymnastics women’s qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Like dozens of athletes at the Rio Games, some competitors from North and South Korea have posed together for grinning selfies, which have then been posted to social media and documented by some of the hundreds of journalists here. These interactions are not strictly illegal in South Korea, but they are complicated by the Koreas’ long history of animosity and bloodshed. (Kim Do-hoon/Yonhap via AP) KOREA OUT (Associated Press) By Foster Klug| AP August 9 at 5:37 PM RIO DE JANEIRO — Nothing is ever easy for the rival Koreas, even that most ubiquitous and usually innocent of Olympic interactions, the selfie. Like dozens of athletes at the Rio Games, gymnasts Hong Un Jong of North Korea and Lee Eun-ju of South Korea met on the sidelines during competition and training. The 17-year-old Lee, who is at her first Olympics, posed Thursday for a smiling selfie with Hong, a 27-year-old veteran. That friendly encounter and others between the two were captured by journalists — and immediately took on larger significance for two countries still technically at war. [Inter-Korea] [People-to-People] [Media]
N. Korea makes restrained entrance at Rio Games
The North Korean delegation, including 31 athletes, march into Maracana Stadium as the 156th country in the "Parade of Nations" during the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Friday. / Yonhap North Korea made a restrained, orderly entrance at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Friday. The North Korean delegation, with male weightlifter Choe Jon-wi as its flagbearer, marched into Maracana Stadium as the 156th country in the "Parade of Nations" as per the Portuguese alphabet. Choe was followed by Yun Song-bom, the chef de mission, and several other members trailed them, waving their national flag. They weren't carrying mobile phones or camcorders to capture the moment, as most other athletes or officials did. Choe Ryong-hae, the powerful vice chairman of Pyongyang's State Affairs Commission, rose from his seat to greet the delegation. North Korea has 31 athletes competing in nine sports here, including weightlifting and judo. It won four golds at the 2012 London Olympics, three from weightlifting, and finished 20th place overall in the medal standing. (Yonhap) [Olympics]
He Tackled Vanderlei de Lima, Then Fumed During Caldron Lighting
By John Branch Aug. 6, 2016 RIO DE JANEIRO — Alone in his apartment in south London, a 69-year-old man named Neil Horan watched a middle-of-the night broadcast of the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics. Like other viewers, he wondered which Brazilian would get the honor of lighting the Olympic caldron. And when he saw that it would be Vanderlei de Lima, best known for being accosted by a spectator while leading the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens, he was aghast. It was Horan who jumped onto the course near the 22-mile mark and shoved de Lima into the crowd in Athens — “Put him aside like a rugby tackle,” he recalled in a phone conversation on Saturday — and was blamed for de Lima finishing third. “When I actually saw him with my own eyes, I really got angry,” Horan said. “I look at Vanderlei, and I think, ‘You would be nowhere near the star if not for me.’” [Bizarre] [Media] [Olympics] [Religion]

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JULY 2016

Nearly 100 Athletes in Past 2 Summer Olympics Tested Positive for Doping, Officials Say
By Rebecca R. Ruiz July 22, 2016 The I.O.C. said it was in the process of informing the implicated athletes, their national Olympic committees and specific sport federations. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times Many performances at recent Olympic Games continue to be exposed as fraudulent, as the International Olympic Committee announced on Friday that it had identified 45 more athletes who tested positive for banned substances at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2012 London Games. Half of them were medalists. The I.O.C.’s announcement followed a broad re-examination of drug-test results and was the second of its kind since May, when Olympic officials revealed that a first round of re-analysis of Olympic samples found that 53 athletes from at least 12 countries had used banned substances at the last two Summer Games. Results from the second wave of retesting further tainted the results of those competitions, bringing the total number of implicated athletes to 98. The new results affected 30 more athletes from eight countries who competed in four sports in Beijing, and 15 athletes from nine countries who competed in two sports in London, according to the I.O.C. The I.O.C. said it could not immediately identify the implicated athletes for legal reasons and was in the process of informing the individuals — 23 of whom won medals in Beijing — along with their national Olympic committees and relevant sport federations. Olympic officials are under fierce pressure after revelations of a government-run doping program in Russia that went undetected for years, corrupted the results of both the Winter and Summer Games, and has called into question global sports’ antidoping system, as well as sports officials’ willingness to expose drug offenses. [Drugs] [Olympics] [UNUS]

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JUNE 2016

Feature: Is it ethical to travel to North Korea?
North Korea, one of the world's last remaining closed societies and perennial geopolitical troll, is on many world travellers' bucket list. Few places are as unique or just downright weird as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The DPRK's attraction as a tourist destination aside, it ethical to visit a society completely under the control of a dictatorial regime? A regime that imprisons over 200,000 of its own citizens in a Gulag system far worse than anything Stalin could come up with, and so mismanages the country's economy that its people are left scavenging in the dirt to stave off starvation. Can one, as a tourist to North Korea, feel right in giving money, albeit in comparatively minuscule amounts, to the megalomaniacal Kim necrocracy? I couldn't comfortably answer that question, so I reached out to a number of North Korea watchers and experts, who were generous enough to give me their opinions on the matter. [Tourism] [Propaganda] [Prisoners] [Mismanagement] [Context]
Mount Paekdu Half-Marathon Tour 2016
Aug 16 – 20/21 (Tues – Sat/Sun) Flight / Train 4 nights in DPRK plus one on the train 1850 Euros Apply > Mount Paekdu Half Marathon Tour LogoJoin us for the second Koryo Tours Mt Paekdu Half Marathon! You have the option of running the half marathon or 10km race. There is also the option of a walk in the area for those that don’t want to run (please let us know when booking). This tour also takes in the highlights of Pyongyang including the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, captured spy ship USS Pueblo and more!
Air Koryo world's 'worst airline' for five straight years
North Korea's national carrier Air Koryo has been ranked the worst airline in the world. /Yonhap By Lee Jin-a North Korea's flagship airline Air Koryo is the world's "worst airline," according to British rating agency Sky Trax. It was the fifth straight year the airline scored the lowest point of one star. Seven airlines received the highest score of five stars, including Asiana Airlines of South Korea, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines. About 600 airlines were evaluated. Ratings are based on passenger reviews of the airlines' airport facilities, services, safety and food. Sky Trax quoted a Chinese customer as saying Air Koryo's crew members paid no attention to passenger safety. "No one told passengers to power-off their cell phones or to tighten seatbelts," the passenger said. According to Yonhap News Agency, the airline has 10 planes, but only four are available because of safety concerns with the others. [Propaganda] [Bizarre] [Spurious statistics]

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MAY 2016

Ex-Bundesliga Star to Coach N.Korean Footballers
North Korea hired Norwegian-born Jørn Andersen as manager of its national football team, the Scandinavian country's national broadcaster NRK reported on Thursday. Andersen played for several prestigious clubs in Germany's Bundesliga in the 1980s and '90s. In the 2000s, he managed various professional teams in Austria and Germany. Andersen is not the first foreign manager to lead the North Korean team. In 1991, Pál Csernai of Hungary took the position.
Pyongyang Marathon
HOW TO TAKE PART -- please note that applications for 2017 are NOW OPEN! We are now taking Early Bird bookings for April 2017. Click here to apply. We have five Pyongyang Marathon Tours for 2017. Please see below for the links to these tours. Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to become one of the very few people in the world to have run the Pyongyang
N.Korea Desperate to Lure Chinese Tourists
North Korea is desperately attempting to attract tourists from China by slashing the price of package tours to Pyongyang in half. Travel agents in Dandong, China who specialize in tours to the North said officials in Pyongyang offered last month to offer major discounts on accommodation and transport. The price of a four-day trip to Pyongyang fell from 7,000 yuan (around W1.23 million) to 3,000 yuan (around W530,000). But one travel agent in China's Jilin Province said nobody is biting. "After the new sanctions the number of Chinese people seeking to visit the North dropped to 1/10 of last year's. The only package tours that generate some interest are casino tours to the Rajin-Sonbong free economic zone." [China]
China targets tourist misbehaviour
Xinhua, May 1, 2016 Tourists visit the Zhanqiao Pier in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, April 30, 2016. On the first day of the Labor Day Holiday, many tourists flocked to Qingdao. (Xinhua/Yin Mo) Tourists visit the Zhanqiao Pier in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, April 30, 2016. On the first day of the Labor Day Holiday, many tourists flocked to Qingdao. (Xinhua/Yin Mo) Chinese tourist agencies and local authorities are hoping that lectures given to tourists ahead of the May Day holiday can avoid the unruly behavior for which the country's travelers and sightseers have become notorious. In recent years, Chinese tourists' misdeeds ranging from brawling on flights to defacing landmarks at home and abroad have made headlines, sparking angry discussion over the disparity between their bulging wallets and their behavior. In Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, Wanda Xinhangxian International Travel Agency gave clients who paid for a group trip to Thailand during the holiday a lesson in etiquette. "Don't rush to take your luggage before the airplane stops. Don't waste food on the buffet table. Don't be noisy at scenic spots. Don't point at Buddhist sculptures...," read promotional material. [China]

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APRIL 2016

Foreigners continue to visit N. Korea despite sanctions
Despite the United Nations slapping punitive sanctions on North Korea about a month ago, foreigners are still heading to the Asian country, a radio report said Wednesday. The report by the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted Paul Tjia, the head of the Netherlands firm GPI Consultancy, as saying that a group of Dutch businessmen plan to visit North Korea from May 23-28 to discuss joint ventures in various sectors like agriculture, garments, comic books and tourism. They will seek joint projects with the North in the sectors that are not subject to the recent U.N. sanctions, he was quoted as saying. He said a group of journalists also plan to visit North Korea in August. Dylan Harris, head of the British tour agency Lupine Travel, was also quoted as telling the RFA that the company's North Korea tour programs will go on as planned even before or after the North's national holiday marking the birthday of the country's founding father Kim Il-sung on April 15. He said an amateur golf competition will talk place in North Korea in the fall as scheduled. Another British tour agency, Political Tours, and Chinese travel agency Koryo are also planning to continue their North Korea tour programs this year despite the recent U.N. moves, according to the report. (Yonhap)
Pyongyang Marathon 2016 (Koryo Tours Short Video)
Published on Apr 12, 2016 The 29th Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon (a.k.a. the Pyongyang Marathon) took place on April 10th 2016 with the highest ever number of foreign amateur runners participating. [Video] [Marathon] [Sports diplomacy]
1,100 foreigners expected in N. Korea's marathon
DPRK 360's Facebook site said Tuesday North Korea is holding an international marathon event this Sunday. By Ko Dong-hwan Some 1,100 foreigners will participate in an international marathon that will be hosted by North Korea this weekend despite rigorous sanctions led by the U.N. on the hostile nation. Singaporean photographer Aram Pan, who specializes in North Korea tour photography, said on his Facebook account named "DPRK 360," Tuesday, that runners from 49 countries will participate in the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon that will take place in Pyongyang on Sunday, according to Yonhap news agency. Seven hundred North Koreans will also take part in the marathon, he added, without specifying the source of the information. If the news were true, the number of foreign participants is nearly double that of last year's competition, which drew 650 foreigners from some 30 nations. North Korea, despite the international community's efforts to impose harsher sanctions on it, has eagerly sought to promote the upcoming international marathon through foreign tour agencies. The marathon was first run in 1981 to commemorate the 69th anniversary of Kim Il-sung's birthday, the late grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un. The state opened the contest to foreigners in 2014. [Sports diplomacy] [Marathon]

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MARCH 2016

Ideological barrier melts down with skating, shooting and body checks
Jordan Ashton, right, a 26-year-old Canadian gym teacher living in South Korea, embraces a member of the North Korean men's national team at the Pyongyang International Friendship Ice Hockey Exhibition (PIFIHE), held in Pyongyang March 7-11. / Courtesy of Paektu Cultural Exchange By Jon Dunbar "Few can say they were lucky enough to travel the DPRK, but how many can say they rocked up with their hockey gear?" said Jordan Ashton, a Canadian expat working in South Korea. He'd just returned from North Korea (DPRK), where he participated in the Pyongyang International Friendship Ice Hockey Exhibition (PIFIHE), a five-day hockey exhibition with the DPRK national men's team, currently ranked 45th in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was organized by Paektu Cultural Exchange (PCE), a non-profit social enterprise, and Howe International Consulting Group, a Canadian-based project management firm. Ashton was among 20 pro and amateur players, along with eight other Canadians, seven Americans and four Europeans. "My children were absolutely shocked when I told them where I was for a week," said Ashton, 26, who works as athletic director and gym teacher at CBIS, a Canadian school in Seoul. "I kept it quiet at school so that it would be a fun thing to discuss when I returned. They all thought it was very cool and I'm glad I could give them a new perspective on the DPRK." He was one of two to attend the tournament from South Korea, joined by Aaron Geddes, 34, a fellow Canadian who's lived in South Korea 12 years. "Most (South) Koreans seemed interested in what was going on and asked me what exactly was happening," said Geddes about his participation. "A few other were confused and asked me if it was dangerous, which was quite funny to me as their reasoning was that they had nuclear weapons. Obviously, they aren't going to bomb themselves and lots of other countries have nuclear weapons." [EWA] [Sports] [Ice Hockey]
Canadian brings hockey to North Korea
Michael Spavor at an ice hockey rink in North Korea in 2005 / Courtesy of Paektu Cultural Exchange Pyongyang to host int'l hockey tournament By Jon Dunbar Hockey players from around the world are going to North Korea's capital for the five-day Pyongyang International Friendship Ice Hockey Exhibition (PIFIHE) from March 7 to 11. The event is made possible by Michael Spavor, a Canadian with much experience engaging North Korea over the past 15 years. He previously organized American basketball player Dennis Rodman's second, third and fourth controversial visits to the secretive state, including a basketball game on Jan. 8, 2014, which fell on leader Kim Jong-un's birthday. Spavor has met Kim numerous times, describing the dictator as "disarmingly friendly." "Before meeting him in person, I was quite nervous," Spavor admitted, "But once the two of us sat down and had a conversation, I felt really comfortable and relaxed. He makes you feel very comfortable." Spavor and Kim discussed cultural and sports exchanges and tourism, investment and trade projects. They talked about hockey and skiing, two popular winter sports from Spavor's homeland that the North is developing. [Winter sports]

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FEBRUARY 2016

ALL MARATHON TOURS NOW CLOSED AND FULLY BOOKED!
Koryo Tours are pleased to announce that we will be taking a record number of more than 600 tourists to North Korea this April for the unparalleled opportunity to participate in the Pyongyang Marathon. [Pyongyang Marathon]

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JANUARY 2016

Chinese Tourists Turn from Korea to Japan
Chinese tourists are beginning to turn their back on Korea and heading for other nearby destinations, especially Japan, where the welcome is warmer. Foreign tourists' complaints about hotels in Korea are rising, according to analysis by the Korea Tourism Organization, and the biggest proportion come from Chinese. Persistent reports of price gouging by cab drivers are also working against the country. Late last year, a Chinese lawyer living in Seoul warned Chinese tourists to make sure they get receipts from taxi drivers and use prepaid transportation cards if possible. A tourist looks at the menu outside a restaurant in Myeong-dong, Seoul on Thursday. A tourist looks at the menu outside a restaurant in Myeong-dong, Seoul on Thursday. As such reports spread, many Chinese are looking for friendlier destinations. Japan was the favorite travel destinations among some 4,300 Chinese tourists polled by Travelzoo, the largest U.S. travel information agency, last year. Korea was not even in the Top 10 for a second year. Last year, the number of Chinese tourists to Japan rose a whopping 90 percent to 4.65 million, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. In a 2014 survey of Chinese tourists by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, Korea ranked a mere 13th among 16 countries. And only 20.2 percent of Chinese tourists came back to Korea after their first trip, suggesting that many are attracted by popular Korean TV shows but disappointed by their trip.
Pyongyang marathon
Koryo Tours
We have five Pyongyang Marathon Tours from which you can choose from. View all tours for Pyongyang Marathon. Once you have chosen the best tour for you then you can apply by filling in our online application form or by downloading our application form here. Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to become one of the very few people in the world to have run the Pyongyang Marathon. We'll see you at the start line!
N.Korea Opens New Passport-Free Tourism Zone for Chinese
North Korea has opened a riverside passport-free, visa-free zone where Chinese tourists can shop duty-free has opened on the shore of the Apnok River in Sinuiju, China News Service reported Wednesday. Visitors can stay for a day and also enjoy North Korean food and various performances, but they will have no access to the rest of the country. The tourism zone sits at the point where a recently completed bridge crossing the Apnok River starts. "It was developed jointly by North Korean authorities and a travel agency in Dandong," the news agency said. It measures 130,000 sq.m and has cost 50 million yuan since construction began in April. It contains restaurants, duty-free shops, a theater and a cruise boat terminal. It can accommodate up to 10,000 tourists at a time and a full tour can take up to five hours. The passport-free rule is a huge departure for North Korea, which normally confiscates the passports of Chinese day visitors until they leave. Instead they can get a travel pass by simply presenting their ID card. It is in theory issued the same day. "The zone is an island-like area that has been built after part of the Apnok River shore on the side of Sinuiju was reclaimed," a source in Dandong said. "It's impossible for Chinese tourists to enter the North Korean mainland from there because soldiers block the road to Sinuiju." The cash-strapped North has frantically been thinking up ways of earning hard currency from various shopping and tourism schemes, some of which are deserted. It is even offering foreign tourists a helicopter tour over Pyongyang.

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Traveller's tales: Eyewitness accounts

Louis Cole's Merry North Korea adventure
By Phil Robertson North Korea is one of the most repressive countries in the world. But that didn't faze the British YouTube celebrity Louis Cole, a 33-year-old travel blogger with nearly two million subscribers, from jumping onto a guided government tour to try and find some new material to promote himself and his FunforLouis video channel. Evidently Cole thought his motto of "peace out, enjoy life and live the adventure," combined with the outlandish goal to promote surfing for North Koreans, would be so much adventure that no one noticed he was completely ignoring the dire reality of life for most persons living under a government whose egregious human rights abuses have been described by the U.N. as "without parallel in the contemporary world." Maybe Cole didn't do his homework, but he seemed genuinely surprised when he came under fire from other Internet video loggers for uploading videos from his 10-day trip in the North Korean government-controlled bubble. He shouldn't have been. [EWA] [Bizarre]
- Who Is Fun For Louis?
  Louis Cole makes a Daily Vlog of his life! He enjoys travelling the world with friends, having fun and inspiring others! Fun For Louis MAP is an interactive map that allows you to see where each vlog took place, what travelling was done in that vlog, and lets you have another sense of being along for the adventure. [EWA][Bizarre]
DPRK is nothing like I imagined
Article by former NZ MP Ross Meurant in the Pyongyang Times 25 June
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'No sense of crisis' in Pyongyang
By Choi Sung-jin "I could feel no anxiety or looming crisis caused by sanctions on North Korea. The streets of Pyongyang were peaceful with cherry blossoms and azaleas in full bloom and people looked bright." That's what a Singaporean woman, who ran in part of a marathon in Pyongyang on April 10, said about the North Korean capital. Ong Wan, 39, and her elder brother visited the North's largest city in April 9-11 and ran in a 10-kilometer race, a section of the Pyongyang Marathon. It was the largest event, drawing about 1,000 foreigners, since the United Nations slapped on new sanctions to discipline the isolated regime's nuclear and missile provocations. "The event was held amid strong sanctions the international community has imposed on North Korea, but the atmosphere was far from anxious or crisis-ridden in downtown Pyongyang, which was opened to foreign tourists," Ong told the Yonhap News Agency by phone. Before and after the marathon, foreigners walked around the streets and subway stations and found the atmosphere was quite peaceful and the citizens' faces were bright, she said. [EWA]
Pyongyang becoming “three-dimensional” city with skyscrapers and smartphones
Posted on : Aug.27,2015 16:09 KST Construction is ongoing at a housing complex for scientists in Pyongyang, Aug. 24. On the left, the first complex is completed, and on the right, the second complex is being built. (Yonhap News) Recent trip by South Korean media to cover under-15 soccer tournament was the first in five years A Yonhap News reporter shared an account of Pyongyang undergoing a visible transformation into a “three-dimensional” city, in an Aug. 26 piece for the agency after returning from a ten-day-long trip on Aug. 16 to cover the second annual international under-15 soccer tournament, saying “Changjon Street along the Taedong River is lined with high-rise apartment blocks equal in scale to residential-commercial buildings like Tower Palace in Seoul’s Gangnam district. Roughly one in three of the cell phones carried by Pyongyang residents was a smartphone.” [Daily life] [EWA]
The human side of North Korea
Korean-American writer Suki Kim teaches 19-year-old students at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology / Courtesy of Suki Kim Suki Kim describes undercover mission among Pyongyang's elite By Lee Ji-hye Many watchers of North Korea experience a similar conundrum: While the country can be fascinating, there are few ways to get inside the country and really experience it personally. Yes, the communist dictatorship allows tourists inside its borders; however, these travelers are constantly accompanied by minders and can only go where the Kim Jong-un regime wants them to. Suki Kim, a Korea-born writer who is a naturalized American, believes that the problem with looking at the North strictly from the outside is that the humanity of its people is lost. Kim's North Korean Visa / Courtesy of Suki Kim Kim, 44, would know: In 2011, she spent six months as an undercover English teacher at one of the North's elite universities, getting to know the people and the fears instilled in them. [Diaspora] [EWA] [propaganda]
“Fieldwork” North Korea: Observations of daily life on the ground inside the country
The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 40, No. 2, October 6, 2014. Emma Campbell Summary This paper uses observations collected “on the ground” inside North Korea to argue that everyday life matters when researching North Korea and that one method of carrying out such research is to travel there as a tourist. Introduction Looking out from my guesthouse window in Ch’ilbosan, the beautiful mountain region in the Northeast of North Korea1, I watch a mother and father walk down a country road, each holding a hand of their small son and listening intently to his excited conversation. The tight grip with which the parents hold onto the little boy’s hands reminds me that in a few years’ time he will be leaving his family for mandatory national service of up to eight years in North Korea’s army2. The family’s tanned skin, small frames and simple clothes betray their tough rural life in North Korea. The boy looks around ten or eleven, but North Korean children often appear much younger than their actual age, their physical development held back by chronic malnutrition and poor sanitation. [EWA] [Academic]
My trip to North Korea: 13 misconceptions corrected
Western media is full of false reporting By Marcel Cartier April 21, 2014 I had the unique opportunity to spend several days in three different parts of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly just referred to as “North” Korea. This was an exceptionally life-changing experience that challenged many of the pre-conceptions that myself and fellow western visitors who accompanied me from Beijing had going in. Here are some things about North Korea that may surprise you, as many of them surprised me, as well. 1. Americans Are Not Hated, But Welcomed The Koreans have a very high level of class consciousness, and do not equate the American people with our government. They make no secret of their contempt for U.S. imperialism, but if you say you’re an American, the conversation will usually revolve around culture or sports more than politics. At the Grand People’s Study House in Pyongyang (think your local library on steorids, with over 30 million books), the most popular CD is The Beatles’ “Greatest Hits”, although Linkin Park is also requested a lot among local youth. The young men seem fascinated with the NBA, and know a lot more about the league than just Dennis Rodman. [EWA] [Media]
North Korea’s capital, with its water parks and new buildings, coddles the elite
In the capital for the first time since 2008, a visitor finds BMWs, Audis and glittering new apartment towers.-- By Anna Fifield September 2 ? PYONGYANG, North Korea — This is not a city on the ropes. Cars, for instance. A recent visitor, in the capital for the first time since 2008, found many more of them on the streets — and not just the locally produced “Pyonghwa” brand or Chinese BYDs, but Lexus sport-utility vehicles and late-model BMWs and Audis. And shoes. Many women are dressing more fashionably, and brightly colored, shiny high heels, often with jewels, appear to be the trend du jour. Changjon Street, in the heart of the city, near Kim Il Sung Square, is unrecognizable from a few years ago. Rows of round apartment towers line the street. Lit up at night, they are festooned with neon bands, giving them the appearance of giant fireworks. By day, the towers are reflected in the glittering river, making the city look “just like Dubai,” in the words of one government-appointed minder. Pyongyang, always a showcase city, has become even more of a Potemkin village. [Media]
Girls playing on the beach, hair salons and bored commuters: Tourist who took camera inside North Korea expecting to find 'really, really sad people' is shocked to discover a happy country
Singaporean photographer Aram Pan visited North Korea last year Gained permission for his 360 photography project after sending emails and faxes to North Korean contacts A BBC Panorama documentary led him to believe he would see lots of starving people Discovered healthy looking men and women shopping, playing volleyball and clocking off work at 6pm Believes that 'North Korea needs more friendly interaction with the outside world, even if it is just tourists' By Sarah Dean Published: 12:26 GMT, 29 May 2014 | Updated: 16:17 GMT, 29 May 2014 When a man from Singapore had his wish to visit North Korea granted, he braced himself for the scenes of 'barren lands' and 'really, really sad people' that he had seen via a BBC Panorama documentary. But what he found blew his mind - for all the right reasons. Inside the communist enclave in 2013, photographer Aram Pan witnessed bustling markets, men and women enjoying themselves at a Western looking water park and miles and miles of crops ready for harvest, shattering all of his illusions about what a holiday to North Korea would entail. Unlike other tourists who have visited the country, Mr Pan did not have to hide the photos and video he was taking from inside the country - he simply asked for permission. [Daily life] [Media] [EWA]
Teaching at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology
A video by Helen Kibby from Taranaki who has taught at PUST.. [Education] [EWA] [PUST]
2012 Expedition of Mountains of the Baekdu Daegan in North Korea
Roger Shepherd
Standing in front of Paektusan In the wet months of June and July, I spent six weeks with the Pyongyang members of Korea-New Zealand Friendship Society travelling around the northern provinces of Yanggangdo, Hamgyeongbukdo, and Hamgyeongnamdo. Our purpose was to attain photographic images of a selection of mountains on the Baekdu Daegan. The Baekdu Daegan is the main mountain spine of the Korean Peninsula that stretches for about 1700km from Korea’s holy Paektusan Mountain to Hallasan Mountain in southern Korea. I am producing a photographic journal that will highlight this sacred mountain chain – the first time the two Koreas will feature in a book connected by mountain, of which the Korean people have a huge common reverence for.
Tablet PC menus, Volkswagon taxis in Pyongyang
A Korean-American businessman living in the United States could hardly believe his eyes when he visited the North Korean capital of Pyongyang last week. Cafes in central Pyongyang were filled with not only foreigners but local customers who appeared busy with their tablet PCs and smartphones. “It was as if I was in the middle of Seoul,” the visitor said, adding that customers were choosing and placing their orders on tablet PCs. On the second floor of the café was a Korean restaurant serving bulgogi (marinated charbroiled beef) for as high as $70 per serving, but you could not get a table without a reservation. He also noticed what he believed was an increased number of taxis ? which he estimated at 1,000 ? mostly second-hand imports of Volkswagons which run 24 hours a day at a base fare of 500 North Korean won. [EWA] [ICT]
Pyongyang in the summer of 2013
Posted on : Aug.26,2013 15:08 KST Modified on : Aug.26,2013 15:12 KST Colored taxies similar to those seen in South Korea on the streets of Pyongyang. The North Korean capital appears to be changing, with more luxury cars and foreign tourists. (provided by Okedongmu Children in Korea) Director of humanitarian aid group returns from North Korea with impressions of a changing city Gwon Geun-sool, chairman of Okedongmu Children in Korea, visited the North Korean cities of Pyongyang and Nampo with his colleagues from Aug. 14 to 17. Okedongmu is a NGO that has provided humanitarian aid to North Korean children over the past 17 years. This article describes Pyongyang in summer 2013 as seen through Gwon’s eyes. The eight members of Gwon’s group, including an employee of Seoul National University Hospital, represented the first aid visit to North Korea by a South Korean NGO since Park Geun-hye was inaugurated as president of South Korea. It had been five years since Gwon had been to the North, and two years since Okedongmu had sent a representative there.[EWA]
8 Days in the 'Land of Evil'
North Korea Celebrates 60th Anniversary of Victory by ANDRE VLTCHEK As the plane – Russian-built Tupolev-204 – was taking off from Pyongyang Airport, I felt nothing, absolutely nothing. The morning fog was at first covering the runway, and then it began to lift. The engines roared. Right after the takeoff I could clearly distinguish green fields, neat villages and ribbons of ample and lazy rivers below the wing. It was undeniably a beautiful sight: melancholic, poetic, and truly dramatic. And yet I felt numb. I was feeling nothing, absolutely nothing.
The Status of Microbrews ... in North Korea
Some travelers look for local beer in new locales, but this featured beer enthusiast went out his way to tailor his visit to North Korea with the sole purpose of visiting microbreweries and tasting beer there. He likens the taste of North Korean beer to American microbrew Anchor Steam. South and North Korea compete in many fronts, but this informed traveler and microbrew aficionado concludes that North Korean beers taste better than the ones in the South. Perhaps South Korea does better in the soju arena. [EWA] [Daily life]
'Kim Jong-Ale': North Korea's surprising microbrewery culture explored
29 April 13 / by Ian Steadman # UParadise Microbrewery, PyongyangParadise Microbrewery, PyongyangJoseph A Ferris III For a country that commonly experiences famines, North Korea has a surprisingly large range of beers. And if you're a microbrewing enthusiast, it might be the last country you'd think of visiting on a tasting tour. That's exactly what Josh Thomas did, though, from 30 March to 6 April this year. Thomas, who lives in Hong Kong and works in advertising as a creative technologist, is a self-confessed lover of all things beer. Though an amateur microbrewer himself, he "might be moving over into the professional realm soon with some mates", he told Wired.co.uk. "I've been brewing beer for a number of years, and love to travel the globe trying beers from different cultures." [EWA] [Daily life]
Andy Kershaw: Travelog – North Korea
Broadcast on Channel 4 TV as part of the ‘Travelog’ Series. [EWA]
The One Show – North Korea
Andy on The One Show BBC1 talking about his own experiences of North Korea in the context of recent media hysteria over the country’s hostile rhetoric. Broadcast on the 10th April 2013. [EWA]
Third-wave Coffee hits the DPRK
Andray Abrahamian | Wednesday, April 17th, 2013 | No Comments » A very pleasant discovery this March is that there is what you might call a third wave coffeeshop in Pyongyang. (For those of you unfamiliar with the term, ‘third wave’ essentially means thinking about coffee similarly to wine: concern for terroir, freshness and individual, hand-made drinks. It’s pretty bougy.) This un-named café is attached to the Pyongyang Hotel View Restaurant. It is the first one in the DPRK with single origin beans, pour-overs and even a small roasting machine, as far as we know. [Daily life]
An American's back-flip in North Korea
Eric Hill executes a back flip on a deck in the North Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone in this recent photograph. / Courtesy of Eric Hill By Kim Young-jin For Eric Hill, an American adventurer with a flair for doing daring deeds, executing a back flip is not difficult. He clears out space, builds momentum with his arms and launches toward the sky. The flip is part of the 30-year-old’s routine everywhere he goes. He is on a remarkable mission: to visit every U.N.-recognized country in world record time. He also does a handstand and receives a high-five from a local in each place.
Interview: A Capitalist in North Korea (Yes, They Do Exist...)
By Justin Rohrlich Jan 15, 2013 1:16 pm Though far from becoming a beacon of freedom anytime soon, entrepreneur Felix Abt says that, "by North Korean standards, there has been quite a practical change in society and the economy." While the world was quasi-agog last week over images of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) chairman Eric Schmidt watching students at Kim Jong Il University utilizing his company’s search engine, it’s a safe bet they won’t be networking with potential employers after graduation. A small slice of North Korean society may be permitted to access the Internet in limited ways (according to analysts, only a thousand or so of North Korea’s 25 million people can get online; the best most can do is view the country’s walled -- and heavily restricted -- intranet, where state-sponsored news is available). Expats living in-country (a small number of diplomats, NGO workers, and a tiny sprinkling of brave businesspeople; a 2005 census reported 124 foreign nationals residing in Pyongyang, a city of 2.1 million) are, however, able to get online via satellite -- though even they face restrictions. “LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) blocked me when I listed my North Korean address -- and I was not the only one,” Felix Abt, a Swiss entrepreneur who spent seven years living and doing business in North Korea, tells me. Abt, co-founder of the Pyongyang Business School, former managing director of the Pyongsu Joint Venture Company, North Korea’s first-ever foreign-invested pharmaceutical enterprise, and author of the new book, A Capitalist in North Korea (Amazon Publishing Services, 2012), was unceremoniously booted from the site in 2009. “Maybe LinkedIn’s legal department thought it was too risky or something,” Abt, now living -- and working -- in Nha Trang, Vietnam, says. “I don’t know.” In fact, “as a matter of corporate policy,” LinkedIn does not allow “member accounts or access to our site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria” under the conditions of international sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. (LinkedIn is not alone; other major tech names such as Google, Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) among others, also restrict access to their products from sanctioned countries, though one wonders if Eric Schmidt notified Google’s legal department that its products are being utilized at Kim Il Sung University.) [EWA] [Media]
North Korea: Bringing modern music to Pyongyang
German and North Korean musicians working together German conductor Alexander Liebreich is one of the few Westerners to have visited North Korea several times. On his last trip, with the Munich Chamber Orchestra in November, he was surprised how much the situation has changed. "Is there anywhere in the city that we shouldn't go?" It is wise to ask this question early on in a trip to Pyongyang. I put it to our contacts at the German Korean Friendship society, who had helped organise our trip. "No." "But… is it OK to just walk around Pyongyang, unaccompanied?" "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" He has established a reputation for pursuing unusual projects. In 2002, he visited North and South Korea together with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie where they gave the first Korean performances of Bruckner Symphony No. 8. He has since returned to North Korea six times The 2005 documentary Pyongyang Crescendo captures his teaching experiences there I was astonished. Their only recommendation was that we avoid visiting the train station and resist taking photos of military buildings. I travelled to Pyongyang with my orchestra to give workshops to students at the University of Music and Dance with the ambitious plan of putting on a joint concert after five days. [EWA]
An American NGO ... in North Korea
By Jeff Baron Dec 15 2012, 8:33 AM ET 8 The story of an Arizona rancher who moved to the most oppressive country on earth -- and is attempting to reconcile two countries that have been enemies for decades. The United States has boots on the ground in North Korea. Cowboy boots, size 10 Durangos, and they belong to Rob Springs, a Korean-speaking Arizona rancher. Springs and his cowboy boots made their 66th visit to North Korea in November 2012. They've spent nearly three years on the ground there since 1997, traveling to every part of the country. Springs is a private citizen, and his story doesn't deal with the issues high on our national security agenda -- how the U.S. government deals with North Korea's weapons and human rights. But it's an important story, because in critical respects it competes against the common narrative about North Korea that Americans -- including those who must deal with its nuclear and missile programs -- get almost daily from the media.
[An excellent article and one well worth reading
Tim Beal]
Is life in North Korea really not that bad?
Posted by Olga Khazan on November 2, 2012 at 3:02 pm North Korea is so insular that tales from defectors are some of the few glimpses the Western world gets. Books such as Blaine Harding’s “Escape from Camp 14” or Barbara Demick’s “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” are filled with former North Koreans’ accounts of innocent people toiling away in gulags, scrounging around train stations for food and living in complete darkness thanks to nationwide energy shortages. But Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who lived in North Korea for years, says these and other widely read accounts of life in North Korea tell far from the whole story. In a recent opinion piece on GlobalPost, he makes the incredibly unusual argument that North Korea isn’t as destitute and oppressed as its escapees would have you believe. [Media] [Propaganda]
North Korea's not as crazy as everyone says
Commentary: Most of what we hear about the Hermit Kingdom comes from defectors, but there's a lot more to the country. Felix Abt November 1, 2012 00:20 NHA TRANG, Vietnam — A peculiar strand of literature on North Korea has been published in recent years, with the authors drawing heavily on interviews with defectors. Sure, North Korea has been a horrific place with famine and prison camps, but these books reveal a single slice of North Korean society. And it's dangerous that they're taken so frequently at face value when they remain unverifiable. The stories these authors tell are indeed heart-wrenching. Journalist Blaine Harding, formerly at the Washington Post, wrote a biography of Shin Dong Hyuk in the 2012 book "Escape from Camp 14." Shin was a famous defector born and raised into the brutal environment of a labor camp from where he later escaped. Unfortunately, there's a big flaw. The defector initially presented his story differently from what he later told to the author. Harden acknowledges in his book that the defector lied to him about his experiences, but decided to believe him anyway. For seven years, I made a living in the world's most closed off communist country as — of all careers there — a businessman. Now living a comfortable life as an entrepreneur in Vietnam, I have all sorts of stories to tell that contradict these tales. [EWA] [Defector] [Propaganda]
Welcome to Lenin Disney: North Korea’s otherworldly tourism experience
Posted by Max Fisher on October 16, 2012 at 10:05 am A British tourist finds empty halls and endless propaganda in Pyongyang. (Thomas Bailey) The surreality of visiting North Korea begins at customs. Officials in full military dress — and there are a lot of them, judging by this clandestine video shot by a Canadian tourist — announce that anyone carrying a cell phone must surrender it, to be returned on leaving. The experience gets weirder from there, based on the numerous travelogues and reports that have emerged since the country lifted many of its restrictions on American tourists in 2010. [Media]
Hotel of Doom, Alcatraz of Fun: North Korea’s finest tourist stays
Posted by Max Fisher on October 18, 2012 at 8:33 am The Ryugyong Hotel looms above Pyongyang. (AP/Greg Baker) Should you decide to join the small but growing contingent of Western tourists visiting North Korea every year, you will probably spend most of your time in Pyongyang, and that means staying in one of the few approved hotels. Like most things on the tightly-controlled, propaganda-heavy tours, lodging in North Korea is said to be a uniquely bizarre, but perhaps revealing, experience. Most tours, which are shepherded by government minders at all moments except while inside the hotel, put visitors up at the Yanggakdo. It’s enormous by North Korean standards, 47 stories, the top of which is a revolving restaurant. Like the thousand or so rooms, the restaurant is mostly empty, all of it an elaborate show of prosperity that doesn’t exist. The hotel is on an island in the Taedong River, which runs through the middle of the city. This allows guests a rare freedom of movement, as minders will allow guests to wander the island unguided. Although, as Lonely Planet‘s guidebook cautions, “don’t even think of crossing the bridge into the city.” This has earned it the nickname among guides, “Alcatraz of Fun.” [Media]
A mission to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
John Hearnshaw. Professor of Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Christchurch NZ
A week in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea may not sound like everyone’s idea of a fun holiday destination. I just spent the first week of September in that country and absolutely enjoyed every minute of my time. The Koreans treated me like a celebrity rock star or visiting president, with a large black limousine and chauffeur assigned to me for a week, during which time doors to important people and places were opened to me and every effort was made to please and impress. As the first astronomer ever to visit DPR Korea from another country (except for some Chinese astronomers who went to Pyongyang over 10 years ago), and also one of the few foreign scientists of any type to go there, the Koreans certainly appreciated my visit.
An Englishman in Pyongyang
Global Times | 2012-7-27 19:10:06 By Feng Shu Michael Harrold currently works and resides in Beijing. Photo: An Saigang Sitting across a table from the affable, unassuming Briton, one would never guess that he'd spent seven years in a world that is still largely off limits to Western media. Almost 20 years after he left Pyongyang in 1994, Michael Harrold, the first Briton to work and live in North Korea, is still surprised that his life led him to this mysterious nation, which remains inaccessible to most people even today. After answering a bizarre job posting upon his graduation from Leeds University in the UK, Harrold, then 25 years old, found himself in Pyongyang in March of 1987 with a new job title: English language adviser. His main duty was to polish English translations of the collected works and speeches by North Korea's then president, Kim Il-sung, and his son and then heir, Kim Jong-il. [EWA]
Report from Pyongyang
Stewart Lone from the University of New South Wales, has been teaching English in Pyongyang. Here he ponders on the strange discrepancy between the image of the DPRK, life in Pyongyang, and the political system promulgated by our governments, media, and some writers –all ‘honourable men’ in Shakespeare’s phrase – and his experiences.
He is working on a longer description of his time in Pyongyang.

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Photos and Videos

3DPRK - capturing North Korea in 3D photographs
Published on Nov 2, 2016 3D Photographer Matjaž Tancic & Koryo Studio producer Vicky Mohieddeen filmed their extraordinary trip to capture North Korea in 3D. Editor Matt Hulse. [Photos]
Photographer captures rare insight into life inside North Korea
March 14, 2016 2:16pm Lauren McMah news.com.au A DARING photographer has provided a rare glimpse of life inside North Korea with a stunning collection of snaps he smuggled out of the world’s most secretive state. Michal Huniewicz, who is based in London, took the “illegal” photographs during a visit to the socialist country, which is under the brutal rule of dictator Kim Jong-un. “I was told I would be detained in case photos like these were found,” Mr Huniewicz told Bored Panda. “But I managed to smuggle them out of the country, which was very stressful.” Many of his photographs depict daily life for citizens in North Korea’s capital city Pyongyang, including people inside restaurants and on their commute to work. Other snaps showcase the city’s brutalist architecture style and the staggering difference between the North Korean cityscape and that of nearby China. [Photos] [Bizarre]
[Reporter’s notebook] On Flickr, a chance to see the non-aggressive North Korea
Posted on : Nov.30,2015 20:23 KST A selection of travelers’ photos from North Korea on Flickr Media in both South and North Korea tend to use images of militaries and division; online sharing can change that Vivid, yet strange. Looking at pictures taken by travelers to North Korea on Flickr is an experience that evokes conflicting emotions. Run by Yahoo, Flickr is counted alongside Instagram as one of the leading photo-sharing sites around. Most of its images are travel pictures. But recent years have seen a marked increase in photos taken around North Korea. Typing the keyword “North Korea” in its search box on Nov. 25 brought up a message reporting 145,813 results. The increase in North Korea pictures has been especially visible since Kim Jong-un took over as leader in 2012. Indeed, it may be linked to his emphasis on promoting the country’s travel industry. Newer, more generous standards on picture-taking also look to have been established to help draw visitors. During my ten or so visits during the early ‘00s, photographing farming regions was strictly forbidden; this time, such images were easy to find on Flickr. Uwe Brodrecht, a German traveler who visited North Korea between Oct. 5 and 15, posted images that he had actually taken inside of farming homes when he stopped in villages like Chonsam in Kangwon Province’s Anbyon County. [EWA]
The photographs that made North Korean soldiers leave their post
July 23, 2015 •by James Hyams “Bomb them all to Hell” read a private message to Aram Pan after announcing his next trip into North Korea. This is not a sequel to the Hollywood comedy The Interview, which mocked North Korea and reinforced negative views of North Korea and its people. Aram Pan in North Korea Aram Pan in North Korea This is the true story of North Korea through the eyes of Aram, a Singaporean photographer who has been using existing and the bleeding edge technologies to visually document North Korea. Aram first applied to the North Korean government for permission to do a photography project in the “Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea” back in 2013. “I figured the world has more images of the deep ocean depths than we have of North Korea. One day I just decided to try contacting them to see if I could do some kind of photography project in their country.” He was surprised when his project got approved. “The impression I originally had was that it would be tough to gain access with so many stories about undercover reporters allege they are risking their lives with hidden cameras.” The latest addition to Aram’s kit is his modified go-pro hero 4 black that shoots 360 degree video footage. “The original lens has been ripped out and replaced with a 280 degree lens,” he said. This gives an amazingly wide angle that enables interactive 360 degree viewing of the video on YouTube. [EWA] [Photos]
Hanging out at the beach in North Korea – in pictures
Visitors to the DPRK expect to have their every move monitored, so it took travel blog The Velvet Rocket by surprise when they were dropped off at the beach unsupervised for a couple of hours. They set about meeting as many locals as they could, taking photos as they went. The results are a refreshing change from the stage-managed images often seen emerging from the country
Timelapse video offers unique insight into North Korea's capital city
Images of Pyongyang are usually presented through government-issued photos or occasional holiday snaps, but a new tourism film offers a very different view of daily life in the city Maeve Shearlaw theguardian.com, Friday 8 August 2014 21.37 BST The back-lit Pyongyang skyline. Pyongyang is one of the few cities in the world that remains an enigma – mainly because so few people outside the country ever see it. According to estimates, only around 6,000 people per year visit North Korea as tourists, many of whom are confined to the capital city under the strict supervision of the state-endorsed tour companies that take them there. Images of Pyongyang are usually presented through government-issued photos, holiday snaps from tourists, or journalists given special (and often supervised) access. Enter Pyongyang However, a collaboration between JT Singh, a branding specialist focused on cities, and Rob Whitworth, a time lapse film-maker, has created a video that offers a rare visual journey inside Pyongyang. Branded “Enter Pyongyang” and made in conjunction with the North Korean tour company Koryo Tours, the video is presented as “an invitation to explore” the usually hermetically sealed city. [Media]
- Enter Pyongyang
  from JT Singh Plus 1 week ago Not Yet Rated “Enter Pyongyang” is another stunning collaboration between city-branding pioneer JT Singh and flow-motion videographer Rob Whitworth. Blending time-lapse photography, acceleration and slow motion, HD and digital animation, they have produced a cutting-edge panorama of a city hardly known, but one emerging on the visitor’s landscape as North Korea’s opening unfolds. North Korea was the last country seemingly immune to change—but no longer. Recent years have witnessed mobile phone penetration, a surge in tourists, and even a marathon. Numerous special economic zones have been launched in cooperation with China, Russia, and South Korea, with railways planned linking all countries in the region. “Enter Pyongyang” captures not just the city, but this dynamism and sense of potential [Video]
Summer camp in North Korea
Normally reclusive country opens its doors for more than 300 children from around the world, offering video games, air-conditioned rooms and other luxuries that are out of reach for most of its citizens.-- In an undated photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, center, visits Songdowon International Children's Camp in Wonsan, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency via AFP/Getty Images) [Photos]
Scenes of Daily Life in Korea from the 1900s
See more rare photos of scenes of daily life in Korea, during the early period of Japanese colonial rule, taken by a Japanese photographer.
North Korea is open for Business
Aram Pan Published on 21 May 2014 The 17th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair. Businessmen from China and North Korea come here to exchange contacts and trade. [Video]
Videos by Aram Pan on DPRK
The DPRK 360 project
The DPRK 360 project is an independent project that aims to showcase the many aspects of DPRK (a.k.a. North Korea) through photography. All attempts will be made so as not address any past, present or future political issues that may be sensitive. The purpose of this project is to encourage understanding of the country and uncover the mysteries that lay hidden. Through better understanding, fear can be removed and friendships can be made. Most of the images will not undergo any instagram, lomo or artistic filters to make them moody or emotional. There will also be interactive 360 degree panoramic images of places across the DPRK. This project is an initiative by me (Aram Pan), a Singapore based virtual tour photographer. This project is entirely funded by myself and some sponsors and I'm not paid a single cent to generate any propaganda. I plan to make regular trips to DPRK to photograph more of the country so any sponsorships or grants will be deeply appreciated. I do not wish that my photos or panoramas be used in politically heated articles as it may jeopardize my project. I have made the first baby steps in gaining their friendship and trust so I will not do anything that will disrupt this friendship. The spirit of this project can be found in a DPRK folk song 'White Dove Fly High'. The white dove is a universal symbol of peace and has been chosen to be the symbol of this project. In case anyone wonders where my political loyalties are, I love my country of Singapore as it is my dear home and I fully support my current government and its leaders. personel bio pic Aram Pan has been a photographer since 2003. He went into full time commercial panorama production in 2007 and has produced over 3000 panoramas for real estates, hospitals, tourism, industrial, aerospace and many other industries.
Inside North Korea
A peek into Kim Jong Un’s reclusive regime. [Photos]
Photos taken by Tim Kearns in Pyongyang, 2006
A collection of photos by NZer Tim Kearns who was teaching at the NZ-DPRK Friendship School in Pyongyang in 2006
Google Streetview Pyongyang-Style
Geoffrey K. See | Monday, January 6th, 2014 Slightly over a year ago, a fellow Singaporean who does visually spectacular work taking 360-degree panoramic photos contacted me asking if we could arrange for him to conduct similar work in North Korea. As we were at that time an all-volunteer team holding down full-time jobs while running our workshops in North Korea on the side, we were unable to help him. However, the Singaporean, Aram Pan, went ahead and made this vision reality. The outcome is a set of visually stunning panoramic shots of various scenic spots in North Korea. You are able to explore places by spinning around at a point, and even hop onto other spots where Aram has captured images. Do check out his 360-degree photos at http://www.dprk360.com/
DPRK 360
DPRK 360 is a photographic project by Aram Pan to capture the essence of North Korea (DPRK) through the use of 360° panoramas, photos and videos.
David Guttenfelder Is TIME’s Pick for Instagram Photographer of the Year
By Ishaan Tharoor @ishaantharoor Dec. 18, 2013Add a Comment David Guttenfelder / AP Inside Pyongyang's Masudae Assembly Hall two women wait to lead us down a red carpet to meet Kim Yong Nam, the head of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, April 10, 2013. David Guttenfelder is TIME’s pick for Instagram photographer of the year. The veteran photojournalist is a seven-time World Press Photo award-winner. He has traveled the world for the Associated Press, covering wars, elections and natural disasters in over 75 countries. But in 2013, Guttenfelder, the AP’s chief Asia photographer, won over a new audience after he became one of the first foreign photographers to be granted the ability to work in North Korea. And he featured some of his most striking, intimate pictures from the Hermit Kingdom on Instagram. [photos]
Inside North Korea
A rare visual tour inside the reclusive and secretive country.
A Cultural Peek Into the Hermit Kingdom
About Joseph I work as a Chief Mate on U.S.-flagged oceanographic research ships . The voyages and expeditions I have worked brought me from the Yangtze River of China, to the icebergs off Cape Horn South America, Antarctica, and many other points around the world. My passion is world travel and I have spent the last 13 years working and independently traveling through over 90 countries. I have no home and live out of a backpack (although a girl in Taiwan has me settling down for the first time in my life). I also love to read literature, study history, and make trouble where and when I can. Traveling to North Korea has been a life changing experience but it’s far from being my only one. [Photos] [EWA]
More images from inside North Korea
A rare visual tour inside the reclusive and secretive country. [Photos]
North Korean Pastoral
The Hermit Kingdom as you've never seen it.
PHOTOS BY ROGER SHEPHERD | MARCH 11, 2013
The Baekdu Daegan mountain range twists its way more than 1,000 miles down the length of the Korean Peninsula, from the sacred peak of Baekdusan on the North Korea-China border to Jirisan in central South Korea. Today, it is choked off by landmines and barbed wire at the demilitarized zone, but once, it was considered the "spine of the nation" -- a source of spiritual energy and strength for the Korean people. [photos]
Life on China-N. Korea border
[Photos]

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