L&J  Development and Consultancy

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 If you need more information about trips to North Korea for journalists, please contact us

Tel: +61-403076604, Fax: +852-301-44398 or E-mail: LJinfo@narod.ru

In North Korea, on someone else's ego trip

By Mark Magnier, Times Staff Writer

June 9, 2007

THERE'S not a lot to do when you're a closely watched visitor in North Korea except hit the karaoke at day's end, so we're at it again.

From the sound of it, most North Korean karaoke falls into two categories. Soupy ballads about national glory, superior leadership, glorious workers. And hard-driving martial tunes urging citizens to think as one and pick up a bayonet. Rounding out the experience are video clips of goose-stepping soldiers and ozone-piercing missiles.

A gentle tune floats by that doesn't seem to fit the bill. On the screen, a river meanders. Birds chirp. Trees sway. The reverie is brought up short, however, when our minder informs us it's about a river that would flow through a unified Korea — if the imperialists hadn't ripped the peninsula apart.

From karaoke to billboards, lapel pins to education campaigns, North Korea doesn't miss an opportunity to drive a handful of core messages home: It's under siege, the Korean War never ended here, its leadership is divine, sacrifice and deprivation make you strong.

Even a carefully scripted visit designed to put the North's best foot forward underscores just how buttoned-down this place is. At a time when Pyongyang is flirting with some modest reform, the almost complete lack of tolerance for deviation from the party line suggests the huge psychological challenge this isolated society will face if and when it decides to join the outside world.

Most visitors are broadly aware before they arrive of the leadership cult centered on Great Leader Kim Il Sung — who died in 1994 — and Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, who recently celebrated his 65th birthday. But that doesn't prepare you for its 3-D, surround-sound intensity in person.

Kim Il Sung called for reunification on his deathbed. Kim Il Sung taught farmers a better way to raise cows. Kim Il Sung visited every monument personally. Kim Il Sung taught construction workers to mix cement. Kim Il Sung designed the traffic police uniforms.

* * *

ON the twice-weekly flight from China aboard a Russian-built TU-154, flight attendants dressed in blue and red uniforms and Kim Il Sung pins hand out copies of the Workers Party Daily newspaper. The front page is dominated by a massive picture of Kim Jong Il and hundreds of soldiers. Heading through customs, I'm berated in Korean. Eventually I figure out my transgression: folding the newspaper near the Dear Leader's face.

"This is the first thing you should know about our country," one of our minders says shortly after our group lands at Pyongyang Airport. "Although Kim Il Sung has passed away, he is always with us. Western people just do what they like. But in a place where there's a statue or picture of the Great Leader, don't misbehave. Don't smoke, spit or wear sloppy clothes."

A museum north of Pyongyang features a Madame Tussaud's-style wax likeness of Kim Il Sung. We're instructed to wear ties and bow to the graven image. A group of North Korean women, visiting at the same time, emerges tear-stained. Its members have seen their maker.

"God in our country is the Great Leader," one of our minders explains. "It has a different meaning from what Westerners think. Our God means our mother, our father, our parents. Kim Il Sung understands us, understands the details of people's daily lives. If you have problems, he works to solve them."

The regime takes great pains to try to counter its reputation as an isolated state and to give the impression that the Kims are not just loved at home but also glorified abroad. We're told repeatedly that President Carter once said Kim Il Sung was greater than Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln combined, an apparent urban legend, North Korea-style.

Equally striking is the near-complete absence of brands, advertising or commerce in the country. Five days of driving in and around Pyongyang and on trips south, north and west of the capital yield a single advertisement: a billboard for the Ppeokkugi, or Cuckoo, sports utility vehicle and the Hwiparam, or Whistle, sedan.

A closer look, however, suggests that the billboard has more in common with a propaganda placard than a Nike swish. In reality, it's a slightly more subtle form of bravado, hyping that North Korea has an auto industry of its own. So what if the factory appears dormant from the outside — as close as they let you get — or that we only saw one Ppeokkugi on the road during our trip?

"It's amazing to see streets without any commerce in Asia," says Peter Tasker, a Tokyo-based private investor on the magical mystery tour. "It's not always what you see that's striking, but what you don't see."

The throwback nature of the entire experience is part of the attraction for many visitors. In a world of look-alike malls and identical Starbucks from Rome to Redondo Beach, there's a refreshing lack of sameness about it, if you don't stop to think about the suffering, hunger and deprivation underpinning the system.

One noticeable change from a visit in 2005 is the government's apparent effort to skim more hard currency from foreign tourists. Most museums and monuments now offer souvenir shops, and a foreigners-only department store in Pyongyang has been expanded.

The problem is, there's still hardly anything worth buying. A typical stand might feature books on the teachings of Kim Il Sung, some green and pink embroidery of dancing children, bottles of the local firewater known as soju, cans of peas and boxes of hemorrhage restorative herbal medicine. At one point while buying some apples, I try bargaining — de rigueur in most of Asia — to gauge the reaction, an affront that draws looks of shock and embarrassment.

The most important relationship most visitors will have during their three-, four- or occasionally seven-night trip to the North is with their guide, who variously keeps you in line, keeps you fed and keeps you blinkered. He or she is also your main conduit for any occasional insights that slip through on life behind the North Korean veil.

* * *

THE ticket into this isolated world is a hot one for Americans, whom the regime views with some distrust even as it hungers for their money. Trips are arranged through a handful of travel agents with links to the government, can set you back up to $8,000 and are subject to last-minute cancellation if Pyongyang's political mood changes.

Our senior tour guide, whom we nickname "Good Cop," is in his mid-30s, speaks English well and appears relatively comfortable around foreigners.

Our second tour guide — we nickname him "Mini-Me" after the diminutive character in the Austin Powers films — is a decade younger, betrays no sense of humor and shows a pretty deep distrust of foreigners.

Mini-Me also appears to hold sway over his older colleague, which on the face of it is unusual in Korea's strong Confucian culture, hinting at superior political credentials and the underlying fear that binds society. "This is the last time I say this to you, no pictures," he barks in a typical warning. "Or there will be uncomfortable events."

The two are assisted by a young female guide in training, whose main function seems to be sitting strategically near the back of the bus to keep a close eye on us, and a driver, for a group of seven visitors.

"No matter how early we got up, one of the [minders] was there," says Shari Bouchard, a freelance photographer from Palm Springs.

When someone on another tour falls sick, a guide is left behind to keep tabs on the person at the hotel. "They don't want an imperialist wandering around," says Chris Taber, a real estate developer from Long Beach. "It's not like being in a gulag, and you expect some of this going in. But you definitely know your chances of complaining about your constitutional rights are pretty limited."

The guides seem to have an inordinate fear of South Koreans and Westerners mixing, perhaps a reflection of Pyongyang's broader efforts to drive a wedge between the two allies. At one point we run into some English-speaking South Koreans at yet another monument and start talking. A code red goes up among both sets of minders as they use every possible pretense to quickly separate us. The look of panic on their faces says it all. "You started the conversation with them?" Mini-Me asks us accusingly after we're safely back in the bus.

Tucked among the endless monuments, however, are also rare, touching glimpses of humanity among North Korea's long-suffering people: children laughing with abandon, young lovers canoodling in a pocket park, a tired farmer stopping for a smoke.

On our last night, our minders take us for another karaoke session, our third in four nights. This round is out of the hotel, in a private room of a restaurant with no other customers.

We'll say goodbye tomorrow, and our minders want to leave us with a good impression, so this place features foreign numbers in addition to the full range of North Korean hits. As an added bonus, a couple of waitresses in traditional pink gowns can sing some of the choruses in English, their arms gyrating in a well-practiced motion vaguely reminiscent of synchronized swimming.

After four days of being micro-managed by minders, New York-based entrepreneur Shane Smith, a member of our group, decides to shake things up. Buried amid the tame Beatles and Eagles numbers is the 1977 Sex Pistols hit "Anarchy in the U.K." The song may be 30 years old, and punk a dim memory in pop music history, but it's all news to North Korea, especially when screamed into a reverb-laden mike at Banshee-screech volumes.

Our minders look around nervously, leading to another moment of panic and a sharp exchange in clipped Korean until they decide it takes a safe imperialist to fight a suspect imperialist. Before long, the gentle tones of John Denver fill the room, allowing the synchronized swimmers to slip back into form.

Propaganda of Glory

By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
Published: June 22, 2007, 00:04

There is not a lot to do when you're a closely watched visitor in North Korea except hit the karaoke at day's end, so we are at it again. From the sound of it, most North Korean karaoke falls into two categories. Soupy ballads about national glory, superior leadership and glorious workers. And hard-driving martial tunes urging citizens to think as one and pick up a bayonet. Rounding out the experience are video clips of goose-stepping soldiers and ozone-piercing missiles.

A gentle tune floats by, that doesn't seem to fit the bill. On the screen, a river meanders. Birds chirp. Trees sway. But the reverie is brought up short when our minder informs us it is about a river that would flow through a unified Korea. From karaoke to billboards, lapel pins to education campaigns, North Korea doesn't miss an opportunity to drive the core messages home: It is under siege, the Korean War never ended here, its leadership is divine and sacrifice and deprivation make you strong.

Even a carefully scripted visit designed to put the North's best foot forward underscores just how buttoned-down this place is. At a time when Pyongyang is flirting with some modest reform, the almost lack of tolerance for deviation from the party line suggests the huge psychological challenge this isolated society will face if it decides to join the outside world.

Most visitors are broadly aware before they arrive of the leadership cult centred on great leader Kim Il-sung - who died in 1994 - and Leader Kim Jong-il, who recently celebrated his 65th birthday. But that doesn't prepare you for its 3-D surround-sound intensity in person.

On the twice-weekly flight from China aboard a Russian-built TU-154, flight attendants dressed in blue and red uniforms and Kim Il-sung pins hand out copies of the Workers Party Daily newspaper. The front page is dominated by a picture of Kim Jong-il and hundreds of soldiers. Heading through customs, I'm berated in Korean. Eventually I find my transgression: folding the newspaper near the leader's face.

"This is the first thing you should know about our country," one of our minders says shortly after our group lands at Pyongyang Airport. "Although Kim Il-sung has passed away, he is always with us. Western people just do what they like. But in a place where there is a statue or picture of the great leader, don't misbehave. Don't smoke, spit or wear sloppy clothes." A museum north of Pyongyang features a Madame Tussaud's-style wax likeness of Kim Il-sung. A group of North Korean women emerge tear-stained.

Throwback experience

"God in our country is the great leader," one of our minders explains. "It has a different meaning from what Westerners think. Our God means our parents. Kim Il-sung understands us, understands the details of people's daily lives."

The regime takes great pains to try to counter its reputation as an isolated state and to give the impression that the Kims are not just loved at home but also glorified abroad. We are told that former United States president Carter once said Kim Il-sung was greater than Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln combined.

Equally striking is the near-complete absence of brands, advertising or commerce in the country. Five days of driving in and around Pyongyang and on trips south, north and east of the capital yield a single advertisement: a billboard for the Ppeokkugi sports utility vehicle and the Huiparam sedan, known as the Whistle.

A closer look, however, suggests the billboard has more in common with a propaganda placard than a Nike swish. In reality, it is a slightly more subtle form of bravado, hyping that North Korea has an auto industry of its own. "It is amazing to see streets without any commerce in Asia," says Peter Tasker, a Tokyo-based private investor on the magical mystery tour. "It is not always what you see that is striking, but what you don't see."

The throwback nature of the experience is part of the attraction for many visitors. The problem is, there is still hardly anything worth buying. A typical stand might feature books on the teachings of Kim Il-sung, some embroidery of dancing children, and bottles of the local firewater known as soju. At one point I try bargaining for apples - de rigueur in most of Asia - to gauge the reaction, an affront that draws looks of shock and embarrassment.

Inordinate fear

The most important relationship most visitors will have during their three-, four- or occasionally seven-night trip to the North is with their guide, who variously keeps you in line. They are also your main conduit for any insights that slip through on life behind the North Korean veil. The ticket into this isolated world is a hot one for Americans. Trips are arranged through travel agents with government links and can set you back up to $8,000.

Our senior tour guide, whom we nickname "Good cop", is in his mid-thirties, speaks English well and appears relatively comfortable around foreigners. Our second tour guide - we nickname him "Mini-me" - is a decade younger, shows a pretty deep distrust of foreigners.

The guides seem to have an inordinate fear of South Koreans and Westerners mixing, perhaps a reflection of Pyongyang's broader efforts to drive a wedge between the two allies. At one point we run into some English-speaking South Koreans at yet another monument and start talking. A code red goes up among both sets of minders as they use all possible pretence to quickly separate us.

Tucked among the endless monuments, however, are touching glimpses of humanity among North Korea's people: children laughing with abandon, young lovers canoodling in a pocket park, a tired farmer stopping for a smoke...

N. Korea to prohibit U.S., Japanese reporters from covering Arirang festival

 
SHENYANG, China, April 4, 2007 (Yonhap)

North Korea said Wednesday it has decided not to allow American and Japanese reporters to visit Pyongyang for the coverage of a mass gymnastics event to be held there from this month to commemorate major national anniversaries. The North made the announcement via its agency, committed with the task of wooing tourists and reporters for the Arirang festival, but with no clear reason for the decision.

The agency sent foreign reporters, who have filed an application for the coverage, an e-mail saying the North "will not allow American and Japanese reporters to cover the event and a visa will be issued to reporters with other nationalities if they are stationed in China."

But the e-mail said the North will give tourist visas to American and Japanese reporters if they wish to visit the North on a tourist purpose. As many as 50 foreign reporters, including U.S. and Japanese ones, have so far filed for the applications or conveyed their wish to give a coverage of the event. The North's stance is a reversal of its position in March that it would allow U.S. and Japanese journalists to cover the event, which is scheduled to run from April 15 through May 20.

The festival was held in 2002 and 2005, but was cancelled last year due to floods, causing hundreds of U.S. and Western citizens to cancel their planned trip to one of the world's last remaining communist states. This month has special meaning for the communist country, as it will celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's founding leader, Kim Il-sung. It also plans to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of liberation from Japan's colonial rule in August and the founding of its ruling Workers' Party in October.

The first version of Arirang, named after a famous traditional Korean folk song, was held in the North's capital Pyongyang for nearly five months in 2002 with the participation of about 100,000 students and ordinary people. At that time, North Korea staged a promotional campaign for the Arirang Festival, calling it a "once-in-a-millennium" event. Some viewed it as an effort to gain publicity at the time of the World Cup finals co-hosted by South Korea and Japan the same year.

 Tour Dates  

Program One:  (3 Nights / 4 Days) 17-21 APR Cancelled, 24-28 APR Cancelled, 1-5 MAY, 8-12 MAY, 15-19 MAY Canvelled

Program Two: (4 Nights / 5 Days) 13-18 APR; 20-25 APR Cancelled; 27 APR.-2 MAY Completed;  4-9 MAY Completed  

 Price and payment

 Payment:

Payment for the tour will be split into two parts: a security deposit and the remaining sum.  

- The security deposit must be forwarded to our LJinfo@narod.ru account via the PayPal system at the time of booking the tour (16 days prior to departure).

For Program One: Euro 160

For Program Two: Euro 260

- The rest of the payment will be accepted in Shenyang in cash during the orientation meeting, prior to DPRK visa issuance, one day before your departure to Pyongyang.

For Program One: Euro 1,390

For Program Two: Euro 1,690

 Conditions

TOUR FEE INCLUDES:

- One night accommodation in Shenyang (5-star Shenyang Hotel, single room accommodation), 2 meals and a city tour excursion.

- DPRK consular fee

- Return airplane ticket (Shenyang/Pyongyang/Shenyang) with Air Koryo;
- Accommodation in Pyongyang (5-star hotel "Koryo" or "Yanggakdo", single room accommodation);
- All excursions in North Korea: trips to Kaesong, DMZ, Panmunjom, entrance fees for all sight-seeing spots.

- A day trip to Myohyangsan (Program Two ONLY),
- 3 meals a day, local transportation, and English-speaking guides while in North Korea.

TOUR FEE DOES NOT INCLUDE

- Alcoholic drinks and beverages, tips for guides and drivers.

- Seat tickets for the Arirang Mass Games show (to be purchased separately according to the booking class).

There are four kinds of Arirang Mass Games show seats available for booking:
Box seat - 240 Euro,
First Class seat - 120 Euro,
2nd Class Seat - 80 Euro.
3rd Class Seat - 40 Euro.

Payment for the seats will be accepted in Shenyang in cash one day before the departure, along with the rest of your tour fee.

 Stopover in Shenyang:

Upon your arrival in the Shenyang Taoxian Airport, we shall pick you up (a van or bus will be offered for more than 5 persons) and take you to a 5-star hotel in Shenyang city. You can also go to the Shenyang Hotel independently (please inform us about your decision beforehand). A room in the hotel will be booked for your name.

During your stay in Shenyang, we shall provide you with full service including the sightseeing program, 2 meals, visa, tickets, and transfers to/from Shenyang Taoxian Airport on the day of arrival and departure.

 Application procedure

- Please contact us by e-mail stating the dates when you wish to visit the DPRK (for dates and programs, see above).

- In the same e-mail, please provide your personal information as follows:

1) Name as in passport:
2) Sex:
3) Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy):
4) Citizenship:
5) Passport number: 
6) Current occupation with employer's address and telephone number:
7) Home address, home and mobile telephone numbers, and e-mail address:
8) Ethnicity:
This information will be kept in strict confidentiality and used ONLY for the DPRK visa application.

- Some 24 hours prior to your planned departure to North Korea (Day 0), please come to Shenyang and bring with you::

1) Your valid passport,

2) The photocopy of your passport's first page,

3) Four (4) passport-size photographs (good quality, colour, 3cm x 4cm), and

4) Tour Fee according to the Program requested + payment for Arirang Mass Games show seats 

 Important dates and Deadlines 

- The deadline for booking a tour (which must be confirmed by paying a security deposit) is 16 days before your scheduled departure to Pyongyang.

- While you are waiting for your DPRK visa approval, please apply for a double-entry PRC visa at the nearest Chinese Embassy or the General Consulate of China in your country.

- We shall inform you of your DPRK visa approval some 5-6 days before your scheduled trip to Shenyang.

- Your application for visa issuance must be submitted to the General Consulate of DPRK in Shenyang at least one day before the departure. Our representative in Shenyang will collect the rest of your tour fee and arrange your visa at the DPRK General Consulate. You won’t have to spend time waiting in the line to obtain your visa.

 Dangerous goods

 
For safety reasons, dangerous goods, such as flammable solids or liquids, explosive, radioactive materials, and toxic substances, is not allowed in the checked or hand-luggage.

 Articles allowed to be brought into the DPRK by foreign journalists

Due to intensified security measures, passengers flying to and from the DPRK are prohibited from carrying any kind of harmful items in their checked or hand-luggage.

The following items are permitted:
- Photo Camera,

- TV professional Video camera,

- PDA,

- CD Player,

- MP3,

- Laptop(notebook)
 

Other articles may be inspected by custom authorities.

Many of your colleagues have travelled with us in October 2005  and found this experience most rewarding (see the report on Special Tour for Arirang Mass Games, October 2005)

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If you need more information about visits to North Korea during the Arirang Festival, please contact us by

Tel: +61-403076604, Fax: +852-301-44398 or E-mail: LJinfo@narod.ru