Any non american here ever been to north korea via travel agency? If you get caught trying to go to the juche utopia as an American you'll get slapped with a felony and have your us passport revoked.
>>2887593Friend of mine went for the pyongyang marathon and didn't have any problems, but he also said that it really isn't that interesting, because you can't go sightseeing and everything you see is curated for tourists.
this photo is bad juju
>>2887593>Any non american here ever been to north korea via travel agency?yesit's gotten super easy in recent yearswent last year, relatively shortly after they opened again you'll fly in from PEK most likelyI went to Pyongyang, the goguryeo tombs and hiking on mount myohyangwanted to do mount kumgang as well but for some reason no tour company offered to go there at the time (I think they do now)the whole tour was ~2000€ for 8days (well 9 if you count in the briefing before)they mostly dropped all of the propaganda stuff for visitors which you see in old reports / videosyou get to move fairly "freely"like you can go visit normal restaurants in Pyongyanghotels / accommodation are pretty shit for the pricewell I didn't expect much, especially for the hiking part and it still was underwhelmingi think the best way to compare it, if you backpacked rural China in the early 2000s, the basic homestays back then are basically the same experience you'll get in best korea todaygerman passport btwtravel agency did most of the thingsbut I still had to go to Berlin to their embassy in person>>2887612>because you can't go sightseeing and everything you see is curated for touriststraveling to NK from 2025 onward is a lot different than it was 10y agoso that's not really the case anymore
>>2887619> traveling to NK from 2025 onward is a lot different than it was 10y agoso that's not really the case anymoreHow has it changed? Are you allowed to leave the hotels and wander around on your own without a minder now?
Only North Korea can murder Jews and get away with it. Why did they do it, bros? rip otto warmbier
>>2887731Better to kill a dude so he can't speak of the unspeakable conditions in jail than let him blab all on 60 minutes
>>2887726>How has it changed? North Korea has gotten a lot richer in recent years (still poor, but relatively speaking like plenty cars and congestion instead of empty streets)i think they got more confidentor desperate for the money, who knows>Are you allowed to leave the hotels and wander around on your own without a minder now?nobut kindayou still will have a guide with you at all timesbut you aren't confined to the standard route and group tours anymoreyou can have a 1:1 guideso only you and the guidewhich is what I didif you don't tell them before what you want to do, they might have to ask first, but generally you're "free" on where to gostuff like>ride the metro beyond the 2 propaganda stations>just walk through Pyongyang>chill at a park>go to any restaurant>go to some actual marketsetc. are easily possible now
>>2887593I did the fly in from Shenyang in China. I stayed in a NoKo hotel and made the arrangements with some buddies. We flew into Pyongyang on an organized tour. The Mass Games were still on at that time. Did most of the usual tourist shit they take you to, but ended up hanging out a bunch with one of the guides who was this young dude just out of his military service. He showed us his apartment in central Pyongyang on Kim Il Sung Square. A bunch of his military buddies met us up at the hotel and we paid ping pong and drank heavily all night. I hope that guy is still alive.
