Travel in North Korea

When I began this webpage in 1998, there were very few sources of information on travel to North Korea and only two or three travelogues. Now it seems like everybody and his dog has been there! You will probably find better and more up-to-date information by searching the internet yourself. I will return to this page once in a while to dust and clean, but won't be maintaining it as vigorously as in the past. Cheers!

Travelogues

(Summer 1991)	Too Much Paradise.
(Spring 1993)	Travellers Tales (Far Eastern Economic Review)
(March 1995)	Please bow to the great leader.
(October 1995)	Visit the DPRK.
(October 1997)	World's most mysterious land.
(Winter 2000)	Jon Cannon goes to North Korea.
(Summer 2002)	Journey into Kimland.
(Fall 2003)	Holiday in North Korea.
(2003)	Photo Journal.
(April 2004)	Two Dutch guys.
(Spring 2004)	Kingdom of the Absurd.

Travel Agents

• VNC Travel.
• Koryo Tours.
• Korea Konsult
• North Korea 1on1 (U.S.A.)
• New Korea Tours.

Information

• Bradt's Guide to North Korea.
• Lonely Planet - Destination North Korea.
• A map.
• Panmunjom.
• The North Korean calendar.
• Let's Learn Korean.
• North Korea Books



I spent the week of Sept. 5 - Sept. 11 1999 in North Korea (want to see my train ticket)? or some posters? My tour was arranged by the good people at VNC Travel whom I enthusiastically recommend. Nick Bonner of Koryo Tours also has a lot of experience in offering guided tours of North Korea and graciously answered many of my questions.

Recommended Reading

• Falling Off The Map by Pico Iyer, collects his observations on travelling to the lonely outposts of the world, such as North Korea, Bhutan, Iceland, ... and Australia(?)
  
• Inside the Hermit Kingdom by Yi Sun Kyung, is a biography that has a lot to say about growing up as a Korean-Canadian. In 1994, she spent three weeks in North Korea reporting for the CBC.
  
• To Dream of Pigs by Clive Leatherdale. He a British guy who travelled around South Korea in 1989 and 1990 but also managed a trip to the North. At that time, it was not so easy.
  
• China Live. Mike Chinoy, CNN's Senior Asia Correspondent, has visited North Korea about a dozen times and is probably the only American journalist to ever interview Kim Il Sung. His book, while mainly about China, has a couple of fascinating chapters on North Korea.
  
• Utopias Elsewhere recounts the travels of the rather strident anti-communist Dr. Anthony Daniels through Albania, North Korea, Romania, Vietnam, and Cuba in 1989 and 1990. That would turn anyone into an anti-communist.
  
• Just As I Am by Billy Graham. It's hard to imagine a more unlikely meeting, but Billy Graham and Kim Il Sung did meet, twice, in the early 1990's in Pyongyang.