US tourists prepare to 'invade' N
Korea By Sunny Lee
BEIJING - Hurry if you're in the mood to
travel to one of the least traveled countries on
the planet. North Korea says it will admit foreign
tourists this year only until October 10.
That's the latest schedule Walter Keats
received from Pyongyang. Keats heads
Illinois-based Asia-Pacific Travel, the only
travel company in the United States authorized by
Pyongyang. The reclusive country opens itself to
foreign tourists only for a limited period of the
year. Restrictions on Americans are even stricter. In
fact,
Americans are allowed into North Korea only during
the Arirang Festival, a birthday party for the
late leader Kim Il-sung.
As a US citizen
who is not part of a diplomatic or humanitarian
aid mission on North Korea, Keats has had the rare
experience of visiting the secretive country 10
times in the past 12 years, starting in 1995.
During the period, Keats saw the country
"definitely" changing.
"I don't know if
that's the question of being closed or open.
Things are still very restricted. But the people
we deal with, at least, are more flexible, more
friendly, and more open now," Keats said in an
interview in Beijing before he was to fly with
Pyongyang-bound American tourists last weekend.
North Koreans' flexible attitude is
reflected, for example, in the tour scheduling. In
the past, the North Koreans decided every
itinerary. But Keats told them some places are not
really interesting for Americans, while some are
more interesting. Now they are more willing to
listen.
Besides, the North Korean guides
are more willing to accommodate impromptu requests
from foreign tourists now such as visiting a local
elementary school, even if that was not part of
the original travel itinerary.
The changes
are also noticeable in the North Korean tour
guides themselves as well. They used to be rather
solemn and less spontaneous, but these days they
even crack jokes in English. Keats sees it as a
"nice" change.
"One of the purposes of
this tour is to break down the barriers to show
that we are human beings and they are also human
beings. We're not both devils fighting each other.
So it's nice to see the humanity in both sides.
Humor is a good medium," Keats said.
North
Korea and the US are still technically at war with
each other as a legacy from the Korean War.
However, today American tourists in North Korea
are not subject to any of the anti-American
sentiment and rhetoric that Keats experienced
during some of his previous visits.
However, all foreign tourists to the
Stalinist nation must go on guided tours and must
have their tour guides with them at all times.
Photography is strictly controlled, as is
interaction with the local people. Besides,
tourists holding US passports are not usually
granted visas. But exceptions were made in 1995,
2002, 2005 and this year.
Some observers
are inclined to view the timing of these
exceptions as coinciding with a softening in US
relations with North Korea. But that actually may
not be the case, because North Korea gave the
green light for US tourists in 2002 - just after
President George W Bush lumped it in with a group
known as the "axis of evil".
On his part,
Keats has to remind his fellow American tourists
that visiting North Korea is "very different" from
visiting any other country in the world and tells
them to be mindful of following a few rules. These
include refraining from attempting to strike an
unauthorized conversation with local people.
In general, the North Korean people would
not appreciate foreign tourists coming up to them
because "frankly, it endangers them", Keats said.
Somebody could later ask them why they talked to
the foreigners, what they said to the foreigners,
what the tourists gave to them.
"So I
advise our people to refrain from such approach.
Of course, you'd like to talk to somebody there.
But most of them don't speak English anyway. So,
if you do so, you'd be putting them at risk for no
reason."
Unfortunately, Keats observed,
it's not just the country that has changed over
the years, but the tourists themselves have shown
some changes as well. In the early days, tourists
came with some research, reading about the society
before they visited North Korea. The early
tourists were more knowledgeable and inquisitive.
But "today's tourists are more interested in
making sure that they've been to this place",
Keats said.
Keats believes the idea of
going to North Korea as merely going on an "exotic
tour" should be discouraged. "We get phone
inquiries from people who say they don't want to
be in a group, want to go out and meet local
people in North Korea. If you're so ignorant about
how the society there works, you'd think you can
just go and talk to somebody on the street. That's
very dangerous.
"I don't think you have a
right to create a situation where somebody there
might get into trouble because of your need to go
back home and brag that you talked with North
Korean people. I think it's immoral for somebody,
particularly from our [US] culture, to do so."
Keats said no American on his tour so far
has been rejected an entry visa to North Korea,
but added that people with certain professions
would have difficulty getting in. He took an
example of journalists. He said he was
specifically told by the North Koreans that he
would be fined a minimum of US$1,000 per
journalist, if found.
For him, however,
that's not the only business risk he has to bear
in dealing with the North Koreans. Last year, he
suffered a financial setback after the scheduled
trip was abruptly canceled after more than 200
Americans had signed up for it.
Understandably, he was not very happy
about it. "The problem is that they make changes
all the time," he said. In fact, the travel-permit
dates for this year were already a third revision.
Keats said the North Koreans would simply
change the dates for foreign visitors and say the
foreigners needed to change their arrival dates.
"They don't seem to understand that in some peak
travel seasons, changing dates on the air tickets
could cost additional money. I don't think people
at the top [in North Korea] really understand how
the market works."
These days, a tour to
North Korea usually comes as a
four-day-three-night package. That may sound
reasonable for a country that is roughly half the
size of Minnesota. But the devil is in the
details. The first day counts from the day the
tourists' airplane departs from Beijing to
Pyongyang. (Foreign travelers usually arrive in
Pyongyang via Beijing.) And on the last day, the
foreigners have to leave the country at 8am. But
that is still technically counted as "one day".
So, to save time, once arrived, going to
the hotel usually becomes the last itinerary of
the first day. After stopping by a few places on
the way from the airport, tourists go directly to
see the Arirang performance, which starts at 7pm.
The Arirang Festival, the high point of
any visit to North Korea, is a performance by
100,000 synchronized gymnasts inside the world's
largest stadium, occasioned for a celebration of
the birth of the late "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung.
It depicts two separated lovers, symbolizing the
two Koreas, culminating with their reunion. In
North Korea, among the lists of "must-sees" is
Mansu Hill, where a Korean War memorial and statue
of Kim Il-sung is located. Others include the Arch
of Triumph, Geumsu-san Memorial Palace and Kim
Il-sung Mausoleum, a film studio in Pyongyang, and
the Korean Central History Museum. Keats has found
that these are the places American tourists find
particularly interesting.
He said it's
also worth watching how the local people pay their
respect to Kim Il-sung at his mausoleum, who is
regarded as a deity there. "From a foreigner's
eye, that would be quite a cultural experience."
Last year, the reclusive country accepted
about 20,000 visitors from abroad. The majority
were Chinese and South Koreans. Fewer than 2,000
Westerners visited North Korea last year.
So, at the end of having the rare
opportunity to see the secretive country, "people
are pretty amazed", Keats said.
"North
Korea is a unique system. I think most of the
visitors leave with a positive view of the tour,
which doesn't necessarily mean that they get to
have a positive view of the country. But they
learn more about the country by being there.
Seeing it first-hand gives them a much better
sense of what is going on there."
Sunny Lee is a writer/journalist
based in Beijing, where he has lived for five
years. A native of South Korea, Lee is a graduate
of Harvard University and Beijing Foreign Studies
University.
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