North Korean minders endure Chinese
invasion By Yvonne Su
PYONGYANG - Although the
North Korean government is known for being
paranoid about foreign visitors, it has recently
adopted a softer attitude toward Chinese tourists
on the issue.
The totalitarian regime has
also been modernizing its infrastructure to lure
Chinese visitors, as was noted by senior North
Korean tourism department official Hong Yin-chel
at an economic, trade, culture and tourism
promotion event hosted jointly with China in
October.
Chinese visitors have proven one
of North Korea's best sources of foreign currency
to help offset losses after United Nations
sanctions from 2009 shut down opportunities for
the country to
earn hard cash from the
weapons business and the drugs trade. Some 60,000
to 70,000 Chinese tourists visited last year, up
from an estimated 40,000 visitors in 2010.
North Koreans' efforts
to entertain Chinese tourists have grown beyond
improving their infrastructure. In a recent visit,
tolerance was even shown to Chinese tourists'
ignorance of the regime's strict rules. The
waiting time for group visa processing has been
shortened from weeks to 24-hours in China's border
city of Dandong. And at the border, North Korean
customs didn't even bother to check these group
tourists' passports.
Rules for tourists'
photo taking have also been relaxed. In order to
satisfy their visitors' curiosities, the North
Korean government has revised its original rules
banning foreigners from taking photos from
coaches. Security guards that were sometimes
planted at the end of tourist coaches have also
been removed. The new rule is that photo taking in
Pyongyang is allowed, including spontaneously
inviting locals to take photos together.
Still, Chinese tourists are not easy to
deal with in North Koreans' eyes, even though the
two countries are supposed to be "as close as lips
and teeth."
Once Chinese tourists enter
the "Hermit Kingdom", North Korean tour guides
have to repeatedly urge them to keep their voices
down and stick to group activities - these tour
guides are obligated to take responsibility for
their clients' behavior. Even so, Chinese tourists
usually fail to cooperate.
What must
really irritate North Koreans is Chinese tourists'
arrogance with their wealth. In a recent visit
with a Chinese tour group, three college students
in their early 20s lured North Korean children to
take photos with them in downtown Pyongyang's Kim
Il-sung Square with candy, telling them in
English, "We have candy. Do you want to take
photos with us?" The tourists didn't know that
Chinese food has also caused safety problems in
North Korea, and a North Korean tour guide
responded "We have tried to prevent kids from
eating Chinese candy."
At night, these
three Chinese college students further tested
their minder's patience by sneaking out of
Pyongyang's Yanggakdo hotel, wondering around in
downtown Pyongyang and eventually dining in a
Korean barbecue restaurant. On their way back,
they talked three North Koreans into giving them
rides to Yanggakdo hotel for 20 yuan (about
US$3.20). At the end, one of them convinced one of
the North Koreans to sell his Kim Il-sung badge to
him, and the hotel's security guards showed up out
of nowhere to kick the North Korean to the ground
when they were bargaining. In North Korea, losing
a badge of the dear leaders could severely
jeopardize lives of North Koreans.
The
tourists were not aware that the North Korean
security service had followed them through their
whole tour. Their North Korean tour guide was
scolded by the security service for a whole night
and asked to delete these tourists' photos taken
when they were wandering about by themselves. The
next day, the North Korean tour guide withheld her
anger and kept information about the incident to
the small group of tourists.
Chinese
tourists who visit North Korea not for fun but to
mark Chinese soldiers' contribution to the Korean
War face a potentially more disappointing trip.
In the museum dedicated to the Korean War
at the South-North Korea border city, Kaesong,
China's involvement is not addressed, and Chinese
tourists find this very upsetting. Some of them
made a request to pay a visit to the tomb of Mao
Anying, the eldest son of late Chairman Mao
Zedong, a site located in South Phyongan province
about 100 km east of Pyongyang. The North Korean
tour guide, who has no authority to change the
schedule, had no choice but turn down the request.
Still, North Korea has become a popular
destination for Chinese tourists not only because
of the historical background but also the lower
prices.
Sin Kyong-jin, head of the Dandong
Office of North Korea's national tourism
administration, told the China Daily that some
60,000 to 70,000 Chinese tourists visited his
country last year, compared with approximately
40,000 from the estimates of Beijing-based Koryo
Tour for the previous year.
Chinese
tourists are now allowed to travel to North Korea
from China's border cities, including Liaoning
province's Dandong and Shenyang, as well as Jilin
province's Yanji and Tumen. From here, they can
reach Pyongyang, Hoeryong, Chongjin and Rason. In
2011, several new routes among Chinese cities and
Korean destinations were created to and at least
two motorcade tours in which Chinese have driven
their own cars into North Korea were organized in
2011.
Chinese tourists, unlike their
European or Western counterparts, spend a lot of
money on North Korean souvenirs, especially
Ginseng, according to Koryo Tour's founder Nick
Bonner. For a Chinese tour group (starting from
Dandong city on border of North Korea), the charge
for a person is about 6,000 yuan for a week-long
tour to North Korea.
While compared with other
countries such as Japan and South Korea, prices in
North Korea are generally cheaper, but charges on
tourists are higher. To make a long distance call
back to China in a hotel (no mobile phone is
allowed for tourists), the minimum charge is 17
yuan for three minutes.
At the Kim Il Sung
Square, Chinese tourists would normally be advised
by their tour guide to buy flowers to pay tribute
to the statue of the late North Korean leader. A
small bundle of flowers would cost 20 yuan. During
meals, the tour guide would also encourage Chinese
tourists to order a couple of more "authentic
Korean dishes" apart from the tourist set menu. A
Ginseng chicken soup costs 100 yuan. In Kaesong,
said to be the original place where Korean Ginseng
was found, prices of Ginseng are almost the same
as in the Chinese city of Shenyang. But Chinese
tourists would buy some in Kaesong in belief that
they are not fake product.
Figures on the
average spending of a Chinese tourist there are
not available.
The routes and
nationalities of tourists are determined by the
authorities of Chinese travel agencies' North
Korean counterparts. According to a Chinese travel
agent from Yanbian's Tian Yu travel agency, which
has won the monopoly right to operate the
boat-tour from Rason to Mountain Kumkang, some
Chinese travel agencies are allowed to take
foreign tourists if their Korean counterparts are
the central government level departments. The tour
to Mountain Kumkang is now temporarily halted for
the winter and will be resumed again next April.
When the spring comes again, the business would be
booming again, the agent said.
North
Korean tour guides, who were used to taking
national security as their priorities, now try
their best to ensure their guests not leave with
negative impression. In the end of the recent
visit, the North Korean tour guide traveled to
North Korea side's border city, Shinuiju, with her
clients. Before she waved and said goodbye, she
told her clients, "I understand there were some
disturbing experiences in this trip. I hope you
can leave all your unpleasant feelings here with
me, and depart from here with a great memory."
The Chinese tourist who wanted to smuggle
the Kim Il-sung badge out successfully crossed the
Yalu River. Instead of insisting the Chinese
tourist to return the badge, the tour guide asked
him to take a good care of it - though ask him not
to wear it in North Korea.
Yvonne Su is
a freelance journalist based in Beijing
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