North Korea Holiday

[BradleyGas]

I'm thinking about going to North Korea for a holiday nest year. Having looked on the internet, the best sites seem to be Regent holidays and Undiscovered destinations. However, I've never used or heard of either.

Has anyone been to North Korea and if so, who did you go with? I.e., via online or some other means. Or, has anyone heard of the 2 sites mentioned above.

Any advice or guidance on this would be much appreciated.

[chrissa1]

I'm sorry but why would anyone want to go to this country run by a despot, who lives in total luxury while his people starve and are oppressed?

All you would be "allowed" to see are places that bear no relation to how its people actually live. Would you want to see the vast prison camps where so called dissidents are kept in terrible conditions?

North Korea should be shunned by the rest of the world until a democracy is in place and its tyrant is toppled or governs his people humanely.

[ichkeria]

No one should be under any illusion about the sort of place North Korea is - however, one reason we like to travel and see the world is to see places which are completely unlike anything we have experienced before. If I thought for one moment that not going there was going to make a difference then I'd advice against travel there. Patently however, North Korea is so detached from the outside world I doubt if its rulers could care less.
On the other hand there ARE places I wouldn't go on principle or out of safety concerns. North Korea just wouldn't be one of them.

[jno]

this is a request for information, not for denunciations of Dear Leaders...

[spudqueen]

chrissa1 - what you're describing could have been the holiday I went on to the USSR. It certainly was a different sort of holiday. Interesting though.

[chrissa1]

I agree ichkeria. They wouldn't care less if the world came or not. However, tourists are good for a country's economy and that wouldn't be passed on to the ordinary people as it would in a democracy.

[boxtops]

A friend of mine went to China years ago - before the rise in the economy - she said she felt really embarrassed to be staying in a half decent hotel when the people in the country were so poor

[grasscarp]

Isn't this where they ordered 100 days mourning for the dead leader with no alcohol and an army general was seen drinking. Punishment was they fired a mortar at him so that he would be completely wiped off the face of the earth. Not my idea of a holiday destination.

[puzzled54]

If you are still looking for a trip to North Korea, Voyages Jules Verne are doing one, www.vjv.com

[DTCwordfan]

I wouldn't want to go there on vacation - everything will be highly controlled, they will expect you to see certain Great Leader projects, everything organized and pure propaganda, and you will be closely followed and listened in on.

Ok China does that too re the listening etc but with some aplomb so you hardly notice, whereas other countries are also pretty crude about it - wit Gadaffi's Libya.

You won't be able to roam around, the shops etc looked decimated and one does wonder where they store the favoured citizen's food and distribute it.

Have you been to South Korea? If not, start with that as that is culturally pretty disparate to Europeans but does offer freedom of movement and some amazing history with the Silla Dynasty in Kyong-Ju, now a world heritage site (about 5 hours by train from Seoul). See how that goes first as there are a few sights and opinions that will have you gasping.......

[DTCwordfan]

If you are interested in that neck of the woods, Mongolia would be my choice and to see it before it is irreversibly changed. Ulan Bator is already transforming as the economy opens up.