If I mailed (snail mail) a letter from the United States to North Korea, where would it end up & what kind of journey would it take?
Is that even possible? In other words, is North Korea a member of the Universal Postal Union?
There must be some US immigrant families that have relatives in N Korea. Mail might be the only form of communication available to them. I think its a given that it would be heavily censored before getting delivered.
Unless being identified that way in N Korea could be dangerous? Having US relatives might cause problems for the people still in N Korea. I know there have been reunions between N and S Korean families. They just had one last month.
Interesting question.
Looks like you’re pretty much limited to a letter/postcard.
It would go direct, best possible route, and arrive at its destination. Every country in the world is a signatory member of the Universal Postal Union, and as such, guarantees that mail arriving from another country will be handled and dispatched the same as that originating within the country, with no additional payment of postage. The only obstruction might come at the customs office, which regulates what is considered admissible into the country. There may or may not be censors that read all incoming mail, but that by itself would only cause a delay, according to how much mail has to be screened by the staff in the censoring office.
Go online and find the mailing address of some office in North Korea, and send them a letter. See what happens.
I’d send a post card instead of a letter. It’ll make it easier for all the authorities in the US, NK, and all points in between to read it. If you send a letter, you’d have to take into account what condition the letter and envelope will be in after it’s been steamed open at least twice. You think it’ll be legible after that?
Whether you send a letter or postcard, be prepared to be thoroughly investigated by the US government, the North Korean government and perhaps others (the South Korean government?). They may never talk to you directly, but I’m sure they’ll want to know who you are and who you know in North Korea. And if your mail is addressed to someone specific over there, that person (and their family) might be moved to a DPRK prison.
As Dewey Finn suggests, I wouldn’t care to be on any of the lists that doing such a thing would put me on in either country.
If you’re all that concerned, send a post-card to:
Since North Korea has tourists from all kinds of places (although the tourism is severely restricted and the numbers of people from those places is also severely restricted) and the US government doesn’t ban the use of US passports for travel to North Korea, I’d venture to say nobody’s at all interested in why you’re writing to someone there.
Supposedly, reception reports sent to Radio Pyongyang from shortwave radio listeners in the United States itself are never answered. However, some reports sent through Canada Post, with a return address in the United States, will receive a QSL card - snail mail from NK to the US.
I’ve always been curious about mail between Allied and Axis nations during WWII.
It’s possible that you could have a letter relayed through a third country that is on speaking terms with both the US and NK. China or Russia maybe. If you walk into a US post office in a metropolitan area and tell the clerk that you want to mail a letter to Beijing, how much would it be please, they probably won’t bat an eye. Then, your friend in China can take your enclosed letter and mail it to NK from a PRC post office, who also probably wouldn’t care too much because mailing to NK wouldn’t be so unusual.
I imagine that there are very few people in North Korea who receive mail even from China. No matter who the letter is addressed to, it’s going to be scrutinized.
Probably the case, but I wouldn’t be so sure. In the Cold War 80s, my cousin and I would have some fun sending fake Russian correspondences to each other, so we’d make up Russian names for each other, use addressing that included the word “comrade” or even put Cyrillic names in the address name fields, and occasionally we’d get letters that had extra markings on them from the post office. But they all got delivered. Now, I don’t necessarily think we got on any list, and I’m sure there are plenty of Russians writing letters to each other in Chicago, but it was clear that at least some of these letters got extra scrutiny.
It’s interesting to compare the situation faced by US citizens who want to go to NK with those who want to go to Cuba. By and large, the restrictions on US citizens going to Cuba are a result of the US government trying to prevent you from spending money there except on strict terms defined by the US government. Cuba wants your money, they don’t care and will let you in. On the other hand, the barriers face by US citizens trying to go to NK are mostly put up by NK itself. Going won’t win you a patriotism medal from the American Legion, but if you come back to the US and tell the border inspector that you just spent $5000 on a guided tour of Pyongyang, they will roll their eyes but you won’t be arrested or anything.
The US government strongly recommends that Americans not go to NK, but they don’t say it’s banned or anything, only inadvisable due to political and civil rights issues.
Are you sure the markings weren’t also a prank by your cousin?
Anything is possible, of course, but that type of prank doesn’t fit her style, the handwriting was definitely not hers, and her reaction seemed genuinely surprised when I showed her the actual letter. I suppose she could still be pranking me after about 25+ years, but I doubt it. A more likely alternative explanation, if you want one, is that I’m misremembering or the marking were in regards to something else on the letter (like difficulty reading an address or something.) I don’t remember it as such, though.
Now that you mention it, that’s a fascinating question. I’m curious too!
I see the question was asked here; apparently it was allowed, at least in the early part of the war.
In that case, address the letter to Kim Jong-Un! 