# North Korea is back open for tourists-Would you go? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 12, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240 "2025-02-12T16:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/1 "2025-02-12T16:41:12Z")
Interestingly, there have been no Chinese tourists as of yet, only Russians. I personally would never go, and I’ve heard too many horror stories in the media and it sounds like such a grim place. > **[North Korea opens to tourists after five years with tours to little-known...](https://www.the-independent.com/travel/news-and-advice/north-korea-tours-rason-b2695235.html)** > > Five-day itineraries of the northern city include visits to a sea cucumber farm and school uniform factory ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/2 "2025-02-12T16:43:55Z")
I’d go if they didn’t require bowing down to their Kim statues, and if I knew I could get good healthcare if something bad happened. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/3 "2025-02-12T16:48:55Z")
No, I wouldn’t go. And I think it should be illegal for US citizens to go there without US government permission. It puts us at risk when a US citizen ends up trapped there. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/4 "2025-02-12T16:49:22Z")
I can’t think of a good reason to go there, and if things happen to go wrong, you’re screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/5 "2025-02-12T16:54:23Z")
Not a chance. I would never go there with the government they have in place (and unlikely to change in my lifetime). They have imprisoned tourists for very minor infractions. Expect torture and to not survive the ordeal. You might get out with no problem. But you might not. Why chance it? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/6 "2025-02-12T17:33:01Z")
No, I would not go, not even for green eggs and ham. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/7 "2025-02-12T18:00:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > when a US citizen ends up trapped there. Reminds me _[The Reluctant Communist](https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-reluctant-communist/paper)_, a book about a U.S. soldier who deserted across the border to North Korea. He ended up staying there for 40 years. It wasn’t exactly prison and torture… they gave him a free apartment and “assigned” him a wife, and he acted as the main antagonist in all their anti-US propaganda films. Really interesting story throughout, especially combined with the [Vice documentary series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCQh1usdzE&list=PLDbSvEZka6GGOrQuonllt75KmhyfZcRjj). Personally, I’d love to visit, just to see what life on the ground is like there (to the limited extent the guides even let you see anything real). Not that I glorify autocratic regimes, but the U.S. isn’t exactly known for even-handed analyses of our ideological enemies. I’d prefer to see it for myself, if at all possible without being imprisoned… or wived. (Edit: Added spoiler tag for the book details) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/8 "2025-02-12T18:12:34Z")
I’ll pass. Especially with the current US government. I’ll take my chances with the disorganized bandits of much of the rest of the world. No reason to visit the organized bandits of a truly ruthless criminal regime. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/9 "2025-02-12T18:15:43Z")
Absolutely not. There are so many _nice_ places to visit in the world. Why would I go to a country where they only show you the “Potemkin’s villages” they want you to see, where I would have a minder with me at all times, and where I would have to reverence their fucking great leaders? I would not want to give my money to a criminal regime that interns and tortures many of its citizens. Nor would I want to risk ending up like Otto Warmbier. Fuck North Korea. The many Youtube videos posted by tourists are more than enough to sample it in all its perversity. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/10 "2025-02-12T18:18:12Z")
I think it would be fascinating and would be happy to go there if I could do so on someone else’s dime. If I’m paying my own way, it’s going to be pretty low on my priority list. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/11 "2025-02-12T19:04:51Z")
^^Yeah, me, too. I’d go if someone else paid for it. And I’d go thru all the motions of respecting all icons of the Kims and do exactly as my minders instructed to stay in their good graces. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/12 "2025-02-12T19:33:54Z")
Visiting a sea cucumber farm sounds modestly intriguing, but there are more appealing destinations for that than North Korea. > **[Hawaiian Fishpond Kicks Off State’s First Sea Cucumber Aquaculture](https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/hawaiian-fishpond-kicks-states-first-sea-cucumber-aquaculture)** > > NOAA-supported project finds an environmentally restorative export product in Hawaiian sea cucumbers. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/13 "2025-02-12T19:41:24Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > No, I would not go, not even for green eggs and ham. Not to mention the [warm beer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/14 "2025-02-12T19:44:18Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And I think it should be illegal for US citizens to go there without US government permission. Free citizens shouldn’t need their government’s permission to go where they wish But I’d never go there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/15 "2025-02-12T20:12:06Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Free citizens shouldn’t need their government’s permission to go where they wish How about the US Capital building? Bank vaults? Your home? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/16 "2025-02-12T20:24:57Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Free citizens shouldn’t need their government’s permission to go where they wish > [@TriPolar](#): > > How about the US Capital building? Bank vaults? Your home? If you want to continue, take it to a new thread. **Moderating:** > **How to Reply as a linked Topic** > > Click Reply, in the upper left corner of the reply window is the reply type button, _looks like a curving arrow point to the right_. > > Choose **Reply as linked topic** and it starts a new thread. As an example, you can choose GD, IMHO or The Pit for it. > > That is actually the best method. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/17 "2025-02-12T21:07:30Z")
God no. For starters I’d be terrified of committing any minor kind of faux pas that could see me effectively executed. And it would all seem in such bad taste given the abject conditions the population must live in. Let’s not kid ourselves that any tourism would benefit any of the ordinary people who live there. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/18 "2025-02-12T21:20:19Z")
I would be terrified to go there. Never. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/19 "2025-02-12T21:26:03Z")
I’m an adventure tourist. I would go, though I don’t have plans at this stage. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/20 "2025-02-12T21:30:31Z")
As fascinating as it’d be I wouldn’t step foot in that country without a diplomatic passport. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240.md?page=2)