# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/21 "2025-02-12T21:30:46Z")
When I was younger, I would. I’m fascinated by totalitarian culture and I think I could learn a thing or two from the experience. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/22 "2025-02-12T21:31:09Z")
My sense is that they are targeting Russians and Chinese tourists, not those from the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/23 "2025-02-12T21:35:29Z")
I wouldn’t go even if someone else paid my way. That being said I’m not sure I would be allowed to go. I was once a US soldier stationed in South Korea and held a security clearance because of the nature of my job. I wasn’t allowed to go on the tour to the DMZ. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/24 "2025-02-12T22:33:26Z")
Even if I wanted to travel internationally (which I really don’t, travel is not something I really like), North Korea is right at the top of the “no [bleep bleep bleeping] way in Hell” list. Going someplace with their notion of a judicial system and a forced state religion (the cult of Kim) that would seriously conflict with my own faith, nope, not going there if I have any degree of choice in the matter. Visiting a real-life Oceania does not appeal. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/25 "2025-02-12T22:36:21Z")
Some people _like_ going to obscure or rarely visited places; it may be something to brag about. ---
**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, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/26 "2025-02-12T22:39:06Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I’m an adventure tourist. I would go, though I don’t have plans at this stage. I like adventure too but I do not consider the threat of being thrown in prison and tortured/kiilled for even the most minor of offenses as “adventure” (it has happened). ETA: I was trying to think of a place I’d be less likely to visit. This website has North Korea listed as #15 most dangerous. I admit I would probably go to North Korea before Somalia or Afghanistan if I had a choice (and likely most on that list). - [15 Most Dangerous Countries in the World Ranked](https://internationalsecurityjournal.com/dangerous-countries-in-the-world/) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/27 "2025-02-12T22:57:47Z")
For those of you who are even considering the possibility reread this thread on Otto Wambier we had a few years ago [who returned to the U.S. brain-damaged in a mostly vegetative state]: > [@Weirdly mixed feelings about Otto Warmbier (American student sentenced to 15 years in N Korea)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdly-mixed-feelings-about-otto-warmbier-american-student-sentenced-to-15-years-in-n-korea/749206/5): > > Calm down, just as they like to make a good show of making the convicted go on tv and denounce their American capitalist overlords, the 15 yrs hard labour is also likely about show. History indicates the Westerners that are ‘made example of’ and get harsh sentences are often quietly released a couple of years later. Which is no walk in park I’m sure, but it’s not 15 yrs at least! Ultimately any guy looking for Christian converts in North Korea must know he’s dancing with the Devil, right from … ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/28 "2025-02-12T23:02:25Z")
I would go. ---
**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, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/29 "2025-02-12T23:49:49Z")
Lots of Americans have little business leaving America because they don’t know, or refuse to believe, that elsewhere can be significantly different. Those folks need to stick to Ohio or Texas or wherever they’re from. Like the idjits who bring ammunition to Turks & Caicos, cocaine to Singapore, or proseletize for Jeebus in e.g. Dubai. Or deface a government propaganda poster in NK. You can be a successful tourist darn near anywhere, including NK, provided you’re not a) a dumbass, or b) significantly unlucky. And as to unlucky, your odds on being a victim of street crime are just ginormous in much of the USA or much of the rest of the world _compared to_ the substantially zero odds of that in Singapore, Dubai, or NK. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/30 "2025-02-12T23:52:12Z")
I’ve seen any number of YouTube videos where travelers ‘gain access’ to NK (along with their minders, of course) and see the prescribed sights. I think I’ve seen enough, that way, to know what I’d be shown/allowed to see. So … pass. ---
**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 13, 2025, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/31 "2025-02-13T03:16:47Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > 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. There was still some torture, such as when they sliced the tattoos out of his skin with no anesthetic. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/32 "2025-02-13T03:26:57Z")
Henry Rollins talked in one of his spoken word shows about going to North Korea as a tourist. I’m pretty sure the only reason he made it out alive is because of his almost supernatural ability to always be completely respectful and obsequious towards authority even when he knows it’s full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/33 "2025-02-13T03:28:19Z")
No, absolutely not, because the only reason to visit a foreign country as a tourist is to experience its culture, and you absolutely cannot do that in North Korea. You’re either limited to a strictly monitored tourist itinerary that presents a totally falsified and idealized view of the country, or you illegally go off the path, see the real country, and risk serious consequences like long jail time. The only interesting thing about visiting NK would be the novelty of experiencing the farcical fiction created for tourists, but life’s too short for that bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/34 "2025-02-13T03:35:03Z")
I wouldn’t go because I don’t want to give the brutal North Korean regime money or participate in anything that gives them the appearance of normalcy. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/35 "2025-02-13T03:52:58Z")
I was in Shanghai for the world’s fair in 2010. The lines for all the country exhibits were so long, I couldn’t get in to any of them. There was no line for the North Korea country exhibit, so I went in to see it. It was a totally surreal experience. It was as close as I ever want to get to actually visiting the place. It had the facade that NK was trying to present to the world, while being pretty obviously fake. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/36 "2025-02-13T04:23:04Z")
There are a few places that I’ve never really wanted to go to, and North Korea is among them. I will say, though, that you can get a pretty good idea of the place, or at least of what filmmakers are allowed to film, from various documentaries that are available online. Two that I would recommend are _The Vice Guide to North Korea_, and _Friends of Kim_. The latter is particularly worth watching, as it shows a tour group of North Korea supporters from the West, and how, during that tour, they started rethinking their support of the country. ---
**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 13, 2025, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/37 "2025-02-13T05:04:02Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > ETA: I was trying to think of a place I’d be less likely to visit. This website has North Korea listed as #15 most dangerous. I admit I would probably go to North Korea before Somalia or Afghanistan if I had a choice (and likely most on that list). I was wondering to myself what the difference is to me and I think it is crime. I think NK has low crime but a high likelihood that the government will bust you for some bullshit and ruin your life. I think most other places, like Somalia, you will almost certainly be a victim of crime/violence. Some person will mug/kill/kidnap/rape you. I don’t want to decide which is worse. Not going to any of them. It is not adventurous to me. It is stupid to go. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/38 "2025-02-13T05:25:06Z")
The record seems to show that most tourists arrested in totalitarian countries did something stupid to precipitate (not warrant) their detention. Regardless where you travel it’s always a good idea not to count on your host’s functionaries (especially customs and immigration officials) to have a sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/39 "2025-02-13T15:03:00Z")
I’m sure I’ve watched every travel documentary to North Korea (at least all of them before 2020 as I had a lot of free time during Covid) and I’ve watched a lot of North Korean television. I probably wouldn’t go as I’m thinking about the practicality of spending a lot of money plus hard earned vacation time from work and I’d rather go other places for a more traditional holiday. If I was in my 20s and a YouTuber? I’d definitely go! ---
**Author:** ![pezworld](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@pezworld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezworld)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240/40 "2025-02-13T17:35:12Z")
No because I’m very risk-averse. But we did go on the [USO DMZ/JSA tour](http://usodmz.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=dmz_tour&wr_id=4), which allowed us to technically step foot into North Korea, and it was fascinating. I could be talked into a trip to Iran, if I could get a visa (being American and all), because we almost moved there for a year when I was a kid, just pre-revolution, for my dad’s job. And I regret missing Cuba when all my friends went 25ish years ago, because I was chicken. (They went through Mexico.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-is-back-open-for-tourists-would-you-go/1014240.md?page=3)