Playing By Pyongyang's Rules

May 12, 2016 7:04 AM

The compromises North Korea’s most popular tour operator makes for access.

This article led me to: The strange ways North Korea makes detainees confess on camera: - "North Korea has a history of using American detainees as bargaining chips with the United States, its avowed enemy. These are some of the previous cases of strange confessions by detained Americans – which have been explained after their release."

That article led me to: Holiday at the Dictator’s Guesthouse - "What possessed a family man from Ohio to smuggle a Bible into North Korea?"

posted by the man of twists and turns (10 comments total)

If you visit North Korea, it's like going to a casino, only the stakes are higher. Just like accepting that you may lose your money due to bad luck, you have to accept that you may lose your freedom for any or no reason. As long as you're cool with that, bon voyage.
posted by prepmonkey at 7:47 AM on May 12, 2016

The story about Jeffrey Fowle sounds more like a guy actively trying to get himself martyred than a turn of bad luck in an oppressive land.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:00 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]

This FPP plus the one a few weeks ago about the extensive visit made by an Australian traveler was eye-opening in that most of what I have known about North Korea tends to be from a very "they are horrible people and it's a horrible place to live" viewpoint, which, while fairly accurate, tells me nothing about what it is go to be there. I appreciate these links because I actually get to form a more distinct view of the country as a whole. It's more bizarre and sad than anything. It just seems surreal that this country exists.
posted by Kitteh at 8:24 AM on May 12, 2016

It just seems surreal that this country exists.

It's worth remembering that South Korea was a dictatorship up till the Eighties, and still struggles with issues of freedom.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:27 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

The story about Jeffrey Fowle sounds more like a guy actively trying to get himself martyred than a turn of bad luck in an oppressive land.

That sounds about right. After going through the story, I could not fathom the ignorance, and naive notions this man entertained. He seems like he was destined to end up in a situation like this, eventually.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:31 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have a lot of respect for Koryo Tours. They are trying to bridge the chasm between a brutal dictatorship and happy-go-lucky tourists. Mistakes in any direction can lead to bad bad things.

And they're honest. Back in 2006, I gave them a $3K deposit for a Arirang Mass Games trip. A couple months later, the DPRK set off their first nuke, and all the US visas were cancelled. I figured that I could kiss the deposit goodbye, because they're in China and I signed papers without reading them. But Koryo was great and they wired me the money back straight away. A small thing, I know, but it's stuck with me.

I never got to go to the DPRK. Strangely, it seems more dangerous now; the risk of kidnapping back then seemed low. And they've stopped doing the Mass Games, so there's even less reason to take the chance.
posted by bruceo at 9:55 AM on May 12, 2016

I just finished "Without You There Is No Us" about a (South) Korean-American woman (who is not religious but pretends to be) who goes to the DPRK to teach English at a religious-sponsored school outside Pyongyang. (I'm sure this was a mefi suggestion.) It gives a lot of interesting context for these religious groups attempting to operate in the DPRK and why they're tolerated and what their limits are, and what is UP with them wanting to go there anyway, and the ways they use the regime and the regime uses them. It also gives some glimpses into everyday life in the DPRK, at least for the sons of the elite, but the main theme of the book is how very little about life there that the author can understand or even see, and how it was a hall of mirrors whenever she tried.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:13 AM on May 12, 2016

I highly recommend Barbara Demick's Nothing To Envy referenced in the article. I am endlessly fascinated by the DPRK, and it was an illuminating look at ordinary citizens' lives and the total control the state has over them.
posted by bologna on wry at 10:25 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

My favorite piece is still Journey into Kimland (previously here).
posted by SisterHavana at 11:36 AM on May 12, 2016

At the Seattle International Film Festival this year is Under the Sun, an interesting looking documentary about North Korea that sounds like it started as a regime-sanctioned project but didn't end as one.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 4:43 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]