The first British tourists allowed to return to North Korea BBC what they saw

Do not insult the leaders. Do not insult ideology. And don’t judge.

These are the rules of guides that read Western tourists when they are preparing to reach the border to North Korea, perhaps the most secret and repressive country in the world.

Then there is practical information. No phone, no internet, no cash machines.

“Northern Koreans are not robots. They have opinions, goals and sense of humor. And at our briefing, we urge people to listen and understand them,” says Rowen Barod, who is conducting young pioneer tours, one of two Western companies who resumed trips to the country last week, after a five-year break.

North Korea sealed its borders at the very beginning of the pandemic, closing diplomats, auxiliary workers and travelers, and making it almost impossible to find out what is happening there.

Since then, he has also identified himself from the majority, based on the support of Russia and China. Many doubted whether the Westerners would be able to return.

But after perennials and several false starts, Rowen and some other tourist leaders received green light for rebooting operations. He gathered a group of eager travelers in just five hours, despairing not to miss the opportunity. Most were vloggers and addicts, some want to withdraw the final country from their list, as well as strange North Korea enthusiasts.

Last Thursday, tourists from the UK, France, Germany and Australia traveled across the border from China on a remote area for a four -year trip.

Among them was 28-year-old British YouTube Mike O’kenedi. Even with his reputation, he was struck by an extraordinary level of control. Like all trips to North Korea, tourists were conducted by local guides, who followed the strict, approved schedule in advance. It included carefully choreographic trips to the beer factory, school and a new, completely spare pharmacy.

Ben Weston, one of the leaders of the Safolk, was liked to visit North Korea, “staying on a school trip”. “You can’t leave the hotel without guides,” he said.

“I even needed to tell them a couple of times when I wanted to use the bathroom,” Mike said. “I never needed to do it anywhere in the world.”

Despite the rolling, Mike was able to notice the fragments of real life. “Everyone worked, and did not feel that anyone was just hanging out. It was some kind.”

On a trip to school, an eight -year -old group performed a dance for the animation of ballistic missiles that hit the target. Video with a spectacle shows girls and boys with red ties, singing, and explosions break out on the screen behind them.

So far, tourists are kept away from the Pyongyang capital. Greg Vaczi of Koryo Tours, another excursion company that allowed to return, admits that Pyongyang lacks the current route. He suspects that the authorities have chosen Rasan as a guinea pig because this territory is relatively placed and easy to manage.

Created as a special economic zone to experience a new financial policy, it acts as a mini -coptalist enclave in a different socialist state. Chinese entrepreneurs work joint ventures with the North Koreans and can travel and go out quite freely.

Joe Smith, an experienced North Korean traveler and a former writer NK News specialized Platform, was there on his third trip. “I feel that the more times you visit, the less you know. Every time you look behind the curtain, which just leaves you more questions,” he said.

Joe’s main moment was a surprise visit to the market for luxury goods, where people sold jeans and perfumes, as well as fake Louis Vuitton handbags and Japanese washing machines probably imported from China. Here the tourists were not allowed to take pictures – an attempt to hide this consumer bubble from the rest of the country, they suspected.

“It was the only place where people didn’t expect us,” Joe said. “It was dirty and real; there was actually the place of the Northern Koreans. I liked it.”

But, according to experienced leaders of the tour, the group’s movements were more limited than in previous trips, with fewer opportunities to wander the streets, go out to a barber shop or supermarket and talk to the locals.

Covid was often called the cause, Greg of Koryo Tours. “They are still concerned on the surface. Our luggage was disinfected at the border, temperatures were taken, and about 50% of people are still wearing masks.” Greg cannot find out whether the fear is true or justification for controlling people.

This is considered mad Strongly hit North KoreaAlthough it is difficult to learn about the degree of suffering.

Local guides repeated the government line that the virus entered the country into a balloon sent from South Korea, and was quickly eradicated in 90 days. But Rowen, who has been to North Korea more than 100 times, felt that Rasan had suffered from tough rules. According to him, many Chinese enterprises closed and their employees left.

Even Joe, an experienced North Korean traveler, commented on how crushed the buildings. “The places were dimly illuminated, and our hotel rooms had no heating,” he said, noting the trip to the cold, dark and deserted art gallery. “It looked like they only opened the door for us.”

Photos of the regime can take North Korea clean and brilliant, Joe said, but you personally understand that “roads are horrible, sidewalks stagger, and the buildings are strangely built.” According to him, his hotel room was old -fashioned and dirty, reminiscent of the “grandmother’s living room”. The whole window was cracked.

“They had five years to fix things. The Northern Koreans are so sensitive to what they show tourists. If it’s the best they can show, I’m afraid to think that there is still,” he said. Most of the country is kept well hidden, with More than four out of 10 people are believed.

One of the few chances of tourists in North Korea interacts with the locals – these are their guides who sometimes speak in English. In these recent trips, they were surprisingly well informed, despite the intensive propaganda machine and the regime’s information blockade. Perhaps this is because they talk to Chinese businessmen who come and leave, Greg.

They knew about Trump’s tariffs and war in Ukraine – even in the fact that North Korean troops were involved. But when Joe showed a photo from Syria, his guide did not know that President Assad was ousted. “I cautiously explained that sometimes when people do not like their leader, they rise and make them, and at first he did not believe me.”

Such conversations should be delicately engaged. Strict laws prevent the North Koreans talking freely. Ask or reveal too much, and tourists may be threatened by their leadership.

Mike confesses that they were sometimes that it made him nervous. He was invited to write a visit to the visitors’ book on a trip to North Korea and Russia. “I went empty and wrote something like” I wish the world. “After that, my guide told me it was inappropriate to write.

“Usually the guides did a great job to make us feel safe. There were only a few points when I thought it was strange.”

For Greg of Koryo Tours, these interactions bring a deeper purpose to North Korea tourism: “Northern Koreans get the opportunity to interact with foreigners. This allows them to come up with new ideas that are so important in the country.”

But tourism in North Korea is controversial, especially since travelers were admitted back before assistance and most Western diplomats, including the UK. Critics, including Joanna Hosoniac from the Alliance “Civil Rights to North Korean Human Rights”, claim that these trips are mostly benefiting the regime.

“This is not like tourism in other poor countries where locals enjoy additional income. The vast majority of the population does not know these tourists. Their money goes to the state and ultimately to their military,” she said.

One conversation was stuck in YouTuber Mike’s head. During his trip to school, he was surprised when the girl said after a meeting with him that he was hoping to visit the UK once. “I didn’t have a heart to tell her that her chances were very, very slim,” he said.