TRAVEL TO THE EDGE
Forget five-star hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants; throw in a controversial dictator, a fraught history, and a rule book bigger than the Bible and you have an unlikely tourist hotspot—the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as the DPRK. While a holiday in a country so politically and socially isolated that it’s known as the “hermit kingdom” might sound absurd, more than 100,000 intrepid travellers venture here annually to get a glimpse of “real life” in this relic of the Soviet era. The annual Pyongyang Marathon attracted more than 1,000 foreign amateurs last year, up from just 200 when it opened to outsiders in 2014. And, contrary to popular belief, North Korea wants foreign tourists; it aims to be luring two million a year by 2020. But would you go?
A trip to Pyongyang would bestow extraordinary bragging rights, enviable selfies, and dinner party conversation for years, but there are very real risks associated with visiting North Korea. Relations between the DPRK and the West are at their shakiest in decades following the testing of Pyongyang’s first intercontinental ballistic missile last year. As North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and US President Donald Trump rattle their sabres, one hopes this talk of war is nothing more than bombastic rhetoric; Washington and Pyongyang have always exchanged insults—although none so colourful as “Rocket Man” and “Dotard.” Further, the tragic fate of 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier, who was detained in 2016 after attempting to steal a propaganda poster in Pyongyang and returned to his parents blind, deaf, and incoherent
