
Visit North Korea - nafizh
http://koryotours.com/
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bkeroack
This is disgusting. North Korea deserves not a single dime of Western tourist
money. This is literally subsidizing mass murder, torture and famine as a
method of social control.

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ekianjo
This could be seen as an educational visit. This is what an actual _dystopia_
looks like.

~~~
walrus01
The thing is, you can't escape from the guided tour and they only take you to
places on list of about 20 approved tourist sites. You can't escape the hotel.
So there is no opportunity to wander around the DPRK and actually see the
dystopia, you only see the Potemkin village facade.

~~~
pavement
Okay, point taken. You'll only get to see the artificial air-brushed façade of
the nightmare.

But, uh, how could a tour of a genuine dystopia actually work any other way?
Would a dystopia _ever_ advertise the horrors if its own shortcomings? Could a
dystopia adequately prove it's own misery-inducing institutional apparatus to
visitors if it tried? And, my god, would you actually want such an experience?

A walking tour of a prison camp? Tour guides that explain how they know they
will die incarcerated, and that technically, listening to their words is
actively benefiting from slave labor? What if you could go on an actual ride-
along with a death squad as they disappear a real, live political dissident?

Wouldn't paying money for the opportunity to wade in and observe someone
else's living hell, represent true sadistic voyeurism, when contrasted against
the premise of paying to satisfy a morbid curiosity of what they'll _let_ you
see of it?

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teej
The point is that your precious tourist dollars go towards supporting an
oppressive regime so that you can view their citizens in zoo-like conditions.
It's a disgusting choice to make.

~~~
pavement
Most of the people I know of, who would travel there, are not interested in
anything beyond the bragging rights of doing things few other people have
done. Emphasis on the bragging. It's a trip a person takes to be cooler than
the people who will listen to them talk about it.

Actually, come to think of it, disgusting totalitarian patronage or not,
that's what being on the receiving end of most conversations about someone
else's vacation feels like.

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acjohnson55
Trippy. I would consider going. I've been to Cuba (pre detente) and the West
Bank. Both experiences were enlightening. I have significantly higher
reservations about the government of DPRK and the ethics of visiting, for
sure.

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peteretep

        > I've been to Cuba (pre detente)
        > and the West Bank
    

Both of which can conceivably have a net positive impact on the people there.

    
    
        > DPRK
    

Not even once.

~~~
acjohnson55
To be honest, I don't travel to have a positive impact on the people at the
destination. While that would be nice, I'm pretty sure it's not the reality. I
travel to experience the world and learn. At best, my social impact comes from
being able to be a trusted source of information for people who don't get
around so much.

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mc32
One has to wonder if they get kickback from the NK gov for bringing in foreign
currency --it may well be there is no kickback, but given they are not locals
and run the operation from China, that it takes knowing people to organize
these guided tours.

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hiesenburg
I wonder if Otto Warmbier used this tour company...
[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/world/asia/north-korea-
ot...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/world/asia/north-korea-otto-
warmbier.html?_r=0)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier)

~~~
icpmacdo
Well in the wikipedia article you linked "Warmbier traveled to North Korea as
a tourist with Young Pioneer Tours".

I would not go to N. Korea, your pretty close to directly funding the regime
doing that IMO. Its funny I notice I am born almost the exact same time as
Otto, I know its possible that I could have done something that dumb he just
got some unlucky results.

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peterburkimsher
I went with CYTS in 2010. North Korea is a fascinating country. Everything I
like (Jesus and technology) is illegal!

Young Pioneer Tours are cheaper than Koryo, in case anyone wants to go on a
budget.

~~~
peteretep

        > Young Pioneer Tours
    

PLUS, you get a chance for FREE LIFELONG accomodation![0]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier)

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Overtonwindow
I don't think I could do this in good conscience. It would be like touring a
Nazi concentration camp. In 1940.

