North Korea is known for many things but not, as far as I can tell, traveller's having their data seized. If anything it sounds similar to the way travellers to the US are treated. Care to elaborate on your comparison?
Whilst I'm only one data point, when I entered the DPRK everyone's phone (except mine - left it at home) was put into a plastic bag which was then sealed in such a way that opening it was irreversible. It was then entrusted to our British tour rep, who held onto the bag for the duration of the trip. People got them back from the still sealed bag a week later at the hotel on the last morning (for those flying out) and at the station (for those getting the train to Dandong, which is well worth doing and an excellent way to finish off the trip).
I wonder how you consider visiting such a place in such a way that fosters commercial gain for the establishment morally defensible? Particularly when you can see enough across the Chinese portion of the border (particularly in the east, near the town of Chiangbaishan) to understand the situation. Have you no shame?
Well, firstly, I examined the opinions on the subject of a number of refugees from the DPRK. The consensus amongst them is that foreigners visiting is a good thing; not only do we provide hard currency to every ordinary citizen we encounter, which is always welcome, but every interaction between a DPRK citizen and a foreigner acts to combat the official government propaganda. We talk to them, we show photographs, we demonstrate that we're not imperialist aggressors seeking to occupy the country. When you grow up with that lie as accepted truth, it's extraordinarily valuable to actually meet foreigners, or even just see them wandering about smiling and waving.
It is certainly true that some of my hard currency went to the government. Given that there are a few thousand tourists a year, this means that what they got from me is a tiny, tiny fraction of what they get through their (limited) trade and their black market dealings (they export opium, for example). Given that all of life is a series of compromises, I judge that the income the government got from my visit is far outweighed by the income a number of ordinary citizens got from me, and also the exposure of those ordinary citizens to foreigners. We wandered around in crowds on our own talking to people, met some people in a pub, encountered people on their way to and from work as we wandered around Pyongyang, all that sort of thing. Yes, our trip was carefully organised and monitored, but it's simply not the case that everyone we encountered was some kind of government actor.
"Particularly when you can see enough across the Chinese portion of the border (particularly in the east, near the town of Chiangbaishan) to understand the situation."
How is that relevant? I didn't need to see the situation from China. I went to Pyongyang and Kaesong and Nampho and a whole lot of other places.
Presumably you think that the correct way to go is for no foreigners to ever visit, and for the DPRK population to live in ignorance of the outside world, never encountering foreigners and never having the chance to realise that actually their government is lying to them? What's your moral defence for that? I went to the DPRK and I put hard currency in the hands of ordinary citizens and I talked to them and I showed them bits of the outside world and shared a pint with some and, on the whole, did more good than harm. The hard currency I put into the hands of the government is regrettable, but outweighed.
What have YOU done?
"Have you no shame?"
The moral high ground and five dollars might just get you a cup of coffee. Shame? I'd be ashamed of myself if I had your attitude, I can tell you that. Shame? That's a product of local customs and folk-beliefs and other such backwards crap. If you're going to travel more than a day's walk from your village, dump it and make decisions based on something a bit more reliable.
