The “Don’t Do It” Tour

Sounds fun already, doesn’t it? Now, I’m sure Kumgang is a perfectly beautiful place, as is Banff, the Olympic Peninsula, the Royal Gorge, and the Black Hills. For Kumgang, the politics are undoubtedly part of the draw, in which case, I say it’s only fair that you consider the ugly side before you subsidize that system.

The Christian Science Monitor has this interesting report about a reporter’s recent visit:

A Hyundai executive half-jokingly says that his company’s excursions are called “Don’t Do It! Tours.” Cellphones, laptops, telephoto lenses, and powerful binoculars are strictly verboten. Visitors must wear photo ID tags at all times. Photos are forbidden inside the DMZ and in the North. You are not to point at a North Korean, and, in the unlikely event you talk with a resident, you are to avoid any political statements.

Two years ago a South Korean woman reportedly asked a North Korean why President Kim Jong Il was the only fat man in the country, and was detained for several days as a result.

. . . .
In a nation where the average monthly salary is $47, North Korea earns $50 for every foreigner who visits. Moralists might question the wisdom of giving money to a harsh totalitarian regime. But the UN’s World Tourism Organization endorses the Hyundai program as a way to help reduce poverty in North Korea.

While in the country, I desperately tried to talk to some actual North Koreans. But all outsiders travel in a virtual bubble, as a way to just about eliminate contact between North Koreans and outsiders. Except for the hotel’s doormen, all the staff we encountered were recruited from ethnic Korean communities in China – and they are rotated back to China every three months.

Still, I must wonder what those rail-thin young soldiers boarding the buses each day think, as they come face to face with hundreds of South Koreans, whose round smiling faces and vivid, fashionable clothing convey prosperity. Maybe they will start to ask themselves: Why is there only one fat man in this land, yet so many from the South?

It doesn’t exactly suggest that the tours will open North Korea to the outside world, does it?