Traveller's Guide/Why Visit North Korea

**“North Korea? Are you serious? Are you for real!?” “I didn’t even know you could go there!” “Are you crazy?” “I’d rather go to Benidorm!”** are many of the things I’ve heard when raising the topic of Visiting North Korea to people, something which never fails to be met with a gasp of surprise or burning curiosity. Not only do people struggle to realize that such a thing is possible and very easy to do, but the next barrier seems to be “why go at all?” why visit a place like North Korea? What’s to gain? Many people might know about it, but would never seriously contemplate doing it.

We want to make a case for visiting North Korea, I want to be able to persuade people to make this journey. Not only is it amongst the most exciting journeys a person can ever make in their life, it is possibly one of the biggest learning experiences travel is able to grant you. We promise you that such a trip entails a huge number of personal benefits to you and the people of North Korea, it will make an impression on you, for the right reasons, that will you never forget.

## Experience A Different World

The world we know today. We’re on facebook, we’re tweeting, we’re able to discover anything we want to know via the internet, we’re having fun, we’re free, we’re ourselves. Click the pause button for a second. There’s somewhere, beyond this world. A place on Earth which is out of this world. Different beyond comprehension. Somewhere where life is different. No facebook, no twitter, limited internet access, an identity that rests in not who you are but the state around you. Welcome to North Korea, the place the world forgot. To Visit North Korea, is to visit a different world. A world as far removed from the liberal, democratic and individualistic universe we live in as you can possibly get. Our ideas are not their ideas, our way of life is not their way of life. Many watched as the old Communist world evaporated, China modernized, Vietnam modernized, the Soviet bloc collapsed in the blink of an eye, yet here stands a country still frozen in the heat of the Cold War, a relic of history.

Visit it, you’ll never forget it because you will never see anywhere so exotic and so different. The opportunity to visit somewhere so grandly unique is the opportunity to expand and enrich your mind, to seek alternative perspectives, to see the bigger picture, to have a reaching cultural experience. This is North Korea, they’re inviting you to see a very “different” understanding of things and doing things. To enter is a mark of bravery, open mindedness, courage and curiosity. Something you can brag about to everyone endlessly, tales to tell and stories to shout about for the rest of your life.

## Be the chance for change

As a visitor to North Korea, you represent the only contact many North Koreans will ever have in a lifetime with the outside world. Sealed off and shut, you are the sunbeam that shines through the small shaft of light in a dark and gloomy dungein. If there is anything you are when visiting, it’s that of an ambassador for the outside world in the world’s most closed off country. Although you cannot question or criticize their regime, you are a living example of what the outside world is like. You can show to them that we’re not evil, that we’re not imperialists trying to occupy or conquer them, but that… we’re human beings, just like they are (as you will find). You demonstrate just through who you are that there is a much bigger world beyond their horizons, one which has a lot of things that they do not.

Visiting North Korea, is the best hope of promoting gradualist change in North Korea. We bring with us our ideas, our interests, our examples and our way of life. It is as much of a cultural experience for them as it as for you. It brings hope, it brings difference and it brings a chance. A chance that one day they may reform and snap out of the state of affairs they live in.

**This article is part of the North Korean Traveller's Guide**
**Getting Started**: How can I travel to North Korea?- What do I need to bring to North Korea?- My tour guides- Is it ethical to Visit North Korea?
- Is it safe to Visit North Korea?- Why Visit in the First Place?- What Rules do I need to follow?-
**When in North Korea**: Things to do and see- Food and Drink- Hotels- Shopping