First British tourists allowed back into North Korea tell BBC what they saw

Traveling to North Korea requires adherence to strict regulations, including prohibitions against insulting leaders or the ideology, and avoiding making judgments. These are the rules that tour guides repeatedly emphasize to Western tourists before entering North Korea. As one of the most closed-off and repressive countries in the world, these rules are designed to ensure that tourists' behavior does not offend the local government.

Beyond political sensitivities, there are also practical issues to consider. Within North Korea, tourists cannot use mobile phone signals, the internet, or find ATMs. Despite these many restrictions, guides still encourage tourists to respect the local culture and try to understand the North Korean people. "North Koreans are not robots. They have their own opinions, goals, and senses of humor. We encourage tourists to listen to them and understand them," said Rowan Beard, who runs Young Pioneer Tours, one of the few Western companies authorized to resume tours to North Korea after a five-year suspension.

North Korea closed its borders at the start of the pandemic, barring diplomats, aid workers, and tourists, making it nearly impossible for the outside world to understand the situation within the country. Subsequently, North Korea further isolated itself from the world, relying mainly on support from Russia and China. Many people doubted whether Westerners would ever be able to enter North Korea again. However, after years of effort and multiple attempts, Rowan and a few other tour operators finally obtained permission to restart their businesses. He quickly gathered a group of tourists eager to experience North Korea, including some video bloggers, travel enthusiasts, and those with a strong interest in the country.

Recently, tourists from the UK, France, Germany, and Australia entered North Korea's Rason Special Economic Zone from the Chinese border, embarking on a four-night trip. British YouTube blogger Mike O'Kennedy was among them. Despite having heard about North Korea's strictness, he was still surprised by the extent of the control. As with all trips to North Korea, tourists are accompanied by local guides throughout and strictly adhere to pre-approved itineraries. The itinerary includes visits to a brewery, a school, and a newly opened pharmacy, all of which are carefully arranged.

Ben Weston, a tour leader from Suffolk, compared the trip to North Korea to a "school trip." "You can't leave the hotel without a guide," he said. "A couple of times, I even needed to tell them I wanted to go to the bathroom," Mike said. "I've never done that anywhere else in the world." Despite the strict regulations, Mike still captured some glimpses of real life. "Everyone is working, and no one seems to be just hanging out. It feels a bit oppressive."

During a visit to a school, a group of eight-year-olds performed a dance against a backdrop of animations showing ballistic missiles hitting targets. The video shows children wearing red scarves, singing songs, while explosions flashed on the screen. Currently, tourists are restricted to areas outside of Pyongyang. Greg Vaczi of Koryo Tours acknowledges that the current itinerary lacks the "important monuments" of Pyongyang. He believes that the authorities chose Rason as a pilot program because the area is relatively isolated and easy to control. Rason is designated as a special economic zone, designed to experiment with new financial policies, making it like a miniature capitalist enclave within a socialist country. Chinese businessmen can enter and exit relatively freely to operate joint ventures with North Koreans.

Joe Smith is an experienced North Korea traveler and former contributor to the North Korea news platform NK News. This was his third visit to North Korea. "I feel like the more times you visit, the less you understand. Each time you get a little peek behind the curtain, but it just creates more questions," he said. Joe was most impressed by an unplanned visit to a luxury goods market, where people were selling jeans, perfume, fake Louis Vuitton handbags, and Japanese washing machines, likely sourced from China. Tourists were not allowed to take photos here—they suspect this was to hide this consumer bubble from the rest of North Korea.

"It was the only place where people didn't expect us to show up," Joe said. "It felt chaotic and real; it was a place where North Koreans would actually go. I liked it." However, according to experienced tour leaders, movement was more restricted on this trip compared to previous trips, and tourists had few opportunities to wander the streets, step into barbershops or supermarkets, or talk to locals. Greg of Koryo Tours said that the COVID-19 pandemic was often cited as the reason for the restrictions. "On the surface, they are still very worried. Our luggage was disinfected at the border, our temperatures were taken, and about 50% of people were still wearing masks." Greg could not determine whether this fear was genuine or an excuse to control people.

It is believed that the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted North Korea, but it is difficult to know the extent of its impact. Local guides repeated the government's claim that the virus entered North Korea via balloons from South Korea and was quickly eradicated within 90 days. But Rowan, who has visited North Korea over 100 times, felt that Rason was affected by strict COVID-19 regulations. He said that many Chinese businesses had closed, and their workers had left. Even experienced North Korea traveler Joe commented that the buildings were dilapidated. "Apart from our hotel rooms, the lights were dim everywhere else, and there was no heating," he said, mentioning a visit to a cold, dark, and empty art gallery. "It felt like they just opened the doors for us."

Joe said that the propaganda photos of the North Korean regime may make North Korea look clean and shiny, but when you are there, you realize that "the roads are terrible, the sidewalks are wobbly, and the buildings are strangely constructed." He said his hotel room was old-fashioned and dirty, like "his grandma's living room." The entire window was cracked. "They've had five years to fix these problems. North Koreans are very sensitive about what they show tourists. If this is the best they can show, I can't imagine what's worse," he said. Much of North Korea is hidden, and it is believed that more than four out of ten people are malnourished and in need of assistance.

One of the few opportunities for tourists to interact with locals in North Korea is through their guides, who sometimes speak English. During the recent trip, the guides were surprisingly well-informed, despite the strict propaganda and information blockade imposed by the North Korean regime. Greg said this may be because they talk to the Chinese businessmen who come and go. They knew about Trump's tariffs and the war in Ukraine—they even knew that North Korean troops were involved. But when Joe showed a photo from Syria, his guide did not know that President Assad had been overthrown. "I carefully explained that sometimes when people don't like their leaders, they rise up and force them out of power, and at first, he didn't believe me."

Such conversations need to be handled with care. Strict laws prohibit North Koreans from speaking freely. Asking or revealing too much information could put the guide or the tourists themselves at risk. Mike admitted that it sometimes made him nervous. During a visit to the North Korea-Russia Friendship House, he was invited to write in the guestbook. "My mind went blank, and I wrote something like 'I hope for world peace.' Afterwards, my guide told me that it was inappropriate to write that. It made me feel uneasy," he said. "Overall, the guides did a good job of making us feel safe. It's just that there were a few moments when I thought this was too weird."

For Greg of Koryo Tours, these interactions bring a deeper meaning to North Korea tourism: "North Koreans have the opportunity to interact with foreigners. This allows them to generate new ideas, which is very important in such a closed country." But traveling to North Korea is controversial, especially since tourists were allowed to return before aid workers and most Western diplomats, including those from the UK. Critics, including Joanna Hosaniak of the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, argue that these trips primarily benefit the North Korean regime. "It's not like tourism in other impoverished countries, where locals can benefit from the extra income. The vast majority of the population doesn't even know these tourists exist. Their money goes to the state, and ultimately to the military," she said.

A conversation that lingered in the mind of YouTube blogger Mike. During a visit to a school, he was surprised when a girl said she hoped to visit the UK someday after meeting him. "I didn't have the heart to tell her that her chances were very, very slim," he said.