Tourists discover 'tips' to explore North Korea without a tour guide

A foreign athlete runs alongside locals in the annual Pyongyang marathon. Photo: Kyodo .

Because he was among the citizens banned from entering the country, travel YouTuber Drew Binsky (from the US) asked a Latvian friend to join the tour to North Korea on his behalf.

In a video shared with the audience, Drew's friend said that the rule of "not being able to leave the hotel or do anything outside the pre-approved government schedule" was constantly mentioned. However, she found a rare "loophole" in this tight management system, which was participating in the Pyongyang Marathon.

Drew's friend experiences free running in Pyongyang, without a North Korean guide. Photo: @drewbinsky.

Accordingly, the sporting event allows runners to leave their hotels in the morning and travel on pre-designed routes without the need for a tour guide as in a regular tour schedule.

In the video, Drew's friend is seen running in running clothes, holding a camera as he runs and pans the lens through the deserted streets. Surrounded by buildings, squares, and rows of trees in Pyongyang, there are almost no people passing by.

“There was literally no one around me, just me,” she said. The feeling of freedom and strangeness of running and filming without a guide by my side is a rare experience that very few tourists get to have in North Korea.

However, this freedom is relative. The female traveler warned that “absence” from mandatory activities on the schedule, such as breakfast, will quickly be discovered.

“If you skip breakfast, they will come looking for you,” she said, emphasizing the level of control that tour groups must accept when setting foot in this country. Tourists are allowed to participate in the marathon, but must still return on time and are not allowed to arbitrarily turn into areas outside the permitted range.

In general, up to now, traveling to North Korea is still in a "flickering" state due to the government's open-closed border policy. However, the attraction of this mysterious country has never decreased. Currently, every trip to North Korea is strictly controlled. All must comply with the core rules: always go with a North Korean tour guide, do not leave the hotel without permission, do not separate from the group, do not freely change the schedule...

In parallel with the cautious testing of reopening the border, North Korea has also invested in building new destinations to serve its long-term tourism goals. One of the prominent projects is the Wonsan Kalma coastal resort, located on the east coast, near the airport in Kangwon province, which opened in early July this year. However, welcoming international visitors to this luxury resort is still limited by the government's opening and closing regulations.

Wonsan Geumgang Resort officially opened on July 1. The inauguration ceremony was held solemnly with the participation of leader Kim Jong-un, his wife Ri Sol-ju and daughter Kim Joo-ae. Photo: KCNA.

Source: https://znews.vn/du-khach-phat-hien-meo-kham-pha-trieu-tien-khong-can-huong-dan-vien-post1604375.html