Young Pioneer Tours
Blog
Welcome to the Young Pioneer Tours blog about everything North Korea, and all of our other special off the beaten the track destinations.
Since starting in 2008 we have seen blogging about North Korea and our other great destinations as a great way to engage with our customers and to show the world a slice of life in the great destinations we visit.
Due to the mass amount of great content we create, as well as receive from our Pioneers we have since started our travel lifestyle magazine “The Young Pioneer”.
We’re always looking for contributors to our sites, so feel free to browse through our blogs, and , get in touch if you’d like to write for us.
Check out and subscribe to the YPT Blog and travel magazine
Filming in North Korea
2 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Whilst it is illegal for journalists to travel to North Korea in an undercover capacity, it is still completely possible for media and film crews to visit the country – to which Michael Palin’s recent trip, facilitated by Koryo Tours, attests. At Young …
What was the May Fourth Movement?
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
If you’re of a certain age (and gender and race) then it is likely you’ll enjoy the memes and the greetings on the 4th of May with your usual annual pleasure – May the Fourth be with you! But while Star Wars Day is celebrated around the world (especial …
What does DPRK mean? What does DPRK stand for?
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
What does DPRK mean? What is the DPRK meaning? What does DPRK stand for? So, you have North Korea and South Korea. Or the DPRK, and the ROK. For South Korea, ROK means Republic of Korea. So, what does the DPR bit of DPRK mean? When you travel anywhere …
Air Koryo and its fleet
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Air Koryo gets a lot of unwarranted crap: from being the “world’s only one-star airline” to their infamous mystery burger, the poor airline takes a licking but keeps on ticking. In actuality, not only do they have an excellent safety record, but flying …
Understanding the Juche Calendar
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
What is the Juche Calendar? Is there such a thing as a Korean calendar? What year is it in North Korea? Whilst the world mostly sets its clock to when Jesus was born, there are in fact a ton of other calendars used by people around the world. There’s t …
Day of the Shining Star
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
There are many special times to visit the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, one of which is the Day of the Shining Star. The Day of the Shining Star (Korean광명성절) is a major public holiday in North Korea and falls on February 16th – the birthday of …
Traveling to Kaesong and the DMZ
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Understanding Kaesong Kaesong was the ancient capital city of the Koryo dynasty that ruled the Korean Peninsula. Nowadays the historic city is a UNESCO world heritage site containing a number of historical relics from the 10th-14th century. Incidentall …
North Korean Traffic Girls
1 May 2019 / by Nicolas Platt
Introduction One of the most recognizable sights on the streets of Pyongyang is the cities, renowned traffic girls. The beautiful women dressed in crisp, stunning blue and white uniforms standing in white circles at the cities intersections directing t …
The Holy Korean Mountains
1 May 2019 / by Gareth Johnson
Korean Mountains are an important sceneic and cultural element to both sides of the Korean divide. Officially there are 5 sacred mountains on the Korean Peninsula (although Kim Jong Il kind of added a 6th). Of the five, three are located in the DPRK an …
