Can you move to North Korea? The short answer is that yes you cam, but it is not easy at all, nor is it particularly common.

To read about if you can visit North Korea click here.  

How can you move to North Korea?

There are actually a number of foreigners that live in North Korea, but they tend to fit into a few small categories. Firstly the largest number of foreigners tend to be staff working at the embassies. The largest missions are China and Russia.

To read about North Korean embassies click here.

The second batch of people who move to North Korea are those involved in education and the NGO world. There are famous school such as PUST that hire foreigners as well as numerous NGO’s, as well as the United Nations (UN) working in the country.

To read about PUST click here .

And lastly there are those involved in business within North Korea. Most of these people tend to be Chinese, but there are others, even Americans. I have personally met a Korean-American pig farmer in Rason and there were an estimated 200 Americans in North Korea just before the US government ban.

To read about Rason click here.

Are there mixed race North Koreans?

North Korea is one of the most racially homogenous nations on earth and mixing of blood is generally not the done thing. There are though some foreigners that have moved here and had children. These include Japanese, Chinese, Lebanese, Americans and even Africans.

These people while representing a minority of people in North Korea still very much exist, with the most famous “foreign Koreans” being the sons of the American defector James Dresnok. 

To read about James Dresnok click here. 

Japanese  – Koreans in North Kotea

There are a number of Japanese people of Korean descent who technically at least hold North Korean citizenship. Many of these and their Japanese spouses were encouraged to move to the DPRK, which they did.

This has caused quite a lot of controversy with many allegedly not being allowed to return back to Japan and relatives claiming a lack of contact. These people can theoretically at least move to North Korea and technically hold a kind of dual citizenship.

To read about Chingryon click here.

How can I immigrate to North Korea?

If you research “can I move to North Korea” then one of the top threads that comes up is one on Quira titled “Can I immigrate to North Korea”? And it is not only a very long thread, but generally one filled with a late of falsehoods and at best half-truths.

The fact of the matter is that you cannot immigrate to North Korea, no matter what your qualifications, or how much you admire the leadership. You might question how many people do actually want to move to North Korea, but in our experience at least there are a hell of a lot. We actually get lots of emails stating someones wish to move to North Korea, their reasoning, as well as them telling us they could not find any other avenue to help with their move.

Most recently we got an application from an American doctor who wanted to move to the DPRK and help revolutionise their heal care system. We politely explained that we would not be able to help him, as we do with all enquiries. 

So, whatever your political leanings you cannot simp,ly just move to North Korea, nor defect, nor immigrate. Instead you will have to make do as the rest if us do, as a tourist.

To read about North Korean tours click here. 

About Post Author

.