Red Star OS, or Red Star Linux is the native operating system of North Korea. North Korea often has an unfair reputation as lacking the technology of the West, but like everything with North Korea, the truth is usually a little bit more complex. We’ve previously reviewed the Arirang Smartphone and the Samjiyon Tablet. Today […]

Does North Korea have internet? In short, yes North Korea does have internet, but much like everything else, the full answer is much more complex. North Korean internet is one of the most asked and least understood questions about the DPRK. So, what is the story with North Korean internet? We often get asked by […]

It wasn’t all that long ago that cell phones were banned in North Korea for both locals and foreigners alike. Allegedly the ban occurred after an attempt on the leader’s life using a bomb set off via a phone, although this is very much an unconfirmed rumour. For my first few years visiting the country, […]

It is impossible to talk about football in North Korea without first dispelling a few myths about the country regarding football. North Korea did not claim that they won the World Cup. I was there; they watched the matches live, they were proud when they lost 2-1 to Brazil, and they were angry when they […]

When I first started Young Pioneer Tours back in 2008 the main aim was to provide budget tours to North Korea. But we may have also had beer on the mind – not gonna lie! One of the first conversations I had when I first started arranging travel to North Korea was if we could […]

If you want to get into the very geeky territory of the best North Korean footballer ever, you’d be hard pressed to argue against Mr Pak Doo-Ick, who famously scored the goal that knocked out Italy in the 1966 World Cup. But if you’re talking about the best modern footballer then Jong Tae Se, AKA […]

Fun fact, kids! The best North Korean footballer (arguably) is a chap called Jong Tae Se. AKA The People’s Rooney, he was not actually born in North Korea and essentially holds 3 de facto nationalities: Japanese, North Korean, and South Korean. So what is a guy born in Japan doing representing North Korea in the World […]

In 2012 Young Pioneer Tours offered our first study programme in North Korea – our Juche Study. This initial trip was quite groundbreaking: it did not only focus on Juche, the state ideology of North Korea, but was also a de facto language study tour. Whilst there have been similar projects since then, very few […]

Are there Korean dialects? One of the questions we most commonly get asked on tour is if North and South Korea speak the same language. The quick and simple answer is of course yes, but after 70-plus years as a divided nation there are indeed a few caveats that are worth exploring. But it does […]

North Korea might be famous for its lack of internet, but for those of us old enough to remember there was actually a pre-internet time when people went out and, well, socialized. In North Korea bowling is a thing, and the Golden Lane Bowling Alley is by far the biggest bowling alley in North Korea. […]