One of the perks to working in North Korean tourism is easy access to the many publications of the DPRK, rarely read by foreigners or made available online.  We’ve shared a few of our favourite samplings from the “Anecdotes of Kim Jong Il” with you; so we’d like to mix it up a little bit with an […]

I’ve spent December 31st in Tokyo mega clubs, Laos jungles and the Australian bush, but nothing compares to spending New Years Eve surrounded by thousands of Koreans watching the fireworks over the Taedong River as my new favourite new years anthem, “May Snow Fall On New Years Day”, blares over the speakers in Kim Il Sung […]

Introduction Last summer I had a free day in Pyongyang. This is a pretty rare occurrence in the life of a North Korean tour leader, so I needed to do something memorable for myself. I’ve seen and done nearly everything there is to see in Pyongyang city but one major thing had alluded me – […]

Young Pioneer Tours Chinese-speaking guide John describes his recent trip to Yanbian, on the China-North Korea border, with an American family who adopted from China. It was Nora’s first trip back to the place she was born and first time to meet her Chinese adoptive family who looked after her until she was 3. “I’m […]

Rason Special Economic Zone is located in the far Northeast of North Korea, bordering China and Russia. It’s modelled after the old special economic zones of China to promote trade, business, and foreign investment (read more about Rason here). Because Rason has different rules than the rest of North Korea, foreigners are treated more like […]

Why is Rason the most fascinating area in North Korea? Because it’s the only area in North Korea where they promote something people wouldn’t usually expect from a socialist government: capitalism. It’s a place where foreign tourists aren’t generally treated as tourists, but as visitors. In Rason, any visitor can have access to the local […]

North Korea isn’t your average tour destination. It’s certainly not the type of place you’d expect to get sloshed with locals while sampling locally-brewed (and, in our opinion, very tasty) craft beers. Yet, in 2016, Pyongyang announced they’d be holding the first ever Taedonggang Beer Festival, where locals and international travellers alike could mingle, drink, […]

One of the perks to working in North Korean tourism is easy access to the many publications of the DPRK, rarely read by foreigners or made available online.  We’d like to begin to regularly share our favourites with you; so for you to enjoy, here is an unedited excerpt, taken from the book “Anecdotes of Kim Jong Il, Part 1”.  […]

Linda Hjelle, 24, has travelled with Young Pioneer Tours to North Korea on two occasions.  Linda, originally from Norway, is currently studying for a masters degree in Chinese Society and Politics at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Here, she speaks about her experiences travelling to the DPRK with YPT. My first trip to North Korea […]

Hi! My name’s Matt… I’m originally from Melbourne and one of the guides working in the Beijing office. Like all YPT’ers, I have an inexplicable obsession with all things DPRK, having just finished my degree in International Studies with a focus on DPRK studies past and present. This is the first of my DPRK Chronicles […]