Flash update - 09/12/95 for Americans considering travel to North Korea. Evidently there is a new policy that travel for US Passport holders is now not available. The Korean War Project will keep abreast of this for all of our readers. This travel information guide was kindly provided by Edward Hasbrouck of 'Travel Time', in San Francisco.
This guide is aimed mostly at Americans, but may be useful for others as well.
If you have specific questions on what the tour is like, contact Paul Bakker at: "P. Bakker ITS/14 " p.bakker@all-in-1.its14.shlgbpge.simis.com or read the illustrated travelogue.
It's a fascinating destination.
The DPRK will issue visas for tourist visits by U.S. citizens, provided that they have confirmed tour arrangements with the KITC for the entire period for which a visa is requested.
The USA and the DPRK still do not have diplomatic relations. The DPRK Mission to the U.N. -- the only official DPRK representation in the USA -- does not issue visas, arrange tours, or provide any tourist arrangements.
My inquiries to DPRK offices in other countries (including some in Western Europe and Russia) regarding travel by US citizens to the DPRK have all been referred to the KITC representative in Beijing.
The changes to the "Trading With The Enemy Act" regulations also will permit US telecommunications companies to provide service (by way of intermediate countries) between the USA and the DPRK. Telex service will be first, followed by telegraph and telephone. But communication with Beijing is likely to remain much easier than direct communications between the USA and DPRK.
Mr. Kim Ryong Hwan Representative in Beijing Korea International Travel Company fax +86-1-532-4862 (from the USA, dial 011-86-1-532-4862)
Tour arrangements must be confirmed, and passport details ("name, sex, birth date/place, nationality, citizenship, occupation, and passport number" must be provided, at least 15 days prior to the scheduled date of departure from Beijing for the DPRK.
Payment must be made in cash on arrival in Beijing. Visas can be picked up in Beijing (bring two visa photos and US $10 visa fee, in addition to the tour price.)
All tours include rooms (double occupancy), 3 meals each day, all local transportation, entrance fees, arrival/departure transfers (between hotel and airport or train station), and tour guides (mandatory for all tourists). Tour prices do not include international transportation between Beijing and the DPRK, for which a separate price should be quoted.
Some sample tour prices, per person, in US dollars:
3 nights/4 days: 1 person, low season $553
1 person, high season $583
2 people, high season $472
3-5 people, high season $408
6-9 people, high season $324
7 nights/8 days: 1 person, low season $1198
1 person, high season $1270
2 people, high season $1015
3-5 people, high season $897
6-9 people, high season $703
Trains are currently scheduled to depart Beijing 4 days each week (Mon., Wed., Thurs., and Sat.) at 14:48, to arrive in Pyongyang at 15:55 the following day; trains from Pyongyang are scheduled to depart the same 4 days each week (Mon., Wed., Thurs., and Sat.), to arrive in Beijing at 09:45 the following day. (There are also flights and rail service between the DPRK and the Russian Far East, but so far as I have been able to determine the DPRK wants to route all US tourists through China, not Russia.)
Because of the DPRK insistence on guides to escort all tourists, costs are lower when the cost of the guide can be distributed over a larger group of tourists. I assume that these prices will be most attractive either to groups or or as a side trip for people who are already planning to be in Beijing, rather than for individual travellers whose sole destination from the USA is the DPRK. (I began this research because I had hoped to go to the DPRK myself, but at these prices I couldn't afford it myself unless some airline offered me a free ticket to Beijing, which hasn't happened yet!)
As a travel agent, I can make reservations for US tourists, through the KITC representative in Beijing. But the KITC pays no commission to travel agents, and collects the tour price directly from the tourist in cash on arrival in Beijing. So I would have to charge a fee for sending faxes that you could as easily send yourself.
I would be happy to arrange air transportaion to Beijing or other points in China from anywhere with scheduled IATA air service.
I highly recommend Young Koreans United of the San Francisco Bay Area (P.O. Box 616676, San Jose, CA 95161-2676, tel. 408-437-9454) as an excellent source of information about Korea. They are associated with Young Koreans United of the USA (P.O. Box 12177, Washington, DC 20005-0677, tel. 202-387-2420) and the International Korean Alliance for Peace and Democracy (2530 1/2 South Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016, tel. 213-733-7785). The only organization concerned with Korea (including the DPRK) for which I have an e-mail address is the Korea Information and Resource Center, (kirc@igc.aapc.org), but I have had no answer to repeated messages to this address. These are volunteer organizations, poorly funded by donations, composed largely of students and other young people, and consequently lacking offices or paid staff. If they are helpful to you, please send them some money, if you can, to continue their work.
All this information is as of August 1995 and subject to change.
Peace,
Edward
Edward Hasbrouck ehasbrouck@igc.apc.org Travel Time traveltime@igc.apc.org 1 Hallidie Plaza, Suite 406, San Francisco, CA 94102, U.S.A. +1-415-677-0799, fax +1-415-391-1856 1-800-956-9327 (1-800-9-LOW-FARE) toll-free in the U.S.A.