Bumping this thread. With the JSA being closed for now, I'm debating if it's worth the DMZ tour (tunnel and observatory). Any thoughts or any idea if/ when the JSA will be open for tours again?

Also, if I do the DMZ tour, I'm debating between using VIP Travel: https://www.vviptravel.com/tours/half-day-dmz-tour vs. Cosmojin which includes a North Korean defector: https://m.cosmojin.com/en/product/gu.../detail/100196

Any feedback or experiences with either? From what I can tell, here are the pros and cons of each:

Cosmjin

Pros:

• Recommended by my hotel
• Includes a North Korean defector (if he or she shows up, reviews seem to indicate it doesn't always happen)
• Pickup directly from my hotel

Cons:

• Includes forced shopping which probably kills an hour or so...
• Doesn't seem to have as many great reviews including the experience being rushed, as it's a smaller operation, seems to get canceled more frequently, and people are very unhappy about the forced shopping.

VIP Travel:

Pros:

• Great reviews on TripAdvisor (perhaps an unseemly number of 5 star reviews, so hard to know how accurate they are....)
• No forced shopping
• Larger operation so less likely to cancel due to lack of participants

Cons:

• Pickup from train station 30 minutes away
• No North Korean defector