doc

The martial music began even before the flight for North Korea took off from Beijing.

A stewardess, a badge of former leader Kim Il Sung pinned to her lapel, handed out honey-flavored sweets.

``From our Korea,'' she said, smiling.

As the jet's engines rumbled to life, the choral song sounded far more devotional than the Muzak usually played on international airlines.

A flight into North Korea is a rare opportunity to lift the veil of the most secretive nation in the world.

North Korea allowed 75 foreign reporters to accompany Prime Minister Goeran Persson of Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, on a visit to North Korea that started Wednesday.

A Russian-made TU-154 chartered from Air Koryo, the North's national carrier, flew them to Pyongyang -- a showcase capital where the communist elite live in relative luxury while their nation struggles with chronic food shortages.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...341EDT0612.DTL

HKG_Flyer1

I've thought occasionally about visiting... has anyone on this board been there? If so, what can you tell me about the experience?

UAL Traveler

The farthest I've been into North Korea is about five feet in Panmunjom. That is the village where the armistice was signed to effectively end the Korean war. Panmunjom is currently in the middle of the DMZ between North and South Korea. There are several buildings that straddle the demarcation line between the two countries, the MAC or Military Armistice Commission building among them. The MAC building is used for talks between the two countries about various matters, generally involiving minor border disputes. I and several business associates got to know a very senior military officer in the South Korean army who arranged a visit to the MAC. Inside the MAC is a table at which talks are conducted, with microphones on both sides. The table straddles the demarcation line. We were led around the table into 'North Korea' briefly. Though the MAC is open to pre-arranged tours for certain nationalities (Americans included, most South Korean civilians excluded), we were given a very interesting private tour.

That experience whetted my appetite for a real visit to North Korea. Now that US passports are valid for travel to North Korea with a proper visa (obtainable outside the US), I might just make it up to Pyongyang sometime soon... I will just make darn sure that no US/South-Korean dual citizen accompanies me

unagi1

I've been to the DMZ in Sept 99, and walked onto the North Korean side within one of the buildings there. Got pictures of the North Korean guards and towers, and the "worlds most dangerous golf course" (used by the US and ROK military) where the sign says dont go after lost balls do to live mine fields.

UAL Traveler sums up the building access nicely

[This message has been edited by unagi1 (edited 05-03-2001).]

HKG_Flyer1

Closest I've been was a tour of one of those tunnels that the North Koreans drilled under the border for possible use in a sneak attack. I had always heard it was the most heavily fortified border in the world, and the military presence was pretty overwhelming.

A business associate in BKK went up there for a weekend a couple of years ago and found it pretty fascinating (an official from the North Korean embassy was his neighbor in BKK).