Tag: Young Pioneer Tours

From Beijing it’s a two hour flight on Air Koryo to get to North Korea. The visa only costs 50 Euro, so we decided to go. The country closed its borders from October to March due to Ebola, but reopened in April.  It is not, contrary to popular belief, illegal for Americans to travel to North Korea (or at least it wasn’t in 2015 when we went). The only way any travelers can go is with a group, so we booked a week long tour with Young Pioneer Tours. They also run tours to Iran, Haiti, Mongolia- their motto is “we go places your mother doesn’t want you to go”. We picked a tour that was the week of the biggest national holiday in DPRK, which is President Kim il Sung’s 103rd birthday. Yes, he’s dead, but he would be 103. And yes, he’s still the President. His son, Kim Jung il, was the General, and his son, Kim Jung Un, is the Grand Marshall.