<BODY><P>Tracy,</P>
<P> I don't know about tours "at this magnitude," but for a period including the early 1990s, it was becoming almost common for Korean-Americans (and presumably other <EM>kyopo</EM> populations) to visit their relatives in North Korea under carefully prearranged circumstances. A friend of ours went then with her parents (early '70s immigrants to the U.S.), flying in from Beijing. They were part of a good-sized group, which spent several days touring Pyongyang together, then split up to meet and visit their respective relatives at predetermined sites. <BR>
Our friend and her parents stayed several days with the father's brother and his family near Hamhung. Other relatives came to see them there. The grandfather's tomb had even been moved to a site near the uncle's home so the American visitors could pay their graveside respects without having to travel to another location. Not surprisingly, the uncle's home had been spruced up for the occasion, and the local KWP branch sent over some special rations and a couple of "helpers" who were in the kitchen during all waking hours, within easy earshot of conversations with the visitors. It was natural, of course, for such visitors from overseas to bring gifts and money, and apparently standard procedure as well to buy the local NK relatives a color TV or other such luxury.<BR>
These trips were not hard to arrange back then, and a Korean-Canadian travel agent was booking a lot of them. At some point in the early 1990s, however, the NK regime seems to have determined that the ideological pollution these visitors brought with them was not worth the hard currency and other material benefits it was reaping from the program, and that door closed.</P>
<P>Ken Kaliher<BR>Seoul/Pyongtaek<BR><BR>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <BR>Back-up E-mail: kenkaliher@hotmail.com <BR>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <BR>1) The results of a Roh Moo-hyun-Kim Jong-il summit “may well exceed our expectations [because] Kim is always being portrayed as broad-minded in the North Korean media.” <BR>-- South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, speaking to journalists on May 3, 2006 <BR>2) “North Koreans live in the most censored country in the world.... Content is supplied almost entirely by the official KCNA. It serves up a daily diet of fawning coverage of ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il.” <BR>-- Committee to Protect Journalists, announcing “10 Most Censored Countries,” May 2, 2006</P>
<P></P><B>----- Original Message -----</B>
<P></P><B>From</B>: Tracy Stober <sayyes2korea@yahoo.com>
<P></P><B>Date</B>: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 2:50 am
<P></P><B>Subject</B>: [KS] trips to DPRK this summer and fall
<P></P>
<P></P>> Dear all list members, <BR>> According to New Korea Tours, Korean American citizens are being <BR>> allowed to visit North Korea 'for the the first time ever'. <BR>> Please check out the website http://www.newkoreatours.com/ <BR>> I was wondering if such tours had ever occured at this magnitude <BR>> before, and whether or not the United States had limited the <BR>> travel of its' Korean American citizens. I believe American <BR>> citizens have been allowed to visit under certain circumstances. <BR>> <BR>> Thank you for your help. I was also wondering if anyone was <BR>> interested in taking part in one of these tours this year. <BR>> <BR>> Sincerely, <BR>> Tracy Stober <BR>> MA International Relations-Korea Studies <BR>> UW-Seattle <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> --------------------------------- <BR>> Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. <BR>
> Great rates starting at 1¢/min. <BR>> </BODY>