[KS] trips to DPRK by Korean-Americans

petrov at coombs.anu.edu.au petrov at coombs.anu.edu.au
Thu Jun 22 23:29:33 EDT 2006


Responding to Aidan's question:

>A further consideration is that North Korea may operate
>different bureaucratic procedures for ethnic Koreans,
>distinguishing them from other foreigners; just as China
>has separate channels for overseas Chinese. Again, I
>wonder if anyone can confirm that?

- That is correct - in relation to ethnic Koreans the "minjokkiri policy"
is dominating. It has always been that Koreans residing overseas could
apply to visit the DPRK only via their local pro-North Korean cultural
associations. In 2003 and 2005, thousands of ROK citizens were allowed to
visit the DPRK by flying directly to Pyongyang by charter flights from
Seoul (via Hyundai-Asan Co.). No foreign citizens were allowed to take
these tours.

To spur the sales the major tour operator in North Korea - Kukche
Ryohaengsa - has now adopted a policy where the intake of ethnic Koreans
(with foreign passports and preferably with foreign-looking names) can
constitute approx. 10% of the whole tourist group.

Interestingly, the most recent trend (which started in April 2006) shows
that Kukche Ryohaengsa and tourism-related NK government agencies stopped
accepting non-Korean citizens residing in the ROK. The reason has been
already mentioned here by Ken: the ideological contamination is way too
harmful compared to the monetary profit they generate.

Leonid Petrov
--
NORTH KOREAN STUDIES
www.north-korea.boom.ru



>From: Afostercarter at aol.com
>Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
>To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
>Subject: Re: [KS] trips to DPRK by Korean-Americans
>Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:29:06 EDT
>
>Thanks to Ken for reminding us of this.
>
>Another category of Korean-Americans who could
>visit the DPRK, and presumably still can, are those
>deemed sufficiently sympathetic to Pyongyang. Or,
>at least, who are prepared to go on tours organized
>by those of such persuasion - of whom there have
>always been some, even in the US of A; see eg
>www.minjok.com
>
>When I attended Sunday service at Pongsu church
>in Pyongyang, way back in 1990, there was quite a
>large group of Korean-Americans in the congregation.
>I think they were of this category, rather than visiting
>relatives, They were mainly elderly, from the Los Angeles area.
>
>Ken mentions Toronto. Back in the bad old days, this city
>had the reputation of being a hotbed of Korean radicalism:
>strongly anti-Park and Chun, with quite a big pro-NK fringe.
>Does anyone know why this should have been so?
>
>A further consideration is that North Korea may operate
>different bureaucratic procedures for ethnic Koreans,
>distinguishing them from other foreigners; just as China
>has separate channels for overseas Chinese. Again, I
>wonder if anyone can confirm that?
>
>More generally: Anyone who has never visited North Korea
>should surely grab the chance.
>
>cheers
>Aidan
>
>AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER
>Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds
University
>
>Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK
>tel: +44(0)  1274  588586         (alt) +44(0) 1264 737634          mobile:
>+44(0)  7970  741307
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>Email: afostercarter at aol.com     (alt) afostercarter at yahoo.com      website:
>www.aidanfc.net
>[Please use @aol; but if any problems, please try @yahoo too - and let me
>know, so I can chide





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