Should tourists go to North Korea?
So, now Americans can visit North Korea year-round (not just during the big showcase Arirang spectacle of creepily syncronized kindergarten kids). See: http://www.northkorea1on1.com
The real question is: should we be going at all? I am sure all visits will be as structured, regimented, and closely guarded as ever (a tourism variant on the old Potemkin Village), so would that stifle any of the potential benefits travel otherwise usually brings--a cultural exchange on a personal level in which people from both nations get to learn a bit about one another and, hopefully, foster a greater understanding.
Or will it be more of the same story: tourists blithely contributing to both the piggybank of a repressive regime and helping further its propoganda machine.
In other words, should travel to North Korea be boycotted, as it frequently is to other despotic countries like Myanmar?
ReidsGuides.com
Travel beyond vacations (tm)
The real question is: should we be going at all? I am sure all visits will be as structured, regimented, and closely guarded as ever (a tourism variant on the old Potemkin Village), so would that stifle any of the potential benefits travel otherwise usually brings--a cultural exchange on a personal level in which people from both nations get to learn a bit about one another and, hopefully, foster a greater understanding.
Or will it be more of the same story: tourists blithely contributing to both the piggybank of a repressive regime and helping further its propoganda machine.
In other words, should travel to North Korea be boycotted, as it frequently is to other despotic countries like Myanmar?
ReidsGuides.com
Travel beyond vacations (tm)
Labels: north Korea, tourism, travel
posted by Reid Bramblett @ 5:02 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:53 AM,
Theodora and Zac said…
Honestly? No. Travel can be a great agent for change.
It can also help prop up corrupt regimes -- I saw an amazing exhibition in the Khmer Rouge prison, Tuol Sleng, Phnom Penh, where a Swedish fellow-traveller regretted the part his visit and publicity had contributed to encouraging the regime.
But I think most people who would go to the lengths of going to North Korea are wise to the constraints they will be under...
Theodora
http://www.travelswithanineyearold.com
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