North Koreans walk in front of a subway station in Pyongyang on Sept. 1, 2014. / AP-Yonhap

Heo Won-min

By Heo Won-min

People can visit North Korea, albeit with some restrictions. They can visit only grand monuments, museums and department stores and must be accompanied by state-designated escorts at all times. However, these restrictions may not a bad thing for first-time visitors. Though North Korea is a hot topic in the global media, very little tourist information is available.

I am sharing my firsthand experience to travelers who want to take the risk of exploring the country on their own rather than with a group in a guided tour. I know that most will never visit North Korea, but just in case you do find yourself in the country one day, I'll give you an idea of what you can expect.

If you want to get away from the capital, Pyongyang, you can travel by driving on the highway or by boarding a train. However, the latter option is best. Similar to airports all over the world, train stations in big cities in North Korea have two waiting areas: one for first-class passengers and another for everyone else. However, in Pyongyang, access to first-class waiting areas is determined by social rank, not on whether you can pay for it. Thus, less than five percent of the passengers have access to these areas.





A North Korean train officer watches passengers at a train stop in Jejin, Gangwon Province, heading to Mt. Geumgang stop in this May 17, 2007, file photo. / Korea Times

There are three types of train tickets in North Korea: first class, sleeping compartments and what the rest of the world calls tourist class. Again, rank determines who gets their choice of tickets. Today, though, you can pay more than the price of the ticket in order to get a preferred seat. Accommodations in the first class and in the sleeping compartments are not bad. That in the tourist class, however, is crowded, noisy and filthy.

You will encounter three different officials on the train: the train police, the MPs (Military Police) and the train crew. The train police and train crew are vital to your trip. A member of the train crew, usually a woman, has the power to upgrade your seat. Even if you don't have a ticket, she can still put you on the train.

The train police are fearsome. They maintain order and watch for any illegal activities by passengers. If a person looks suspicious, they will demand that person to produce his or her pass. (In order to travel from one province to another, a North Korean must have a travel pass.) They can also order passengers to open their baggage for inspection.

A passenger caught carrying a large amount of gold, silver or copper will be arrested for smuggling. Carrying foreign-made goods, including CDs, USBs and books, is also not allowed, and if one is caught, the police will seize those goods. The irony, however, is that most goods in North Korea are made in China. So, whether an item is deemed legal or not depends solely on the whim of the police, and typically, a bribe.

North Korea is not big, and thus, you can usually reach any place in the country within 12 hours by train. Sometimes, however, conditions are not ideal. Since electricity and gas have become scarce, public transportation is not reliable, and traveling from one province to another can take 24 hours, or in an extreme case, a week.

When a train stops for hours for no apparent reason, just wait patiently. Sometimes, when the train stops in the middle of an uphill pass, the engineers will let the train slide back down to the bottom of the hill and start the climb again with more speed. This practice, however, has been the reason for horrifying train crashes with hundreds of casualties. Since the sleeping compartments that hang on the back of the train are often occupied by high-ranking officials, there have been speculations that many officials have died in these accidents.

About half the time, the trains are stopped owing to electrical blackouts. Travelers call the areas that are prone to these incidents "blackout-cursed areas." Once the train stops, it might not move again for a long time. During that time, the locals will descend upon the train to sell passengers food, fruit and water, most of low quality and all overpriced. The travelers have no choice but to buy these items if they don't want to starve or become dehydrated. Travelers must always bring a flashlight in the likely event of a blackout.

When the travelers reach the station of their destination, they are inundated by offers for everything from food and lodging to prostitutes. If you wish to sell some of your possessions to help cover your trip expenses, you can find buyers easily enough, but you might want to sell your possessions at the local market to get the best deals. If you look like a visitor, you will attract thugs and crooks. You must keep a sharp eye out so you don't get taken advantage of, or suffer a worse plight.

There is no shortage of dangerous places on the planet right now that will test the courage and mettle of adventurers, but North Korea offers some of the best opportunities for adventurers to test themselves and see what they're made of.

The writer was born in North Korea and lived there for 15 years. He defected to South Korea in 2003, and this year, he graduated from Yonsei University with a political science degree. He lived in the United Kingdom for five years, where he studied sociology at Salford University. His main interest is the daily routines of people who have both similar and distinctive characters.