Those looking for an unusual gap year option may look no further – a new volunteer programme is looking for English-speakers to help North Korea’s future tour guides improve their language skills and learn the basics of working with tourists.

The programme, which offers a month-long teaching placement at Pyongyang Tourism College in the secretive country’s capital city, is run by Juche Travel Services (JTS), a certified travel company which promises “unparalleled levels of interaction and engagement with local Koreans.” Volunteers will head up courses teaching English or tourism.



The company says it is looking for people with a Tefl (teaching English as a foreign language) qualification or a background in tourism management, “who can contribute positively to growing the country’s tourism industry”.

The scheme costs €1000 Euros (£765) for each volunteer which covers travel, accommodation and tourist excursions in the country. JTS says it is operating on a not-for-profit basis, with any excess funds to be spent on the tourism library at the college. The company says it is hoping to take up to five people on trips in May and November, but says it would consider alternative dates.

Growing tourism sector

Since 2009, western interest in travelling to North Korea has gathered momentum. An estimated 6,000 western tourists now visit every year through accredited tour companies, which includes US citizens, though their government “strongly recommends” they do not travel there. Hundreds of thousands of tourists are estimated to come from neighbouring China each year.

The ethics of travelling to North Korea are a subject of much debate. Some argue that greater interactions with the outside world is a positive development. Others have reservations about contributing financially to a regime accused of grave human rights abuses against its people, and travelling to a country where foreigners are escorted everywhere, and interactions with North Koreans are usually stage-managed with specially selected members of the public.

Two of North Korea’s biggest prestige projects in recent years have been the Masikryong ski resort and the ‘tourist city’ of Wonsan, and representatives promoting the country have begun to make themselves known on the world’s travel forum circuit.



“The country has made it clear that it is looking to grow its tourism sector in the coming years,” said David Thompson from JTS. “To do so will require both international tourism expertise and foreign language skills.”

Thompson said volunteers will be subject to the same limitations as other tourists in terms of where they can go inside North Korea, and who they can speak to. “To my knowledge there will not be the opportunity to wander freely,” he said.

Teaching in North Korea

21 year-old British student Ben Griffin was the first to sign up for a test trial for the volunteer programme last year in conjunction with North Korea’s National Tourism Authority.

He had travelled to North Korea on an official tour the year before and “jumped on the chance” to go again, he says. Griffin was not allowed freedom of movement, though he insists he did not feel closely monitored, and his guides were flexible with his itinerary if he made a request.

In an enthusiastic account of his trip for Juche Travel he describes being driven around in luxury cars and using clips of the classic television show Only Fools and Horses to aide his English lessons.

My students were on an advanced level although I’m sure that they felt Del boy’s cockney slang was almost a different language in itself.

He says the show was a big hit: “My students were on an advanced level although I’m sure that they felt Del boy’s cockney slang was almost a different language in itself. Even so comedy scenes such as Del boy’s ‘falling through the bar’ or ‘the chandelier repair’ transcended any language barrier.” A screening of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy also went down well, he said.



Griffin said what struck him most about his students was the fact that they “were just real people,” interested in his life and travels but also preoccupied by the same worries as students the world over: from relationships to weekend plans.

Ethics of tourism

“We are obviously of the opinion that tourism has a positive impact,” says Thompson. “By building bridges and engaging with the country, you are helping to break down mistrust and preconceptions that have persisted for the past 60-odd years. That can only be a good thing.”



Choson Exchange, an organisation working inside North Korea to educate young professionals in business, economic policy and law, has long-advocated for meaningful interaction with the country, especially through industry. Something they believe is critical to driving change in the totalitarian state.

Luxury tourist travel in a country with widespread problems with poverty and malnutrition can sit uncomfortably with some, but Griffin points out that this would be a difficult dilemma to address had he been a tourist in any developing country.