Beginners’ Guide to Pyongyang Airport. While many airports of the developing world — especially in Asia — can be overcrowded or completely disorganised, Pyongyang’s airport is all bells and whistles with its newly renovated terminals. This airport, like most of North Korea, is spotless and has all the basic amenities one might need during a […]

Dandong, located in the far east of China, has a population of a little over two million people. In many ways, it’s a lot like any other third tier Chinese city, apart from it has a rather unusual neighbour.   The comparatively cosmopolitan mix of ethnicities might give you a clue to Dandong’s unusual nature. […]

Introduction We run tours from Dandong to North Korea, we live in Dandong, and we like everything about this beautiful city that borders the North Korean border town of Sinuiju. One of the most popular tourist sites of Dandong is the Dandong Broken Bridge. So what is the story of the broken bridge of Dandong? […]

Known as the Yalu River (鸭绿江) to the Chinese or Amnok River (압록강) to the Koreans, this 790km long river runs along the lower half of the Chinese and North Korean border from Mt. Paektu down to the Yellow Sea. Visitors to the Yalu are often struck by the fact that China and North Korea […]

With North Korea set to imminently reopen, we take the chance to fantasize about one of the best elements of the country, North Korean food and cuisine. Korean food might be world-famous, but can the same be said for North Korean foods in particular? Do they differ at all from their Southern counterparts? After all, you’ve […]

Amused by the NASA-esque logo of the North Korea’s space program, the National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA), and under the assumption that its space program is a cover for its weapons program, North Korea observers often overlook the fact that the DPRK is one of only 10 countries to have sent objects into space utilising […]

One of the perks to working in North Korean tourism is easy access to the many publications of the DPRK, rarely read by foreigners or made available online.  We’ve shared a few of our favourite samplings from the “Anecdotes of Kim Jong Il” with you; so we’d like to mix it up a little bit with an […]

I’ve spent December 31st in Tokyo mega clubs, Laos jungles and the Australian bush, but nothing compares to spending New Years Eve surrounded by thousands of Koreans watching the fireworks over the Taedong River as my new favourite new years anthem, “May Snow Fall On New Years Day”, blares over the speakers in Kim Il Sung […]

Introduction Last summer I had a free day in Pyongyang. This is a pretty rare occurrence in the life of a North Korean tour leader, so I needed to do something memorable for myself. I’ve seen and done nearly everything there is to see in Pyongyang city but one major thing had alluded me – […]

Young Pioneer Tours Chinese-speaking guide John describes his recent trip to Yanbian, on the China-North Korea border, with an American family who adopted from China. It was Nora’s first trip back to the place she was born and first time to meet her Chinese adoptive family who looked after her until she was 3. “I’m […]