When one thinks of holidays, or travel guides related to holiday planning, the so-called ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’—best known as North Korea—is not a place that comes to mind. This is primarily because of the public awareness of its isolated, militarised, and authoritarian nature, alongside its paranoia regarding foreigners.
Still, I must confess that, like most westerners, North Korea is fascinating when compared to the fairly free world I roam every day. From an outsider’s perspective, North Korea feels simultaneously futuristically dystopian and stuck in a Communist past of brutality and dictatorship. My long-running fascination and curiosity with this odd and oppressive country compelled me to read through Bradt Travel Guides’ third edition of their North Korea book, authored by Englishman Robert Willoughby.
I want to address the existence of the fourth edition that was published in 2018, which I overlooked because I had no intention of spending £16 to read about a country I am fairly certain I will never foot in, despite my intrigue. Ultimately, I felt the 2014 third edition would not result in a significantly different reading experience or lack of detail.
This thorough exploration of the country begins on a personal note, with a memoir-like introduction from the author. Willoughby first visited the secluded country in the 1990s, and he details this experience briefly, describing the plane he took from Beijing and the sorts of well-dressed people he saw, in addition to expressing how alien and trapped in time North Korea seemed once he landed. He notes a society that was devoid of advertisements, full of clean and largely sterile cities, and zero sight of any brands that weren’t explicitly owned by North Korea.
Willoughby, however, acknowledges that the country seems to have made some progressions and minor liberalisations since his initial trip there in the 1990s. The capitol, Pyongyang, has expanded and grown, and slight bits of life—more cars, more buildings, the presence mobile phones—had crept in since Willoughby’s first time in the city. Yet, for whatever these small freedoms are worth, it does not change the reality that North Korea restricts communication between its citizens and the outside world, and that the infamous Kim family imagery is still dominating every aspect of life in North Korea, especially history and education. Going back to the idea of a country stuck in time, I enjoyed the authors wording of, ‘for all the changes around the edges, it remains fundamentally the same,’ because it conveys how superficial these minor freedoms and expansive are in such an oppressive landscape.
Within the introduction, and affirmed later in the book, is also the strong consensus that most of the country is off-limits for tourists. In essence, the further ventured from the capitol of Pyongyang, the less is permitted to be seen. And, from the beginning, Willoughby indicates that trips are generally planned out by a North Korean agency, and tourists almost always have a guide with them at any given time when exploring. In essence, the author is already advising you that North Korea is not a place one visits on a whim or just wanders about soaking in the atmosphere of. The conventional freedoms of a tourist should not be expected.
But that is only the introduction and far from the real meat and potatoes of what this peculiar travel guide offers. For what they’re worth, the opening pages provide a solid entry point and slight bit of personalised context before readers get the full details and context behind it in the first core section of this travel guide. I think Willoughby’s introduction is where the light reading aspect of this guide swiftly dies, because North Korea expands into a condensed tome of information from Part One onwards.
The first chapter of Part One is approximately seventy pages in length and details a lot about each facet of North Korea, to the extent that I cannot even begin to outline everything Willoughby goes over. If you have any basic questions about the country’s geography, climate, natural and man-made history, economy, people, language, religion, and culture, then this segment is sure to satisfy with hundreds of facts and a great timeline of events for most aforementioned topics.
I was particularly impressed with the extensive, generalised detailing of the country in this section. For geography, the author goes into good depth about North Korea’s borders, differences in North and South Korea’s landscapes, and the general disorderliness of the farming in the northern half of Korea. It also explains that, much like many supposedly ‘democratic’ countries, North Korea is broken up into nine provinces made up of ‘dongs’, akin to boroughs.
Regarding natural history, I was surprised to learn that this oppressive and rather brutish country (despite how much it has destroyed its landscapes with pollution) has some national parks and protected areas. Moreover, regarding human history in Korea, and the events the eventually formed North Korea, Willoughby goes into absurd detail about every known era and influence on the peninsula. This includes all the way back into the BC period, but also the modern influence that neighbouring and western countries like Russia, China, Japan, Britain, and France, had on Korea. Additionally, and as expected, the author also gives a good inside into the 1945–1948 division of Korea into the two contrasting halves we now recognise.
The topic of history also pivots onto leadership and explains how the Kim family asserted leadership over the northern territory. For a travel guide, North Korea rightfully capitalises on the mystique around the then (in 2014) fairly recent power swap to Kim Jung Un, who became leader in 2011. There is also discussion of North Korea’s then growing fixation with missiles and nuclear weaponry, alongside rather public ‘purges’ and executions of many so-called traitors, especially following the new leader’s appointment. Additionally, in an amusing and depressing way, Willoughby highlights how Kim Jung Un achieved 100% votes in 2014 (a pattern that has largely continued to vary between 99-100% ever since). Must be a popular candidate, huh?
Chapter One also explores and details North Korea’s dubious economy in a series of dense pages. I won’t regurgitate it all, but I did learn that the Korean split in 1945 left the northerners with most of the industry and the southerners with most of the agricultural resources, which largely shaped North and South Korea’s lifestyles and means of feeding their population. Despite decades of effort, North Korea has suffered financial woes, famine, and a massive slump in the 1990s due to many shortcomings in how it secured funds, farmed, handled climate and weather, relied on foreign aid, and had difficulty generating electricity. In 2004, there were even a few billboards put up for South Korean cars assembled in the North, but, as noted by the author, this was mostly pointless because no citizens had the money to buy or fuel a car, nor the permits to drive on North Korea’s poorly maintained motorways.
By the 2010s, the country’s economic condition had somewhat improved, but its relations with Japan and the west were poor, resulting in many trade and banking sanctions not being lifted. Although I personally have no idea what the country’s economic standing is like nowadays, this insight into just how messy North Korea’s finances are is truly fascinating.
But, what is even more fascinating is the people and society of North Korea, which Bradt’s guide also details quite well. In particular, the author seems to want to dispel the western idea that North Korean citizens are lifeless, miserable machine-like workers, when they actually quite enjoy drinking, dancing, karaoke, picnicking, and walking around the local parks. Willoughby also touches on the heavily oppressed position of woman in Korea’s past, and how the North has socially engineered women into a position of equality and given them the right to education. However, it appears there are still many sexist undertones and sentiments in the country, which does not surprise me at all.
Plenty more details and factoids about miscellaneous history, music, art, pottery, and the literature of North Korea can be found, both for the past and present. I think I have successfully painted a picture of just how detailed these seventy pages are, and I am a little tired of listing off what I’ve learned from this chapter. Let’s just say it is effectively North Korea’s main Wikipedia page condensed, but also expanded and explored, across a lengthy chapter.
Chapter Two is an additional thirty pages, but this time focuses on more practical information for tourists. It helpfully informs readers about travel plans, etiquette, transport, night life, as well as general tips about shopping, permits, and how to get by whilst in North Korea.
What I was most surprised about was that North Korea is basically a hard cash society for foreigners (no debit or credit cards), and that the country often uses a mix of currencies. Additionally, tourists often get charged more or don’t get any change if they overpay, but you can’t really blame the common citizen for this when considering the wealth disparity between them and westerners.
Additionally, I found it quite disturbing that the author insists that ‘under no circumstances should anyone, especially children and babies, drink the tap water’—something he repeats later in the book with a somewhat ominous tone. A detail like this makes me question why people would want to chance being in North Korea at all, other than out of sheer curiosity.
Water issues aside, the second half of the book, known as Part Two, is the prize content for anyone who actually wants to visit this hellish and fascinating country. The roughly 160 pages in this packed section breaks down the various regions of North Korea and talks more in-depth about their local history, notable geography, influence behind things like architecture and design, as well as the very cheap feel of furniture and interiors within North Korean housing. Most noteworthy locations will also have a small illustrated map to help visitors get their bearings (which is handy, but also redundant since this country will effectively strap a paid and watchful guide to you).
Part Two covers many regions and locations, such as Pyongyang, Kaesong, Sariwon Panmunjom, Nampo, Mount Kuwol, Haeju, Pyongsong, Mount Myohyang, Wonsan, Mount Kumgang, Tanchon, Chongjin, Chilbosan, Mount Paektu, and China’s border.
I cannot stress enough how extremely informative and useful this guide would be for a tourist trying to see and experience what they can of North Korea. In addition to the discussion of each location’s history and influences, readers will be provided with the standard array of how to get around using buses, trains, the metro, trams, taxis, and potentially bicycles. Accommodation, recommended spots to eat and drink, any nightlife and shopping spots, alongside additional points of interest and tips on what to see/do in the area, are also covered in good detail. However, I would guess that with North Korea’s preference for tourists to mostly stay around the capitol, many visitors will never see half the faraway locations that the author talks about.
Those who are not genuinely interested in visiting the country should do what I did and mainly read the ‘history’ and more cultural subsections for each region and not pay too much mind to details specifically included for aspiring tourists who are envisioning or planning a trip to Korea’s upper half. When factoring in that this edition is a decade out of date, I feel it was fine to consider most tourist-focused subsections irrelevant.
And that brings me to how I feel about this book, something I haven’t actually gotten across all too well because I possess mixed feelings towards this travel guide. Despite the foreword lamenting a lack of accurate and in-depth information, the wordiness was far more than I expected, especially when it comes to information and advice for actually visiting. This means that North Korea, as a guide, is much more of a dense read than a travel guide one would leaf through and enjoy photographs from. In fact, photographs are very sparse; some appear in the opening pages, and then a few dozen more pop up in one lump sum during the midpoint of the book, and that is all.
Whilst The Steady Read does focus on reviewing written works over picture books, I feel that the hundred of pages filled with factual writing, dates, statistics, and figures—with heaps of foreign and hard to recall names for us westerners—is overwhelming to anyone who is not pining for mountains of information on this oppressive country. Bradt’s guide is undoubtedly informative, but unpleasantly lengthy in its structure and diction. Had pictures been dotted throughout the book, even just one every few dozen pages, it could have gifted this read some much needed colour, in addition to a visual insight into this very militarised, industrialised, and impoverished society. Instead, readers are largely inferring and picturing everything through words, which is hard to do because North Korea is such a visually unknown country to most outside it.
The fact that the author and editing team couldn’t grasp the concept that readers will not be able to picture things they have no visual reference for astounds me. It feels like a laughable oversight for a travel guide, especially one that has advertisements for travel plan providers and contact details for ‘North Korean Specialists’ within it.
When I compare my time reading this guide to something like DK Eyewiteness’ USA National Parks: Lands of Wonder, it feels sterile and dull, a bit like the social life within North Korea. DK’s authors were able to balance their conciseness and knowledge well, and allow plenty of page real estate for beautiful and colourful pictures to liven up every chapter. If I employ an analogy, I would suggest DK’s style is like leafing through an enticing (but thorough) brochure, whereas this Bradt publication is like heading down to the local library and borrowing a copy of Encyclopaedia North Korea. It is admirable in its detail and resistance against the country’s secretive nature, but quite drab when compared to most twenty-first century travel guides.
One last thing that irked me was the lack a proper conclusion, or even just an acknowledgement towards the reader. Come page 271, it just stops and switches over to the two last appendixes of information, terminology, and sources. It is not a major issue, but it did feel quite jarring to have no sound conclusion or a brief chapter wrapping things up with any extra advice, information, or opinions from the author. It is as though the North Korean forces had found it and executed it… the book just abruptly silences itself with no sliver of personality, or warmth, to thank or wish the reader luck.
Overall, I commend and rate it solidly for all its hard work. I am certainly more informed about North Korea, and I have shed some of the opinions and views I have picked up from biased western media and sentiments, but I was also quite bored and relieved to have pushed through this slog of information. If you, like me, have no realistic interest or intention to visit North Korea, then there is little justification in reading this beyond sheer curiosity.
For non-aspiring tourists, this travel guide becomes more like a history book full of facts pertaining to the country’s heritage, leadership, society, and various areas that most tourists are unlikely to see. Yet, I think you would still be better off doing your own research online or sourcing a different book about this ever-controversial and alienated country. At least that information could be more recent than 2014.
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