My North Korean Holiday: The Funniest / Worst Place on Earth?

An unstable Soviet dictatorship, notorious for human rights abuses and known to be developing nuclear weapons, is probably the last place most people want to visit on holiday. But one travel agency, specialising in ‘danger tourism’, regularly organises trips in North Korea for tourists keen to meet ‘the last Soviets’. We join a group of three and travel around the country. Keen to experience first hand the realities of life in a totalitarian state, we even try to escape the official tour guide...

[Nanagos]

The woman who directs the non existant traffic is so surreal and saddening to me.

[jamesbulldogmiller]

The porter wasn't trying to exercise his authority. He was trying protect you from authority.

[joshmiller]

The hotel worker looked like he was pleading with you to come inside. Not with his words but with his eyes. He probably would be tortured or killed if you just left the hotel on his watch.

[johnappleton]

The woman directing nonexistent traffic is hauntingly scary. What could she be doing with her "life" if she was born somewhere else. Really sickening, dont take freedom lightly or you could be her too.

[enthusiasticamateur]

that blond guy looks like a Bond villain

[nnmgswj]

No phones in sight
just people starving in the moment.

[JamieRHubert]

I don’t understand why tourists come here and ask the questions to which they already know the answers, knowing their guides are being watched and are in complete danger.

[SomeeGuyy]

52:06 They should have blurred his face, because you can be assured that someone in their military has seen this doc and has decided that this man's loyalty is a threat. Since this doc is over a decade old, well, RIP.

[jeremyh]

The lady directing the invisible traffic is exactly how I felt 75% of my Army career when I wasn't deployed

[indianahomestead]

The conversations held during filming make this film feel much more like a suicide mission.

[MrYorickJenkins]

"under penalty of having to extend our stay here by several months" haha that's one way of putting it!

[dreamerworld]

I can't go to a place like that. Having to bow to a statue and being careful about what you say. Having to listen to a lady singing about a dictator in an awkward empty front yard. Alternate universe. Poor people

[theschmonkiboy]

27:57 "Filming is forbidden"...
immortal cameraman continues filming.

[Ironbuket]

The sad thing is that visitors that try to dodge their minders and do things they weren’t meant to do, ends up with the guides getting punished for not doing their jobs

[princessjora]

I feel horrible for the one guide in the last 5 minutes. I’m sure that was a cry for help, to explain what it’s like, the way he looks in the camera. I’m sure he has been punished since this came out

[CurbeeStomp]

It’s so crazy to know this is going on in 2024 and nobody is stopping them

[creolespanish]

I used to be a tour guide in a country under a dictatorship. If you live in a regular country and visit one of those, please be aware of this: the degree of participation of hospitality workers in the oppression can range from being totally brainwashed and ignorant of the truth, to 100% being willing to help the regime to dupe tourists with their version of history. Either way, those poor people hope to make a little money or benefits by having access to foreign tourists, but they're also subject to heightened scrutiny by the regime. So, never forget you have all those liberties, but they will stay behind living in hell. Did you notice that the girl in the museum was never by herself? She and the group guide were very much keeping track of each other's actions. Therefore, please, be wise and learn the evil ways of dictatorships without implicating locals into violations of their rules, they could lose everything, livelihood or even life, by not sticking to the script

[MichaelRicksAherne]

That guard at 52:00 getting real with them and being like "we have to walk back or they'll kill me" -- that's scary.

[MrIanWebb]

It's interesting that the authorities were so concerned with screening the tourist photographs, but somehow, the documentary footage from the video cameras made it out unscathed. The interviews alone should have been enough to arrest everyone. Bold, very bold. My hat goes off to everyone involved.

[leslieross]

Watched this a few times over the last decade or so. It always makes me feel awful for those people who have no chance of seeing a better life. God knows I do not understand it.