North Korea just allowed tourists to visit for the first time in 5 years and what they saw was shocking

A group of Western tourists were treated to a surreal performance of North Korean schoolchildren dancing and singing against a backdrop of animated ballistic missiles during the first officially sanctioned trip to the Hermit Kingdom in five years.The unsettling choreographed display was just the tip of the weirdness iceberg for the handful of thrill-seeking travelers from the UK, France, Germany and Australia who made the four-day trek to the Asian country’s remote Rason region last week.One tourist revealed the trip was so closely monitored by Kim Jong Un’s repressive regime that he even had to ask permission to use the bathroom.“They’ve had five years to fix things.North Koreans are so sensitive about what they show tourists.

If this is the best they can show, I dread to think what else is out there,” another visitor remarked.It was the first time since 2020 tourists were allowed to enter — the notoriously secretive nation locked itself down at the start of the pandemic, leaving many to wonder whether Westerners would ever again be able to cross its border.But Young Pioneer Tours, a company that facilitates trips into the country, was finally able to resume operations after being thwarted for the last half-decade.“The North Koreans aren’t robots.They have opinions, goals, and a sense of humor.

And in our briefing we encourage people to listen to and understand them,” Rowan Beard, who runs the company, told BBC.Beard told the outlet once they received the green light, the tourism group had no trouble filling its available slots, which sold out in just five hours.But it was no ordinary vacation, with no cell phone or internet service — and not so much as an ATM available for use.The tourists were given a strict set of guidelines to follow, including don’t insult the country’s leaders, don’t mock North Korea’s ideology and don’t be judgmental of their unusual and repressive way of life, the outlet writes.They were also followed and wa...