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August 28th, 2017 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : The NKOREAN tour agency branch based in Moscow and reportedly licensed by the North Korean government in Pyongyang turned out to be Russian – probably.
On Friday Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman of the Russian Tourist Union told reporters that NKOREAN was not registered in Russia as an official tour operator and trips to North Korea for Russian tourists were already available.
“Foreign tourists can only go to North Korea via companies which have been accredited by North Korea’s Foreign Ministry,” she was cited as saying. “So all Russian tour operators, which, by the way have long offered tours to that country, have such accreditation.”
News of NKOREAN’s launch received widespread media attention on Thursday, after Interfax reported a North Korean Embassy aide as saying North Korea’s nuclear weapons would “fully guarantee safety and peace on the Korean peninsula” for Russian tourists.
NKOREAN’s sales director Yulia Mukhtakhipova reportedly confirmed that NKOREAN was a Russian company which lacked the necessary license from Rosturism, Russia’s federal tourism agency, to offer such tours.
NKOREAN will be working under the supervision and in cooperation with the DPRK’s embassy in the Russian capital Moscow to promote Russian tourism to North Korea. NKOREAN offers all-inclusive tour packages with tours lasting between 4 to 15 days. Tours are offered from 51,000 rubles ($860) upwards. Tours are also advertised on NKOREAN’s Russian-language website (here).
Sergei Golov, the president of the Russian Union of Travel Agencies said last week: “I hope that NKOREAN will make a breakthrough for our tourists, for the end-user it is very important, there is a great interest”. Golov added that he thinks the prospects for development are good and that the Union of Travel Agencies, in return, will support NKOREAN with information.
“There’s a category of tourists who are interested in going there to experience socialism,” Irina Tyurina, a spokesperson for Russia’s Tourism Union, was cited as saying by the Russian Interfax news agency. “There are not many of them,” she said, adding 423 Russian tourists visited North Korea in 2016.
Tourism would be a welcome additional source of revenue for the internationally sanctioned DPRK. However, judging by the words of North Korean Embassy aide Kim Sen Khun, the assessment made by Irina Tyurina, that tours may be attractive for tourists who want to experience “socialism” in the “People’s Republic” is probably correct in more than one way.
Nukes made sexy for law-abiding tourists – does Pyongyang have a serious PR and image problem? Image courtesy Garryknight
Law-abiding Russian tourists have nothing to fear and are protected by Pyongyang’s nuclear umbrella
Kim Sen Khun advertised tours to North Korea saying “North Korea is one of the safest countries in the world, and guarantees the safety of tourists who respect law and order of the country”. He added that “North Korea’s nuclear weapons fully guarantee safety and peace on the Korean peninsula”. He also announced a simplified visa procedure for Russian citizens, reducing waiting time from up to three weeks to between three and five days. his country guarantees the safety of law-abiding tourists, which is facilitated by the nuclear potential of North Korea.
The tours offered by NKOREAN are packed with events showcasing the beauty and achievements of the workers’ and peasants’ paradise. Those who want to experience “real socialism” on their own instead of a glossy tourist version of it are probably well-advised to stay away unless one has written permission to also access the backstreets where unwanted children roam freely, who want to see the prisons for political prisoners, the underground networks that are selling slave-labor tours across the border to China and other attractions which a real and according to Pyongyang’s standards probably not-so-law-abiding – explorer would like to see instead.
CH/L – nsnbc 2808.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/08/28/nkorean-tour-agency-in-moscow-turns-out-to-be-russian/
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