The tour companies taking visitors in encourage the view that tourism is a positive thing, but the extent to which it helps remains difficult to unpick, with many remaining skeptical. “If tourism were opening North Korea [up], over the 15-year span of this industry we ought to have seen some evolution in the restrictions and permissible exposure of foreigners to North Korean society,” says Joshua Stanton, founder of the OneFreeKorea blog. “[But] we haven’t.” Read more
