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Tourism in North Korea is not limited to visiting uranium enrichment centrifuges or plutonium reprocessing plants. China-based Young Pioneer Tours, the group that brought us juche golf tourism (you read that right), has gone all serious on us and added a “March Juche Idea, and Korean Language Study Tour” to their menu. Visitors will have the rare opportunity to receive either 4 or more lectures on the philosophy and history of the juche ideology, or learn Korean in Pyongyang, or even better, get a discount for doing both!
Evidently the juche philospophy tourism niche market was first conceived by the North Korean government (ka-ching!). Learning is always encouraged, but ideologies can be cumbersome, especially when the ideology translates as “self-reliance” and the nation is highly reliant on food aid. As for the Korean language crash course, just make sure that you don’t come back speaking like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0C_Vi0gbS4
On a lighter note, (or if you’re scared that you might be caught dozing off in one of those juche lectures), you still have the golf option and can even enter the newly founded North Korean Amateur Golf Open. No information on just how “amateur” you are allowed to be, but don’t be intimidated by this comment on the website, “It is claimed that when Kim Jong Il opened the course in 1991, he shot a world record 38 under par on his first ever round of golf (including 11 hole in ones!).” It’s worth a shot!