Following the arrest and 15-year sentencing of U.S traveler and tour operator Kenneth Bae in North Korea, tour operators that specialize in bringing travelers to the country said those who still want to visit should feel safe to do so.
“There is no added danger in traveling to North Korea. It isn’t a dangerous place for tourists at all, as the thousands of people who have been there with us over the last two decades will concur,” Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours wrote in an email.
Koryo Tours is a British-run company based in Beijing that specializes in travel to North Korea. Cockerell said that in the 20 years that he has been providing tours to North Korea, he has never had a tourist or tour leader arrested, taken for questioning or expelled form the country.
The U.S. government has called for the immediate release of Bae, a Korean-American who was sentenced last week to 15 years of hard labor for committing “hostile acts” against North Korea, according to reports.
Bae was arrested in North Korea in November after taking a group of Chinese businessmen there, the New York Times reported.
Beijing-based Young Pioneer Tours, a North Korea operator, wrote on its website in response to Bae’s arrest and sentencing that “recent news may have been misleading regarding the state of tourism in North Korea, which we would like to quickly set straight for everyone.”
The company then explained that there are a lot of small Chinese companies that offer short day trips over the border into North Korea.
“These tours have been suspended due to the current situation. These tours are not the same, however, as the packages we offer, which are fully government-sanctioned tours into the heart of the country,” Young Pioneer Tours wrote.
The company said it does not expect any disruptions to its North Korea program.
Hamden, Conn.-based North Korea specialist New Korea Tours has a news update on its website stating that “all tours are running as scheduled despite latest political situation.”
While North Korea operators maintain that it’s business as usual, the U.S. State Department in March reissued a travel warning for North Korea, stating that “U.S. citizens crossing into North Korea, even accidentally, have been subject to arbitrary arrest and long-term detention.”
Since January 2009, four U.S. citizens have been arrested for entering North Korea illegally, and two U.S. citizens who entered on valid North Korea visas were arrested on other charges, the State Department reported.
How the current situation plays out politically remains to be seen, “but we don’t see it as having an effect on our tours that are in the country now or going there soon,” wrote Cockerell.
Follow Michelle Baran on Twitter @mbtravelweekly.