KOREA FOCUS

These days, North Koreans are unable to visit Bagyeon Waterfall in the morning because of tourists from South Korea. Between 9 a.m. and noon, the area is reserved for tourists from the South who want to look around Daeheung Mountain Fortress, Gwaneumsa Temple and Bagyeon Waterfall. The latter is one of the three famous names of Kaesong (Gaeseong), along with the beautiful courtesan Hwang Jin-i, and a respected scholar, Seo Gyeong-deok, who is said to have successfully resisted her. North Koreans are allowed back in the area in the afternoon, when the visitors from the South are touring Seonjuk Bridge, Sungyang Academy, which is a memorial to the scholar Jeong Mong-ju and the Goryeo Museum.

If tourism comprises the three elements of sightseeing, eating and shopping, the one-day trips to Kaesong that began December 5 may leave something to be desired. Still, they are satisfactory overall. Visitors are able to briefly see the major beauty spots and cultural sites, and lunch on traditional Kaesong fare featuring 13 side dishes served in brass bowls. The finale of the trip is a visit to a souvenir shop where wallets are opened and dollars spent.

Thanks to a variety of regulations, however, the trip comes closer to a field trip than tourism. Photography is forbidden during the bus rides from one place to another. It is not possible to capture on film scenes of the shabby streets that seem to be straight out of the past, or North Koreans so small that it seems they have evolved into a different race, and signs bearing communistic slogans such as "Thank You, Great Leader," and "Cheers for General Kim Jong-il, the sun of the 21st century." Photographing on the sly is impossible because of the three North Korean officials who accompany the tourists on the bus as guides. On the way back customs officials inspect every photo taken. Moreover, because free communication with the North Koreans is not allowed, Kaesong almost seems to be a drama or movie set.

In spite of everything, the Kaesong tours are a big hit. There are few empty seats in the 10 tour buses that depart daily (except Mondays), passing through the DMZ to reach Kaesong. In just one month, the number of visitors has topped 9,000, and is soon expected to reach 10,000 per month. Two-day packages, which include one night on the KTX (high speed rail) train, are being sold in the provinces. With bookings almost full to the end of the month, Hyundai Asan, the tour operator, is planning to continue the trips through the lunar New Year holidays.   

 
Unlike the tours to Mt. Geumgang, which are purely hiking trips, the Kaesong tours arouse great interest and curiosity because they offer a chance to step foot in the city that served as the capital of the Goryeo Dynasty for five centuries and see the way the North Koreans live. As anyone can take part simply by making a booking, the tours are also popular with foreigners. In fact BBC World chose the Kaesong tours as one of the four attractions of Korean tourism in 2008. Hyundai Asan charges a flat fee of 180,000 won for all customers, regardless of age, and hands to the Northern side $100, about half of the price, in cash. This includes $20 per head for lunch. If 10,000 people visit Kaesong every month, it means North Korea gets $1 million in cash on a monthly basis. The average North Korean worker in the Kaesong Industrial Complex gets paid about $60.30 per month, which adds up to about $1.2 million in wage income for some 20,000 workers. Compare this to the $1 million from tourism and it's easy to see the significance of the tours.

The only North Koreans that you come into contact with are the guides or sales girls working at tourist stalls. But the authorities have no way of stopping the locals from getting a good look at their prosperous looking visitors from the South. For fear of what openness might bring, the North has only opened its doors by just a crack up, and is now taking a "great risk" for the sake of the money. Kaesong people have for long been known for their quick-calculating ways with an eye out for profit. They are born salesmen who controlled commerce across the country in the past. So they must know better than anybody else that the current Kaesong tour will not be enough for the North to maximize revenue potential. To be a lasting source of income, the tours have to take on the nature of real tourism rather than a field trip. To do so, North Korea has no choice but to open up a little bit wider and bare some more of its soul.