North Korea

In the news a few days ago, one particular piece of news aroused my curiosity. It seems that just recently North Korea opened its doors to tourism and allowed outsiders to travel there. This is surprising as North Korea has always been seen as mysterious, dangerous. No one knew what went on behind the scenes as North Korea had stopped all communication with the outside world before now.

The history of North Korea is not exactly very bright. Like many other countries, North Korea had been through many devastating wars. The most famous one, or should I say, infamous one was the Korean War. What sparked off the war? The war started because the Allies split Korea into North Korea and South Korea at the conclusion of the Pacific War. It ended 3 years later but there was no official peace between North and South Korea.

Not long after, North Korea started to research on Nuclear technology, both for reactors and warfare in as early as 1956.

So now we have some background information on North Korea's history. North Korea is a strictly communist country. Although opened for tourism, there are still many rules for tourists. For example, one cannot imitate the posture and action of the North Korean leader while taking photos. Also, one cannot take photos of pictures of the leader.

This makes us question the mindset of the leader. Why would he want to open up for tourism if he would set so many rules for the tourists? For money? That would be the most obvious answer. There are many possible reasons, and I shall list them down.

1. For money
2. To improve North Korea's public impression
3. To improve North Korea's impression on the powers so to reduce the lock-down that the powers are putting on her.

These are some of the possible reasons. What do you think?