Snip:
Belarus and the DPRK are preparing to sign a bilateral agreement on visa-free travel for citizens, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov said on the air of the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.
According to Maxim Ryzhenkov, the corresponding bilateral agreement has been drafted, and only some technical details remain to be settled.
“We will sign it in the very near future. I had a meeting with the minister of foreign affairs of the DPRK. Together we discussed the entire range of bilateral relations, including the upcoming contacts through the foreign ministries and the signing of a number of agreements, including this important agreement on visa-free travel for citizens,” the Belarusian top diplomat said.
Does that mean open travel, as in anywhere in the country without chaperone?
I’ve been saying there would be an opening up of the country in our lifetimes, but maybe it’ll be in the next 10 years.
This will be an interesting test because there’s still plenty of US agents in Belarus, they will presumably be taking advantage of it to send some spies over.
Visa free usually just means you don’t need prior permission to enter. Citizens of both countries can just arrive at the border and freely request entry. I don’t think this will effect the DPRK’s internal travel policies.
Hmm just a paperwork reduction then I suppose. That does make it easier and more likely to get tourism though.
Presumably those would have to go together though right? Can’t really just arrive if you need a chaperone which would need to be planned in advance
A lot of foreign travel in the DPRK is done through authorized travel companies that can only go to specific areas. Like just having a visa doesn’t mean you can drive wherever you want, you still have to arrange for things like hotels and whatnot and that’s all gonna fall into whatever the internal rules dictate.
Yeah, I’m just unclear on what the benefit of visa free travel would be if they aren’t able to get around at least some of that. One less form to fill out and fee to pay I guess.
That would be my guess, as well.
Wouldn’t this be the case for a while with agents from China and Russia?
I don’t know, I don’t think so? They are supposed to travel with registered agencies afaik.
I really think they should let a trickle in without that though. Mass majority will only be able to get hotels in built up areas anyway, I doubt there’s car rental available, so the only travel into remote areas is going to be what? Bicycle? Worst case scenario you get some wanderers reaching a couple miles outside the city or tourist area, they aren’t going to get far. At least not until you have foreign vehicles travelling into and out of the country via bridge borders. Best they’re going to be able to manage is what can reasonably be reached with public transport or walking. I think it’ll be fine.
We’ll see it once they’re confident imo.
Worst case scenario you get some wanderers reaching a couple miles outside the city or tourist area
Long distance hikers walk 20 miles a day, sleep in a hammock, drink filtered river water, and do it again every day for months, and NK climate isn’t that different from the Adirondack portion of the Appalachian trail.
Bicycle backpackers sometimes do 5x that per day, though not in hilly terrain like NK.
An agent equipped with nothing can cause a lot of trouble simply by taking advantage of what’s locally avaiable.
You’d either need to unironically turn it into surveillance state to protect the locals or you stick with the current arrangement, they don’t have a choice. One idiot infiltrating and jerry rigging something to destroy the lives of children is all it would take to spark a disaster. The only logical option is to get someone tracking all the tourists in designated areas.
Theoretically if CRINK unites I suppose they could just obliterate the Empire, but nobody wants to initiate that because it could destroy everything. A lot of people forget we’re dealing with ideological twin of Nazi Germany, but instead of building chambers they would absolutely be willing to vaporize all your people in a nuclear blast. Because it means nothing to them, it’s just a plot of lands to build real-estate on.
Belarus be having a really strange glow up this past few years.
I like it!
Can people easily exit NK to get to Belarus?
The Korean State Railway does an 8 day trip from Pyongyang to Moscow (and then back) via the Trans-Siberian route. Demand is kind of seasonal since the winter is rough, but the train usually leaves Pyongyang close to full of passengers headed to closer stops. Since it takes 8 days from end to end, it only runs roughly twice a month. You can take a passenger train or overnight train another 8 hours from Moscow to Minsk, multiple run daily.
Air Koryo also flies 1-2 times daily to Vladivostok and Beijing. You can get a connecting flight through there to Moscow and then to Minsk.
If you’re asking how easily the average North Korean can get a passport and ticket to a destination outside the country, plane travel is often too expensive for most NK workers, but the train is heavily used.
Former Soviet Union states are typically the most desirable destinations for North Koreans. Kyrgyzstan has a large Korean population and offers unlimited visa-free stays for North Korean citizens. Most of the other CIS states grant eVisas for 30-90 day stays.
Shit I should keep an eye out for north Koreans next time I’m in the 'stans!
It would be crazy to hear their perspectives on things.
It would be crazy to hear their perspectives on things.
Oh of course it’s age restricted!
Please sign in to view this video citizen :)
Wtf there is absolutely nothing in this video that should be age restricted lmao
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I’d ask them if they have those 9999 in 1 LCD Brick Games.
I can personally confirm that every install of Red Star OS comes with Tetris (kBlocks), Atomix (kAtomic), and Minesweeper (kMines). So, they’ve got Tetris at least.
There’s also a package manager to download more games if you have access to Kwangmyong, the national intranet. There’s access at libraries, universities, internet cafes, parts of Pyongyang have Wi-Fi too. I think all the KDE Games are available, but I’m not actually sure if they allow the Card, Arcade, or Tactics & Strategy titles. The board games and logic games for sure are.
Arirang phones come with a bootleg of angry birds and a modded copy of Plants vs Zombies, but no Tetris.
plane travel is often too expensive for most NK workers, but the train is heavily used
Always disorienting, given that plane travel in the west is almost invariably hugely cheaper than the train.
The Jinghu HSR (Beijing-Shanghai corridor) has made flights between those two cities unprofitable. It’s cheaper, more convenient, and the door-to-door is faster than going through security and all the other bullshit associated with plane travel.
They are 1318 km (819 mi) apart. A soft sleeper ticket costs 500 CN¥ ($74 USD) and a seat is about 1/3 that price. Plane tickets are in the same price range.
Plane tickets between Chicago and Dallas, about the same distance, are over $100. This continent sucks lmao, what are we doing?
Having taken that exact train line, don’t I know it too damn well. Lots of people from home asked why I didn’t fly as it would be an obvious choice, while locals in China realised it was just normal to train it.
How many Koryo-saram are there in Kyrgyzstan? I haven’t heard about those descendants.
Apparently around 17,000. https://www.stat.gov.kg/en/opendata/category/312/
Yes, that was the question, about whether an average NK resident could get a passport and so on. Aren’t they always trying to escape to SK?
No, stories of people people defecting to South Korea are really overblown by SK media. Most people who defected did so during the 1990s Korean famine.
The few people that do defect do so in order to reunite with separated family. They find themselves third class non-citizens, unable to obtain housing or employment, socially outcast, and exploited by the SK media and government for propaganda purposes.
I think that the “escape from North Korea” narrative is probably similar to the “escape from Cuba” narrative.
Are there chuds in DPRK who would like to escape because they think they can go become a small business tyrant in the US or somewhere else? Of course. Every country has reactionaries.
Is every person in DPRK wishing they could escape so that they can go become a small business tyrant in the West? No, I think most people who live in DPRK and also Cuba, actually enjoy living in their countries and their country’s social system.
What about the economic hardships in DPRK and Cuba? The economic hardships in the DPRK and Cuba are caused by decades of sanctions created by the United States. People in DPRK and Cuba blame the United States for the economic hardships, not their own government. People in DPRK know that the United States places sanctions on many countries including DPRK, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, etc.
Do people in DPRK actually like Kim Jong Un? Probably yes. Imagine you were born in North Korea. Less than 100 years ago, the United States invaded Korea and slaughters hundreds of thousands of civilians and destroy thousands of homes. Now there is a leader of the country who has successfully deterred the United States from invading again through investing in nuclear armament. Why wouldn’t you like the leader who is deterring another US invasion?
Think of how Americans think about George Washington, now imagine the revolutionary war was during your grandparents lifetime and the British killed 20% of the population and destroyed every single building in the country.
There are multiple places in DC where George Washington is literally depicted as a God. By comparison the DPRK has a very sensible respect for the Kim family.
Which of these demonstrates a healthier respect for the founder of their nation? The Apotheosis of Washington or Weaving is an Art?
Koreans: Vacation abroad and then come back home.
Westerners: (Confused screaming.)
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Nope. SK does pay defectors well for stories against the DPRK, and doesn’t allow them to return tho.
Some background to add to everyone else’s comments. T’albungmin are the defectors.
Yes, via the Pyongyang International Airport.
Edit: there are currently no direct flights from Pyongyang to Minsk, however you can fly to Beijing or Moscow and take a connecting flight (or bus/train from Moscow)
Direct flights between Pyongyang and Moscow only happen about once a month. Flights between Vladivostok and Pyongyang happen 3-5 times a week, so that’s the common flight path. FNJ-VVO-SVO-MSQ.
Will we see DPRK being the next union state member?
