Really Creepy Alumni Trip to North Korea
I just got an e-mail from the California Alumni Association (CAA) about a trip to North Korea. A copy of that e-mail can be viewed on the CAA website. Here is a truncated description of the trip:
We have learned that the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—the DPRK, which is North Korea—has decided to allow a limited number of Americans into the country later this year. This small window of opportunity will be only the fourth time in fifty years that American tourists have been allowed into the DPRK.
…
For those reasons, some Americans will not travel there and are concerned that their visit will be exploited by the regime. Others will choose to go, hoping that contacts between peoples are a way to build a bridge of understanding.
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The DPRK government welcomes foreign visitors and maintains a tourism infrastructure to accommodate them. The buildings we will visit are showcases.
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The highlight of our seven days in the DPRK is the “Arirang Grand Mass Gymnastic and Artistic Performance” in Pyongyang. The performance exemplifies the ideal of this nation, and is quite probably the earth’s largest human spectacle. Just imagine: 100,000 people synchronized in a socialist realism extravaganza that can only be seen in North Korea. [emphasis mine]
This is extremely creepy, and not something the alumni association should even remotely consider being involved with. Some of the reasons that this is a terrible idea that no one should go on and that should be prevented from happening:
1) North Korea (DPRK) is probably the single worst/most despicable regime that currently exists today. There are credible accusations that there are concentration camps for political prisoners and others. The Amnesty International report has much more on the massive destruction the government is inflicting on the people, including a government induced famine. On this point alone, going and having a lovely vacation in a country undergoing such a catastrophic situation is disturbing.
2) More importantly, this is clearly a propoganda effort by the DPRK government. North Korea has one of the most extensive and intrusive police networks that has ever existed and the e-mail itself notes that the trip will be heavily managed. Anyone who goes on this is not seeing the real North Korea, but instead a stage-managed production. And when those people get interviewed for newspaper and television articles (and as the first tourists to visit in a long time, they invariable will) if any of them say that they had a lovely time and everyone they met seemed happy it will do damage to the efforts to the (extremely worthwhile) groups that are attempting to stand up to the DPRK and fight for freedom and change in that country.
The clearest analogy I can think of would have been a visit to Nazi Germany prior to the outbreak of WWII (and as a Jew, I don’t make that comparison lightly). You spend the whole time with police and military guides and you don’t meet anyone who is a dissident or oppressed. You don’t see the internment or concentration camps, and the goal is an effort by the government to legitimize the regime.
People shouldn’t go on this trip, and the CAA shouldn’t be having it.
P.S. My internet access is spotty at the moment as I’m staying at a friend’s house in Southern California at the moment, but I’ll have more on this later. At the very least, I’ll probably post the letter that I’ll be sending to the CAA if anyone wants to send something similar. Does anyone know if there are any campus groups focused on the situation in North Korea?
Oh, that’s cold. The “Crime” category.
Comment by Beetle — May 28, 2006 @ 3:14 pm
I don’t think it’s anyone’s place to tell people where they can and can’t travel. It’s all pretty arbitrary anyway. For example, US citizens can travel to North Korea but not to Cuba? If people are interested the natural and Communist-made wonders of North Korea, who are we to deny their desires (creepy as they may be)?
In addition, partial openess is better than none at all. Progress happens through trade and communication.
Maybe CAA shouldn’t be sponsoring this trip if we have concerns about where public money is being spent (though I’m guessing most of it is private). But people should go wherever they want to get the experiences they desire (though they should keep in mind all the facts, good and bad). That some people are prone to being tools isn’t reason enough to ban something.
Comment by patr — May 28, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
I’m inclined to agree with patr about freedom to travel and about the benefits of partial engagement … Also, it does nothing to help North Koreans’ plight for people not to go on this tour. Also, I don’t agree with the WWII analogy because unlike Germany, North Korea is economically and militarily weak (despite claiming to have a nuclear weapon).
Comment by Jim Fung — May 28, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
This, in a lot of ways, is similar to travelling to any tourist spot in many parts of the world. You’re getting a rosy picture based on the immediate environment in which you are staying. If you go to Thailand as a typical tourist you probably think the country’s a lot nicer than it is on a whole. The same can be said for many other countries.
Anyway, I agree with Andy. This is pretty damn creepy, and partially because of the way the “invitation” is worded. I think people should be free to go if they want, but at their own risk. I wouldn’t negotiate over them if they were taken hostage or something.
Comment by cw — May 28, 2006 @ 5:18 pm
I disagree with Pat and Jim. I think going on this trip is a bad idea, and it does hurt “ordinary” North Koreans.
For one thing, it’s pretty clear that the DPRK governemnt will be making money off this. Maybe not a lot, but yo’l still be giving them money that they can use to operate their concentration camps. I don’t know how you feel about divesting from Sudan, but if you supprt the divest rom Sudan campaign then it is totally hypocritical to say it’s okay to go on this trip.
Point two, as Andy said, this is really a propaganda ploy. If a bunch of Americans go on this, maybe it does a little to legitimize the DPRK, helps the government hang on a little longer, proloning the suffering of all the North Koreans in concentration camps.
Comment by commodore anonymous — May 28, 2006 @ 7:38 pm
Also, I don’t understand why North Korea’s economic/military weakness makes the comparison to Nazi Germany invalid. Andy didn’t say that this trip is a bad idea because North Korea is a threat to invade a bunch of neighboring countries and start a huge world war, he said it was a bad idea because of the scope of the internal humanitarian disaster being deliberately propagated by the government against its own citizens.
Comment by commodore anonymous — May 28, 2006 @ 7:45 pm
cal LiNk (Liberty in North Korea) is a club on campus, and conveniently enough, senator-elect Eunice Moon is an active member.
Comment by Anonymous — May 29, 2006 @ 1:33 am
I found it kind of exciting… just because North Korea is so mysterious to the outside world. That said, I’d probably wimp out before crossing the border.
Comment by Bobby Gregg — May 29, 2006 @ 11:26 am
I suppose you all would have complained over Nixon’s trip to China, as well? Despite the fact that that helped lay the groundwork for opening relations, which over time have lead to SIGNIFICANT improvements in China. Bringing North Korea out of isolation and onto the worldstage could only have positive ramifications, regardless of their ‘intent’ with this exercise. The more they seek approval from the rest of the world, the more they’ll have to clean up their act. Had Germany cared enough about external opinion to let people visit their concentration camps, it’s entirely possible that they’d have cared just a teensy bit that everyone would have condemned it. Isolation breeds arrogance (or vice-versa) and apathy to other opinions and views.
Comment by iliketapioca — May 29, 2006 @ 11:48 am
So, Nixon was a politician with power, not a tourist. Nor is North Korea doing the equivalent of showing folks their concentration camps.
Comment by Beetle — May 29, 2006 @ 12:02 pm
Clearly, it’s better that North Korea stay a completely closed country, then? That’s a pretty progressive agenda there.
Comment by iliketapioca — May 29, 2006 @ 12:11 pm
Yes, it’s better that we use our muscle to force North Korea to change its ways, rather than just going along with it and watching their parades. Or that would be the progressive position. I’m pretty much of the opinion that if the North Koreans have a problem with their government, they can overthrow it themselves.
Comment by Beetle — May 29, 2006 @ 12:16 pm
whatever. you idiots that want to go on this trip probably think walter duranty was a good journalist.
Comment by commodore anonymous — May 29, 2006 @ 2:37 pm
There’s no harm in going to see a place for onesself.
Comment by John — May 29, 2006 @ 3:52 pm
I’m working on a second post about this, but at the moment it feels like there are two key issues that I should clarify which might convince some of the people who don’t view this as something terrible:
1) No one who goes on this trip is seeing North Korea. At best, you’re seeing “North Korea”. I assume everyone is familiar with a Potemkin village. This will be a Potemkin country. It all but says so in the description of the trip itself. This is an effort to get visitors to North Korea to say what a wonderful happy place it was. And that is what visitors will see. I’m not sure why anyone would want to go on this type of fantasy adventure, which is odd enough as is, but to do it in a country where things are as bad as they are in North Korea is creepy and weird.
2) In general I support increasing openness and contact with basically any country out there that allows for individual tourism (i.e. not a tourist trip constantly monitored and controlled by government representatives, as this North Korea trip will be). Any of the countries that have totalitarian regimes and repression or otherwise would benefit from increased contact with the West, I actively support as tourism destinations. I think there is a lot to be gained from individuals vising China, Pakistan, the West Bank/Gaza/Israel, Egypt, Iran, Cuba and a long list of other countries. Foreigners learn about the conditions there and people living in that country gain insight about what the rest of the world is like. Visiting those countries is substantially and qualitatively different than this trip to North Korea. Visitors are not going to be able to talk to any dissidents (the way that you can in any of the countries I listed above) and they are not going to see anything that would hint at what it is really like there. They will not be able to communicate in an open fashion with anyone in that country without government supervision.
I have friends who graduated who are traveling all over Africa and Asia this summer. If one of them had said they were going to North Korea, I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of it. This, on the other hand, is an organized trip sponsored by a school group, which is different from an individual’s trip, and I think when North Korea approached the CAA, they should have politely declined to be involved in this propoganda effort.
Comment by Andy R. — May 29, 2006 @ 7:46 pm
Do you know for sure that CAA was approached that directly by the North Korean government, Andy? That would seriously be quite creepy. Enough to the point that CAA would have had the sense to decline that offer.
Comment by Eddy C — May 30, 2006 @ 8:34 am
and i should amend that by changing would to SHOULD. But who knows…
Comment by Eddy C — May 30, 2006 @ 12:14 pm
i bet the trip was organized by a Jew
Comment by Anonymous — May 30, 2006 @ 2:11 pm
Eddy: Yeah, you’re probably right. After some googling, it appears that North Korea announces when tourists are allowed in and then private companies in America (and other places) organize the trips. I imagine there might have been some communication between the CAA and North Korea before this trip was agreed upon, but I have no idea what that might have been.
Comment by Andy R. — May 30, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
Maybe not the best place to ask, but does anybody know if there is a campus policy, or a mechanism one can follow, for having an individual that harasses/stalks students barred from campus? Lee Kaplan is getting really, really creepy.
Comment by Yaman — May 30, 2006 @ 9:53 pm
Let me see if I understand this correctly. You are running a website called “Kaplan Watch”, and you think KAPLAN is the one stalking YOU ? uhhhh, something about pots calling kettles black maybe???
Comment by commodore anonymous — May 31, 2006 @ 12:02 am
I know that the Bear Treks program by CAA is nothing more than a referral service. They pass on group travel packages that they receive from actual travel/tour companies.
I don’t know if that offers any mitigating circumstances on your concern, though.
Comment by Eddy Crochetiere — May 31, 2006 @ 6:36 am
Commodore: look more closely.
Comment by Yaman — May 31, 2006 @ 1:10 pm
whatever, yaman. the commodore is right. is you can’t take the heat, get out of the fire.
Comment by brigadier anonymous — May 31, 2006 @ 1:19 pm
Yaman, if you truly think the situation warrants it, maybe you should talk to an attorney about what legal options are available beyond just the university to prevent stalking.
Comment by Jim Fung — May 31, 2006 @ 2:41 pm