Why you should visit a North Korean beach

To think of North Korea might conjure up images of rockets launching and soldiers goose-stepping. No doubt these are accurate images and ones Pyongyang loves to promote but what about life outside the military? What about the lesser known parts of North Korea?

For me the country’s best attractions lie outside of the cities and thus outside of the full control of the watchful eye. They lie in the countryside, on it’s pristine coastlines and on it’s beaches.

Every summer thousands of North Koreans take to the beaches in their droves to do what all of us love to do at the beach. They have picnics, BBQs, play volleyball, swim and even sing karaoke. All perfectly normal you say, so what makes this so unique?

Ditch the minders

As you probably know, travelling in North Korea can be quite a restrictive experience to say the least. The beach is the one place where this notion goes out the window. You are literally dropped off and told to meet back in a couple of hours. Suddenly you have free reign to wander off, drink some soju with a group of Koreans to your left, have a BBQ with a North Korean family on your right or join in with random Koreans playing beach volleyball right in front of you.