It’s been suggested that the border between North Korea and China is fairly porous, and easily crossed for the right price. But here’s an insightful and rather extreme article published by the JoongAng Daily, written by a reporter that partook in what is called a “human safari,” basically an underground, illegal trip into North Korea paid for with money, sausages, cigarettes and ultimately ball-point pens.

The charge for a group of four was 800 yuan (approximately W114,000, US$1=W1,010). Passengers also had to buy some 800 yuan worth of food and other goods. “The more cigarettes, sausage and juice you bring, the more you can enjoy your sightseeing,” the boatman said. “This tour is most popular among Chinese tourists.” When the boat reached the midpoint of the river, we could see two North Korean naval vessels lying at anchor 50 m ahead of us. We clearly saw North Korean flags fluttering on them.

The boatman stopped only 2 m from Ujeok Islet and went round the boat to push the bow ashore. In other words, we had landed in North Korean territory. The guide threw sausages onto the shore. Suddenly, two men came out of the thicket and hastily tucked the sausages into their pockets. The cigarettes the boatman threw disappeared in a moment, too.

“Hello? We’re from South Korea.” When the Chosun Ilbo news team spoke to them, they vanished into the brush without saying a word. “Isn’t this surprising?” the guide whispered. We traveled for about five more minutes before we saw North Korean women doing their washing. The guide threw a bag of food toward them. “Don’t do that again! Do you think we’re beggars?” The women flew into rage, picked up their laundry and went away.

Pretty terrible stuff. I haven’t looked for the original article in Korean, which I’m guessing is longer and more extensive than this. What can you say? This isn’t a happy place.

About 30 minutes later, when we returned, we found the foodstuff bag gone. “They got angry because a North Korean border guard was standing nearby.” We continued our tour. Beyond the riverbank, we saw some 10 brick houses whose walls were filled with such slogans as “Long Live Gen. Kim Jong-il, the Sun of the 21st Century!” “They are houses built for senior North Korean border guards. They’re there for propaganda purposes,” the guide said.

You don’t say.

The boatman got angry. “You guys are always asking for anything and everything, aren’t you?” We moved another 400 m ahead, when three children waved to us, gesturing as if they were counting money. “Go away,” the guide yelled at them. We met about 10 more North Koreans. They too came quietly near us and took the food we had brought with us. All the North Koreans who got angry at us also ended up taking the food.

(HT to reader)