Koryo Tours is an independent British

tour operator A tour operator is a business that typically combines and organizes lodging, accommodations, meals, sightseeing and transportation components, in order to create a package tour. They advertise and produce brochures to promote their products, holi ...

based in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, specializing in group and private tourism to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. Their tours run throughout the year covering budget to exclusive trips. There are packages for staying in the capital

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

with visits to the

DMZ A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...

at the border with the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. At different times of year there are other events such as the

Mass Games Mass games, or mass gymnastics, are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasizes group dynamics rather than individual prowess. North Korea Mass ...

and the

Pyongyang International Film Festival The Pyongyang International Film Festival is a biennial cultural exhibition held in Pyongyang, North Korea. Until 2002, the film festival was reserved to "non-aligned and other developing countries". History The event originated in 1987 as the P ...

which are available as special tours when they are running.

History

In 1993, Koryo Tours was set up by Nick Bonner and Joshua Green and they have been organizing trips into North Korea since 1993.

Tourism

In 1993, Koryo Tours was appointed as a travel specialist by the Korea International Travel Company, part of the

Government of North Korea A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. Koryo Tours takes in over 50% of westerners visiting North Korea. Koryo Tours is responsible for opening up of new destinations in North Korea as well as new activities such as;

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, educational tours etc.

Film production

Koryo Tours was involved in the production of a number of films. '' The Game of Their Lives'' (2002), ''

A State of Mind State of Mind may refer to: Film and television * ''A State of Mind'' (film), a 2004 British documentary film * ''State of Mind'' (film), or ''Three Christs'', a 2017 American drama film * ''State of Mind'' (TV series), a 2007 American comedy dram ...

'' (2004) and '' Crossing the Line'' (2006) were documentaries. '' Comrade Kim Goes Flying'' (2012) was a romantic comedy feature film, shot in Pyongyang, with a North Korean cast and crew."Comrade Kim Goes Flying"
Toronto Film Festival Koryo Tours also assisted in the production of Aim High in Creation (2013) and Michael Palin in North Korea on ITV (2019). As part of the making of ''The Game of Their Lives'', Koryo Tours organised the return of the North Korean team of the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

to the United Kingdom in October 2002. Over 100,000 British football fans turned out to welcome the players at various football clubs.

Cultural activities

They have organised various cultural exchanges, including music and sport. Koryo Tours is the exclusive partner for the Pyongyang International Marathon held every April, an event that attracts between hundreds and over 1,000 amateur foreigners a year. In 2014 Koryo Tours provided the North Korean input for the Korea Pavilion at the Venice Architectural Biennale, curator Minsuk Cho. The pavilion won the Golden Lion. Koryo Tours is the international co-ordinator for the bi-annual

which has a local audience total of 120,000. In 2004 and 2006 they screened ''

Bend It Like Beckham ''Bend It Like Beckham'' is a 2002 Sports film, sports comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha from a screenplay by Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, and Guljit Bindra. The film stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anu ...

'', '' Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie'' and ''

Bride and Prejudice ''Bride and Prejudice'' (also known as ''Bride and Prejudice: The Bollywood Musical'') is a 2004 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Jane A ...

'', each film seen by over 12,000 locals. They assisted the British Embassy with the nationwide broadcast of ''Bend It Like Beckham'' on 26 December 2010 (the first western feature film to be broadcast in North Korea). In conjunction with the North Korean Ministry of Sport, they arranged the first friendship

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

ultimate frisbee Ultimate frisbee (officially simply called ultimate) is a non-contact team sport played with a disc flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by Joel Silver, Buzzy Hellring, and Jonny Hines in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate rese ...

matches between locals and westerners. In September 2010 with the support of the British Embassy and

CLSA CLSA Ltd. (formerly known as Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia) is a capital markets and investment group focused on alternative investment, asset management, corporate finance and capital markets, securities and wealth management for corporate an ...

to mark ten years of diplomatic relations they took Middlesbrough Women's FC to Pyongyang to play two North Korean teams, both matches watched by 6,000 Korean fans and broadcast nationwide.

Published work

Koryo Studio produced Printed in North Korea (2019), which contains a series of

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of relief printing in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief printing, relief surface. A design i ...

s representing everyday life in North Korea. Koryo also produced Made in North Korea (2017), which focuses on the

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

of products made in the country, and an accompanying London exhibition, Made in North Korea (2018). 2009 in-house publishing of 'The Art of DPRK – North Korean Film Posters'. 2007 produced 'Welcome to Pyongyang' a photographic study with Charlie Crane (winner of the

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpoo ...

International Prize). 2008 co-writer 'A Night in Pyongyang' (mass games photographic book) Werner Kranwetvogel. 2002 ''Wallpaper Magazine'' produced and wrote an architectural feature on Pyongyang in conjunction with a North Korean photographer. In 2012, Koryo Tours released ''

Pyongyang Racer ''Koryo Tours Pyongyang Racer'' or ''Pyongyang Racer'' is a 2012 racing game developed by Nosotek and published by Koryo Tours. The player drives a Hwiparam II car around Pyongyang and visits several of its sights while collecting fuel and avo ...

'', a

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic raci ...

developed by

Nosotek Nosotek () is the first Western-invested IT joint venture company in North Korea. Nosotek is known for developing computer games for various platforms, such as the iPhone, Java ME and the Wii. They claimed to have 50+ programmers on the team in 20 ...

with students from the

Kim Chaek University of Technology Kim Chaek University of Technology () is a university in North Korea, on the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang. It is named after General Kim Chaek. The university's programs in nuclear reactors, nuclear electronics, nuclear fuel and nucle ...

, to promote

tourism in North Korea Tourism in North Korea is tightly controlled by the North Korean government. All tourism is organized by several state-owned tourism bureaus, including Korea International Travel Company (KITC), Korean International Sports Travel Company (KISTC), ...

References

External links

* {{Official website
Koryo Studio

Danwei Nick Bonner article

Slide shows of travel and Koryo Tours projects

Tourism in North Korea Companies based in Beijing Transport companies established in 1993 Travel and holiday companies of China