North Korea How a smelly towel does the trick to smuggle anything into North Korea
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Johan Kruseman
Updated on 25 September 2024
Updated on 25 September 2024
North Korea! Or should I say just Korea, since, as I learned, Korea is actually one country where the southern part still needs to be “liberated”. It’s an interesting way of looking at the world, for sure.
As we reached the last Chinese town, there were only two bridges separating us from Korea. Or maybe it was more the river separating us, and the bridges were trying to connect us, with one bridge clearly doing a better job than the other. The bombed bridge still had a noble goal, though: it offered people the chance to get a closer look at North Korea for a small fee. Luckily, our train took the other bridge and brought us into the country.
The border inspection was funny in a way. They only searched the luggage you gave them to search, and a smelly towel on top was enough to prevent any deeper analysis of the contents. You could indicate whether you had a laptop, and if you did, they would analyze it by typing “the interview” and “porn” in the search box, and one guy would watch all the movies in the movies folder (what a job!). Luckily, we had renamed “interview.avi” to “korea-is-great.txt,” so after an hour, we were allowed into the country.
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Traveled route: Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, Pyjongyang, Kaesong Checkpoint, Wonsan, Hamhung
How a smelly towel does the trick to smuggle anything into North Korea
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Photographed by: Johan Kruseman
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Did this story inspire you to go to North Korea? Read more on what North Korea has to offer, what the best months are for visiting and check the handy links for backpacking there.