If I were to tell you that the original plan for part of my Asia journey was to visit North Korea, you would probably laugh at me – After all, North Korea seems to be a really dangerous place after the Warmbier incident, recent tension between North Korea and the US, and Trump’s travel ban to the country for US passport holders.

But if you think about it, visiting North Korea is really not that big of a deal (up until recently): I personally know quite a few US passport holders who visited North Korea in the past 5 years for marathons / golf tournaments and came back to the US sound and safe. And if you read travel blogs, you might know that visiting North Korea is even more doable if you are a holder of certain Asian passports – You cannot travel to North Korea as a solo traveler, but you can join a tour group in China. There are tour groups every week going into Pyeongyang.

My original plan was to fly into Beijing, leave my US passport behind, then join a local Chinese tour in Beijing and visit North Korea with my HKSAR passport. But due to some logistical challenges and the uncertainty of what Trump’s travel ban entails to US passport holders even if a US passport is not used to enter North Korea, I have to cancel my trip to North Korea at this time.

#SouthKorea

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