Meanwhile, last week in in Pyongyang, North Korea, Harris was on the scene with 15 intrepid westerners and one North Korean for the second annual North Korea Amateur Open. Again, the universal spirit of golf allowed participants to transcend the noise of rattling sabers.
Dylan Harris, with his company, Lupine Travel, is becoming one of the world's top providers of affordable, adventure travel to "extreme destinations", i.e. the kinds of places one might find on the Current Travel Warnings list. Lupine tours garner enthusiastic accolades from travelers due to the research and relationship building Harris does on-site and in-country prior to the trip.
For a glimpse at the way an international amateur event unfolds in the so-called "Hermit Kingdom" check out the North Korea Amateur Golf Open 2012 photo gallery Dylan's always amusing, sometimes irreverent Facebook page. The recent North Korea tour also made the pages of UK tabloid, The Sun and Golfing in North Korea: The Hermit Kingdom's New Pastime an article on the tournament was featured in Time Magazine.
So that's two legs of the Axis... of Eagle... accomplished, and one to go. Putting people and places before politics has allowed Dylan Harris to take travelers... and golfers... to regions sometimes seen as off limits, with nothing but positive results. I'm quite sure he'll continue venture to such places, and we'll be sure to let you know about them.
Watching the video it sure doesn't LOOK like these guys are playing in an "Evil Empire". In fact it' looks surprisingly similar to some of the rounds I've been playing recently a my suburban muni just east of Cincinnati. Except that we don't have the attractive caddies to help us out.
ReplyDeletethegolfshark. It's an ILLUSION. Its staged like a Hollywood production. You think they are going to let someone videotape them raping and murdering people in concentration camps?
DeleteYou as well as the rest of the world should really educate yourself to the largest modern holocaust in our history.
http://www.linkglobal.org/index.html
But wait, how do WE know that linkglobal is telling the true story. Not just perpetuating the notion of an Evil Empire for political motivations? Watching the linkglobal video, I found myself wondering that, though natrually it wasn't my immediate reaction. The thing is WE just don't know to what extent either story is true. Do we?
DeleteI'm sure they miss Kim Jong-il on the golf course over there. I hear he was quite a player. ;)
ReplyDeleteI think they will be in basic golf training,Anyway Hard work never fails!
ReplyDeleteThe caddy girls in Las Vegas wear mini skirts and tight low cut shirts. These ladies wear something like business pants suits, but look much sexier than ones in Vegas, go figure.
ReplyDeleteActually it looks like your typical guys golf trip except instead of Myrtle Beach it's North Korea.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your work Patricia. You bring some of the unique news to the world and hope you continue doing the great work.
ReplyDeleteDear Lupine Travel (+Dylan Harris) of the UK & to the past, present and future players of the DPRK Amateur Golf Open... namely +Olli Lehtonen (Finnland), +Johannes Raitio (Finnland), +Simon Jones (UK) and the other 15 players from the 6 different countries that had decided to participate in this debacle...
ReplyDeleteThis is not okay... To go to an amateur golf tournament, in a country that rapes, tourtures and kills its people... you are ultimately supporting this by default... because you want to hit a god damn golf ball... you are giving money to a government that is executing its people.
This is not okay even for the most avid sports enthusiast...
Please educate yourself about the country before you decide to pay it $1300 US to support the killing of its people.
Hitting a golf ball in a shitty golf course = death of innocent civilians in a concentration camp....
You guys are idiots.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2116565,00.html
A pissed off Korean...
~ Narae
Well that's one way of looking at it +Narae Kim , but it's not the only way. There are others who look at travel to (and within) North Korea this way:
ReplyDelete"Each foreigner that they [the North Korean people] see... each encounter and each conversation... is showing them the outside world. We wave to kids in the villages, go to schools and interact with people in remote areas. We are the first foreigners they have ever seen. We de-mystify the outside world. They see our gadgets, our clothing and how we act. We look so much less harmful to them. We are defying the propaganda. We are giving gifts. I am bringing in foreign currency for my friends so they can survive. Without this they will see nothing of the outside. Probably 30% at most is raked off the top but we provide a living to many people inside that country. That makes it worth it."
"We are literally opening that society. When you hear 'American Imperialist Aggressors' all the time, for many it takes on a new meaning. I have seen museum guides giggle because they no longer think we are so awful. I have shaken hands with survivors who as children had their families wiped out by American forces. That really means something to them."
"No, I think the opposite is happening. We are winning them over slowly. I have see people go from turning backs to us, running away to running to see us. They now wave. The run up to us. In 2008 they did not do that much. That is even in the closed towns. I was first into Hamhung and the people greeted us with cheers. I saw this as not led or done on command. It felt weird but somehow we are making strides. Take a look on their faces in *the photos. It is interesting. We are all human and that is really the interesting thing there. The regime is indeed a bad one and perhaps worse than the usual kleptocracy that steals all the money for the leaders. I think we are better doing this than not."
The above was written by Ray Cunningham, an American who travels frequently to North Korea, but I believe it reflects the feelings and motivations of +Dylan Harris and the others you refer to as "idiots".
Golf is a game with rules that transcend politics and a handicap system that allows people of varying skill levels to play together thus it certainly seems to lend itself to the goals of openness and exchange.
* Many of Ray Cunningham's photos can be found on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaruka/6173562786/in/photostream/
+Patricia Hannigan Thanks for your comment. I'm glad you took the time to respond if anything to bring light to a situation that is dear to my heart. I will be the first to admit that I may be bias, because my main objective when it comes to North Korea is human rights... not golf or travel.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with foreigners traveling to North Korea if their true motivation was to go in as a good will team and bringing in "foreign currency so they can survive" or to "demystify the outside world". What I am frustrated with is that most do not see what it really is. They think they are doing good, but they are paying an entry fee of $1300 to play in a golf tournament which the people will never see. It will go directly to a government that abuses its people. I'd rather they just directly of gone and paid the $1300 to these people they think they are helping, but then again if they were caught with foreign dollars after the foreigners left, they probably would be accused of being a spy, imprisoned in a concentration camp or put to death.
What also is not realized is that these 'village kids' that they were waving at, the families that they have met, the museum guides that giggled... they were placed there. The visitors did not just happen to run into them. In fact, none of them were able to go anywhere without a tour guide. The tour guides knew in advance who these foreigners would meet 'by chance' and were in complete control of how these village kids, families and museum guides would respond.
I agree that all sports including golf is a medium to lend itself to the goals of openness and exchange. But this particular event was not open to all. Per its website "The tournament is open to amateur golfers of all nationalities (except South Korean)." I don't know how open that really is or if it really "transcends politics". That would of been my first red flag.
All I'm hoping for is that people whether they are just travelers or golf enthusiasts would truly take the time to educate themselves before they go to a country they believe would benefit the people when in fact they may be supporting the regime, especially when handing over money to a regime created event. This is my medium to get the word out.
Awareness is key.
http://www.linkglobal.org/index.html
How much of what a government (and a country's news media) tells its own people is true and how much is propaganda? I don't think anyone who isn't a political insider really knows. That applies to the US and other western countries, as well as North Korea.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem to me from reading the accounts that have been written that most of the people who travel to North Korea, including these golfers, do so with the knowledge that certain things may be staged. I also believe that "staged travel" is better than no travel and having even just a few select foreigners be able to get into NK and even in a highly controlled way, it's better than have the country 100% closed. I also feel that there might be some hope for improvement now that there's a new generation in power.
Patricia Hannigan
ReplyDeleteYesterday 10:28 PM
My impression is that many/most of the westerners traveling to NK are aware that things should not be taken at face value and understand that their interactions with the local population will be very limited and may well be staged. I don't think NK is the type of place many people would travel to in a cavalier way without thorough research. That said, there is admittedly a moral dilema in having anything to do with a government as repressive as the NK government is purported to be and there believe people must do what they feel is right and what they feel has the best chance of making things better for those who are suffering. For some that will mean staying home for others it will mean venturing forth. I don't feel either should be criticized at this particular point.
Narae Kim
8:52 AM
This will be my last comment here.
Again... I am not criticizing those that are venturing forth. I am criticizing giving funds to a regime sponsored event (in this particular example... golf).
And I feel I do have the right to criticize the choices that people make... if at all there is a chance that they will stop and reconsider their choices with some newly presented facts that they may have not known.
Watching the video it sure doesn't LOOK like these guys are playing in an "Evil Empire". In fact it' looks surprisingly similar to some of the rounds I've been playing recently a my suburban muni just east of Cincinnati. Except that we don't have the attractive caddies to help us out.
ReplyDeleteUsed Golf Simulator