Hyundai Asan (subsidiary of a large South Korean conglomerate) started the Kaesong tour business last year on December 5th. Since then, more than three hundred South Korean tourists have been visiting the old capital of the Goryeo dynasty every day.

Recently, I partook in the Kaesong tour as well. I was interested in neither Sunjook Bridge where a famous Goryeo scholar Jung Mong-Joo was murdered, nor the museum that possesses one of the world’s first metal types. Rather, my focus was on the socio-political effects of the tour. In this perspective, the initiation of Kaesong tour is truly historic in intra-Korean affairs.

North Korean tours actually started a quite long time ago. It has been ten years since Hyundai Asan embarked on the Mt. Geumgang tour in 1998. Nevertheless, tours to Kaesong and Mt. Geumgang have significant differences.

In my opinion, the Kaesong tour is the true intra-Korean tourist exchange.

The Mt. Geumgang trip can't really be called a tour, as it is simply sightseeing. A tour’s purpose must include learning about the country or region. But there is no human interaction at the most beautiful mountain in Korea. Indeed, Mt. Geumgang has been a small South Korean territory inside North Korea.

Even thought the mountain is located north of the DMZ, the environment is the same as that of Jeju Island. South Korean tourists rarely have a chance to take a look at the North Korean people’s daily lives. The only North Koreans in the tourist area are security officers disguised as tour guides. Although security officers reveal a certain level of the North Korean people’s thoughts and perspectives, it is hardly close to the reality of North Korean society.

Thus, it is not surprising that the Mt. Geumgang tour business did not enjoy financial success. In January 1999, Hyundai Asan expected the number of tourist to exceed 1.2 million per year by 2004. But the actual number by then was a mere 270 thousand, and it reached 350 thousand last year. The South Korean people instead chose to visit China or Vietnam to see beautiful mountains instead of the expensive (relatively) Mt. Geumgang. As a result, the business could not survive without state aid.

Let me make it clear: I am not criticizing Hyundai Asan. Regardless of the Hyundai Asan executives’ objective, its business will eventually weaken the base of the North Korean dictatorship and hasten the coming of freedom. In Mt. Geumgang’s case, Hyundai Asan had no other choice but to follow North Korea’s insistence on limited, closed tourism.

However, there is a crucial difference between the Kaesong tour and that of Mt. Geumgang. South Korean tourists can see the real North Korea in Kaesong. All tourist spots are located inside Kaesong downtown. So South Koreans can actually see, through windshields of tour bus, Kaesong.

The North Korean regime, of course, tries its best to minimize the threat to its survival and prevents the South Koreans’ interaction with North Korean residents. In every bus, two security officers are present to stop tourists from taking pictures.

Both tourists and Kaesong residents are nervous over the army soldiers stationed on every route, aboard the tour bus as it moves along. Hyundai Asan guides repeatedly tell tourists not to possess South Korea-published materials, electronic equipment or cell phones while in North Korea. When our bus parked at an old Goryeo dynasty building, soldiers were dispatched to prevent Kaesong residents coming closer to us.

Nonetheless, it is different from the Mt. Geumgang tour. South Koreans in ten buses owned by Hyundai could watch how the North Koreans live. The city, even though it enjoys the second highest living standard to Pyongyang, looked just like a rural South Korean town in 1960s. On the road, there was barely any cars. At a construction site, pre-modern machines were used. North Koreans could not hide the older-than-his-age tour guide, ubiquitous propaganda of the Kims and the lack of trees on mountains, even though they did not let us take pictures.

The ban on photography is strict in Kaesong. The North Korean police check cameras in buses and at the DMZ.

The Kaesong tour’s other significance is the fact that there is no waste of money or time. 180 thousands SK won (roughly 200 USD) is not so cheap for a one-day trip. But it is relatively market competent compared to the Mt. Geumgang tour. Currently, there are around ten thousand tourists every month and that is expected to grow.

The Kaesong tour, in contrast with the Mt. Geumgang one, can influence both South Koreans and North Koreans. Seeing is believing!

South Koreans can see North Korea as it is. And they will feel the proximity of the country to the South. Many South Koreans simply ignore North Korea’s existence. But once they experience the Kaesong tour, they will know how close, and serious, North Korea is to them.

But more important is the impact on North Koreans.

North Koreans are interested in every move and gesture of the South Korean tourists. Even though they are forbidden to interact with South Koreans directly, the truth could soon spread. They will find out that South Korean tourists spend one quarter of their monthly wage (one dollar) to buy a cup of coffee.

Those who can meet and talk to South Korean tourists are security officers, which could number hundreds. Even if they are not officers, they should have passed security clearances. However, these people are human beings, too.

In the Soviet Union in the 1980s, many KGB personnel supported perestroika because they knew better than others how serious the problem in the country was. A larger number of security officers who know South Korea and South Koreans well could mean something.

In Kaesong, South Koreans could experience North Korea’s harsh reality, and North Koreans could see South Korea’s wealth. Some South Koreans criticize how the tour might support the North Korean regime. This is a rational suspicion. Indeed, the North Korean leadership permitted the tour to earn hard currency of their own.

However, the Kaesong tour certainly affects North Korean residents’ consciousness. In a long-term perspective, the tour business will lead to weakening of the regime and even regime change.

In the past, the Sino-Korean border was the only route information passed through. Now, there is another one through Kaesong.