asia

It's far from independent travel, but North Korea has become just a little bit more accessible, with the opening of the southern city of Kaesong to very tightly managed tour groups.

Travels on these tours can expect a heavily organised trip, with no ability to wander off and look around for themselves.

I've previously noted that the United States is treating tourists as if they were criminals, and now it appears that this practice is now spreading further, with Japan set to require foreign tourists to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entry.

While it is hard to see how this will help one iota to reduce terrorism (especially given that the only terrorist attacks upon Japan have come from within), it's clear that such measures result in a drop in tourist numbers, as travellers find there are more convenient places to enjoy.

Jasmina Tešanović is a Serbian filmmaker and writer who became known worldwide when her diaries written during the 1999 war in Kosovo were distributed on the Internet. She has written some excellent articles on countries that were part of what was formerly known as Yugoslavia, and this month has been writing about South Korea.

Link: via BoingBoing

South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper writes that Singapore is trying to move away from electronics exports as its primary means of income, and instead is branching out into tourism, opening up casinos and snaffling rights to the Formula One Grand Prix. Many of its residents, however, aren't all that happy about this...

Ed Gillespie is attempting to travel around the world, without taking a flight. The latest installment of his story, printed in The Observer, has him entering Mongolia from Russia by train.

He also has a longer article in his weblog.

For the first time in over 50 years, trains have crossed between North and South Korea, on two restored tracks between the countries.

However, any travellers looking forward to easy access to the North are advised not to hold their breath; this was just a one-off trial, with no guarantee on any further trips.

Meanwhile, The Independent uses a bit of artistic licence to envisage a future where we can travel from Inverness to Seoul, entirely by train.