KORYO TOURS HISTORY

FILMS

RADIO

GUIDEBOOKS

CULTURAL EXCHANGES- Schools/Sport and the 1966 DPRK World Cup team return to UK

FOOD CRISIS

BUSINESS

PROJECTS PENDING FOR 2008

KORYO TOURS HISTORY

In 1992 Josh Green (a Chinese scholar and great friend of mine), was working for a year in Pyongyang setting up the TNT courier office. I was lecturing in Landscape Architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK. I visited Josh in Pyongyang and straightaway I was hooked by this extraordinary destination. With our North Korean friends in Pyongyang and Beijing we set up Koryo Tours and are now the longest running and most specialised travel company for North Korea. Simon Cockerell joined in 2002 (after coming on one of the tours!) and his background in philosophy and passion for travel has allowed us to expand our tours content, destinations and cultural activities. In 2006 Hannah Barraclough joined us- she is a great character and events organiser and we are hoping we can now expand our cultural activities as well as tour numbers.

In the last few years we have expanded the range of activities to include trips based around specific interests such as architecture, sport, and Korean history in addition to our regular scheduled tours. As well as tourism we are actively promoting cultural exchanges- anything from taking the film 'Bend It Like Beckham' to Pyongyang film festival, to school exchanges and football friendship matches.

Since 1996 Koryo Tours and VeryMuchSo Productions have worked together to make two award winning documentary films which show a side of North Korea never before seen. Our first films took six years to arrange- the award winning film 'The Game of Their Lives' 'The greatest story never told' Wall Street Journal). Our second film for BBC4 was 'A State of Mind' following the daily life of a gymnast leading to the Mass Games with quite incredible access. Our latest documentary is 'Crossing the Line' on the US military defectors.

Information about all our tours is available here on our website, we try to be as flexible as possible so if you would like to visit North Korea and your requirements are not covered by any of our options then please let us know.
Thank you for your interest in tours to North Korea and for taking the time to visit our website.The following is a collection of the various projects we have completed.

Nicholas Bonner (Koryo Tours Director)

BBC RADIO 3 WORLD MUSIC Award winning show ( 2 x 40 minute programmes) with Andy Kershaw presenter. We sought permission for the first ever radio programme in DPRK and had incredible access listening to songs from the Schoolchildrens's Palace to a soldier on the DMZ...but the star of the show was without doubt the singing waitress who's voice would go beyond borders. Broadcast 2004. Nominated for a Sony award-

BBC RADIO 4 TRAVEL SHOW Critics choice (2 x 30 minute programmes) on one of our tours to Pyongyang....but we are turned back at the border.....do we get back in?! A very eventful tour. Broadcast 2005. Nominated for a Sony award- please contact us if you wish for more details.

Together with Sean Hinton at Ealing Studios and The Britsh Embassy we have taken in the films BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, MR BEAN - THE DISASTER MOVIE and BRIDE and PREJUDICE - each film is watched by an audience of around 12,000

Images below- the stars of DPRK's feature films of 2006 and audience watching Mr Bean

We continue our football friendship tours with another 40 players from Hong Kong and Holland who came for a friendly with their Korean counterparts in June 2004....if you are interested in playing or supporting our work please let us know!! We are bringing the film 'Bend it like Beckham' to the Pyongyang silver screen at their film festival in September....and the British Embassy are sponsoring a football coach to train school kids

KORYO TOURS and VMS productions who made the award winning film 'The Game of Their Lives' and brought North Korea's 1966 World Cup Heroes return to England May 2003- the DPRK's most significant cultural exchange with Europe- over 100,000 football fans greeted them at Everton, Middlesbrough and throughout the country The return of the players who created the greatest shock in World Cup history.
	In a country that has shunned almost all contact with Europe the return trip was a significant event. The players are seen as 'revolutionary heroes' in North Korea. For the DPRK Government to allow them to return to UK was very uncharacteristic. FIFA at the 2002 World Cup had failed to get Pak Do Ik to the opening ceremony and the team has not been seen together since 1966- in fact for 36 years the rumours had led us to believe we would never find more than one of the 1966 World Cup squad let alone get the eight back to Middlesbrough.

Since the return trip various other events have taken place, all in their own right important in creating dialogue between the West and the 'hermit kingdom'.As Pak Do Ik so eloquently put it:

For details of the return of the North Korean World Cup heroes to UK look up the GOTL website. If you require images for publicity purposes please let us know and we can provide them.

Virgin Atlantic got a bronze Asian Marketing Effectiveness Award for their sponsorship of the project.

The following are a few anecdotes on the return trip:

Over 40,000 Everton fans and 33,000 Middlesbrough fans gave the North Korean players a standing ovation as they were invited onto the pitch on match day. It was especially passionate at Middlesbrough where the players returned 'home' to their fans, the welcome they received had the players in tears. The support they received by the British public and even the press throughout their three week stay was wonderful and very positive.

The team met various friends they had not seen since their last trip to UK (1966 including two Australian players they beat to qualify in 1965!

The Speaker of the House invited the players to tea in his apartments after a tour of the Houses of Parliament by the Sports Minister. The FCO gave a welcoming reception to the players albeit on the day North Korea announced its processing of nuclear material!

· The players were welcomed back to DPRK as heroes- there have been various articles in the DPRK press on the visit. Dan and I were approached by a Korean in Kaesong (on the border with South Korea) who had heard we took the players back to UK and he thanked us and the people of Britain for their hospitality. Word gets around!

·The North Korean team of 1966 were invited to the celebrations for the Queens Birthday at the British Embassy Pyongyang

We have had interest in a joint South Korean/UK feature film in the making based on the players story...so watch out!