Ever since I came to Seoul some 5 1/2 years ago, I had wanted to go to North Korea. Numerous efforts to arrange a visit failed, but just a few days before leaving South Korea for good in early January I received an invitation to join a tour to Kumgangsan, the scenic mountains just north of the Demilitarized Zone.
Tours from South Korea to the North were launched by the company Hyundai-Asan in 1998, and at first were considered a political sensation. But in fast-moving South Korea, their appeal soon waned: Whereas organizers had difficulties accommodating the large number of travelers in 1998, today the tours are struggling to survive.
According to initial projections no less than half a million tourists were expected to visit the Diamond Mountains, as they are known in English, annually. However, to date just 430,000 visitors have made the journey.