Bhuvani Dharan or the “tamiltekker” was among the twenty-two tourists who visited North Korea after the country reopened its borders, five years after the COVID-19 pandemic. Dharan shared that he spent nearly Rs 4 lakh on the trip, which was both “eerily staged” and “unforgettable”. However, with the tourism ban in North Korea again and the shocking agreement made with the cohort, he is unlikely to visit again. Basically, the entire group was asked not to record “anything ugly, people working hard and say anything negative about North Korea”. Dharan entered the country on March 3 and left within four days on March 6, as per an NDTV report.
Clueless but prepared, Dharan did not know what to expect of his trip to North Korea. As per the travel influencer, the 22-person cohort had to reach China first, due to the absence of a commercial airport in North Korea. Furthermore, they were asked to obtain a multi-entry visa for China beforehand. A complete two-hour security check was conducted before the group boarded the bus towards North Korea. Dharan described that in Rason, everyday life seemed part of the performance for the tourists. Taxis operated at 5 am, locals posed for photos but never spoke, and by night, the city was eerily silent.
‘India means Baahubali’
Dharan further said that everyone gave similar answers to a lot of questions. When he asked about India, everyone responded with “Baahubali”. This, he believes, was to paint a picture for tourists that they watch international cinema in North Korea. “Everyone we met had the same answer about India, ‘Baahubali’, as if rehearsed.”
Not North Korea, but DPRK
The stringent norms in the country kept the group of tourists under constant surveillance from the moment they entered the cross-country border. Despite being “tourists”, they were accompanied by two government-appointed guides who were fluent in English as per Dharan’s account. While one round of checking wasn’t enough, the group’s belongings were frisked again upon arrival by military personnel.
“Everyone had to make a list of the items they were carrying, especially electronics. They made sure we weren’t bringing anything they consider banned – GPS devices, religious books, or pornographic material,” Dharan recalled.
Apart from addressing North Korea as the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ (DPRK), some other rules that they had to follow were not to go anywhere alone, not to record army personnel, and most importantly, always refer to Kim Jong Un’s name with respect. Adding “Marshall” or “Captain” before his name was necessary, among others.
Rehearsed encounters
On day one in North Korea, Dharan and his group skipped the hotel and headed straight to a mineral water factory—part of their official itinerary. Yet to his surprise, the “fully functional” site seemed staged. “I didn’t see anyone working, only two people inside,” he recalled.
Dharan’s only direct interaction with locals came in a school visit, where a student told him, “I want to travel like you.” Yet even this felt scripted. When one of the students told him that he knew Russian, Dharan tried having a conversation in the same language. However, the boy froze when he asked him something in the language he claimed to know. The playground, he claimed, was full of children when they were there, and as they drove away, it was empty. “It felt oddly curated,” Dharan added.
Paying respect to the Marshall
A visit to Kim Jong Un’s grand statue was marked by strict instructions: buy a plastic flower, bow deeply, or stay on the bus if you can’t. “The moment felt more ceremonial than spontaneous,” Dharan reflected. Dharan said that he spent USD 100 on postcards that he sent to his family from there. However, he claimed that no one had received it. Even the ATM card he paid for turned out to be useless, as there were no working ATMs.
Who is Bhavani Dharan?
A travel influencer from Thanjavur, Dharan goes by “Tamil Trekker” on social media. With nearly 4 lakh followers on Instagram and more than a million on YouTube. His travel vlogs are extremely well-liked by his fans. Even featured on BBC, he is a full-time travel influencer and has been to over ten countries. His reels on Instagram fetch him more than 40,000 views on an average. He recalled that his agreement with North Korean tourism was not to post anything negative about his experience, the only condition for his return, before the ban was announced.