Behind the scenes in the DPRK

The Masik Pass Ski Resort is one of the luxury tourism development projects in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. [Photo/Xinhua]

For many, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a mysterious place, but two Englishmen know the country well and have even made a film there. Matt Hodges reports.

When it comes to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Simon Cockerell and Nicholas Bonner have been there, skied the prestige-project resort (Masik Pass), made a "girl-power" feature film, Comrade Kim Goes Flying, and dealt with the ensuing mixed bag of criticism.

If anyone is qualified to talk about how the country is changing from the inside, at least from the basis of empirical observation, their credentials would appear hard to beat.

Bonner has been traveling to the Hermit Kingdom since he launched Beijing-based Koryo Tours in 1992. Fellow Englishman Cockerell joined in 2002.

"North Korea isn't China," winces tour operator Cockerell when pressed to identify the latest shifts in one of the final frontiers of tourism in Asia. "Change happens gradually over three- or four- year periods, not overnight."

"There's a clearly emerging middle class, or what passes for a middle class, in Pyongyang," he adds after a pause. "Cell phones, consumer goods and nicer clothes are much more visible now, and this makes it harder for foreign analysts, because they are used to the 'elite and everyone else' model, which has gone out of the window a bit."

Ray Cunningham from the United States has visited the DPRK multiple times and possesses what may be the largest collection of photos of the isolated country on photo-sharing website Flickr.

"While the pace of change is glacial, traveling annually gives one a perspective on how change is filtering down to the average citizen," he says. "More independent sellers are seen each year and a spirit of optimism seems to be emerging even in the remote towns of the northeast.

"I was fascinated with North Korea and how it compared and contrasted with rural China."