Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Anonymous
Anonymous asked in TravelAsia PacificKorea · 1 month ago

I have some questions about North Korea ?

1.Which sports are popular in North Korea ?

2.Which sports are played in North Korea ?

3.Is North Korean scenery nice ? I've heard some of it is beautiful

4.Why can Brits only visit North Korea in tour groups ?

1 Answer

Relevance
  • Anonymous
    1 month ago
    Favourite answer

    Team sports are not particularly popular in North Korea because the facilities for playing such sports don't exist. Of course, people do play games, but things like board games and card games are much more popular. There are quite a few traditional games like baduk, omuk and yut-nori which are popular. Though there are very few proper footy pitches in the country, people do occasionally kick a football around, but there's no baseball because sports that originated in North America are frowned upon. Ping pong (table tennis) is probably the biggest sport. Next would probably be badminton because the necessary equipment is not overly epensive to procure. The leader of North Korea is an avid basketball fan, but his love for the game has not spread to the populace. Keep in mind that life is hard in the DPRK, so people don't have the time or energy to devote to games and sports the way they do in other countries. North Koreans generally get plenty of exercise walking from one place to another and doing routine tasks like gathering firewood. 

    North Korea does have some beautiful scenery. I have been there twice, but I spent most of my time directly across the border, so I didn't see the interior of the country. While the DPRK is generally much less developed than other countries, that doesn't necessarily equate to North Korea being more beautiful than your average developed country. Why? Well, because of the ecological damage that goes with being a poor, under-developed country. Most of the country's woodland exists in the outlying parts of the country because it's difficult to extract wood from those areas as they are more remote. Closer to centers of habitation you will see a lot of bare hillsides where all the trees have been cut down. What little industry exists in the country is totally unregulated, meaning that factories dump waste directly into rivers and the sea, collective farms channel their runoff directly into rivers and the sea so the water supply in the country is chock full of chemicals, pesticides, and all kinds of other rubbish, not to mention that the wide majority of the country is without plumbing so people don't have access to flush toilets except in the wealthier areas. Because people depend on firewood - which they most often convert into charcoal, trees disappear at an alarming rate up North. It takes ten pounds of wood to make one pound of charcoal, so you do the math to understand how rapidly the forests are being depleted. 

    All foreigners must be part of a tour group in North Korea, even if the "group" consists solely of the traveler and his or her translator and minder/s. Travelers are not permitted to wander about unsupervised. They must be accompanied by government agents at all times. They are not permitted to engage with people unless the government agents consent to them interacting with someone. They cannot take photographs of anything without permission. They must agree that they will not attempt to give anything to anyone, accept anything from anyone, and they are subject to search at any time. Any infraction can result in a criminal offense which could lead to prison time or deportation. It's not travel for beginners by any means.   

Still have questions? Get answers by asking now.