The Niigata run

A number of you have commented on a recent news article reporting a one-time attempt at doing a leisure cruise along the East Coast of North Korea. The entrepreneur trying out the concept with the blessing of the government, is a Korean-Chinese man. The headlines were something like “Trying out a cruise, 8 to a room”.

This was the boat they were using, the only one that North Korea has to use for civilian, non-military purposes. When things were better with Japan it would go there once a month or so for the “Niigata run”. The would-be cruise ship looks far better on this picture than it does in reality. From where I was at the harbor in Wonsan, there was visible rust and the outside of the hull showed a number of big bumps, neither of which come out on the picture.