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China-Japan-Koreas
No War, N.Korea Assures Chinese Tourists
2013-03-29
There's a definitive statement. They'd never lie to Chinese tourists...
A senior North Korean official has assured Chinese tour operators that there will be no war on the Korean Peninsula. The assurance came at a time when the North is ratcheting up its belligerent rhetoric.

Visiting Xian in Shaanxi Province in mid-March, Kim To-jun of the North's General Bureau of Tourism, told Chinese tour operators, "Don't worry. There'll be no war on the Korean Peninsula, so send as many tourists as possible."

The regime is expected to resume package tours in July via non-stop flights between Xian and Pyongyang. The route opened in July 2011 and the package tours started a year later.
So exactly what do you see on the package tour?
A source speculated, "It seems that the North is trying to make money by assuring Chinese people that there is no danger of war, while the threats against South Korea are mostly for domestic political purposes.”
Posted by:Steve White

#6  'So exactly what do you see on the package tour?'

Apparently golf.
Posted by: linker   2013-03-29 19:15  

#5  Maybe they are war zone tourists and getting ring side seats.......
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2013-03-29 18:35  

#4  Normally this statement wouldn't make sense since, given North Korea's rhetoric, a third party WMD attack on the US might trigger massive nuclear retaliation against the Norks.

By definition this would be a chain of events the Norks could not influence.

The Nork's statement makes sense however if they believe that the US would not retaliate under any circumstances and if they expected the Chinese to share this premise.

9/11 triggered military action by the US, but not retaliation ("Enduring Freedom" not "Infinite Justice") so the Nork's premise isn't irrational, unfortunately.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660   2013-03-29 14:39  

#3  I'd be careful of the overbanking tendency....
Posted by: Uncle Phester   2013-03-29 12:32  

#2  North Korean tourism. Was Yemen closed?
Posted by: Frank G   2013-03-29 10:12  

#1  In other news, people besides Dennis Rodman go to Nork for vacation...
Posted by: Raj   2013-03-29 01:13  

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