P'y¸¸ngyang' (Pyeongyang), with about 2,750,000 inhabitants, is the capital city of North Korea. It is situated on the Taedong River in the northwest of the country. Nearly all visitors arrive either by plane or train. Sunan International Airport (IATA: FNJ) is 24 km north of Pyongyang and, as of 2009, has scheduled services only to Beijing. There is a (supposedly) weekly flight to Vladivostok, but in fact it's hardly more than a glorified charter, as it goes only if there's enough passengers to fill the elderly Tu-134. The Air China Beijing flights depart/arrive on Monday and Friday afternoons, with an additional service on Wednesday afternoons in summer (from April 1st). Note that Pyongyang airport does not have ILS, so if the weather is bad, flights are sometimes cancelled, or even turned back. If you are in a position to be able to, the tickets to Bejing are almost half price from Pyongyang. They are on sale in the Youth Hotel, in the Air China office, which is situated about 10km north-east of the city. Furthermore, they give a 30kg baggage allowance for free. Trains from China arrive at Pyongyang's main central train station. Foreigners have to exit via the side door at the far end of the station from the gates. Don't join the scrum with the Koreans, as you won't be allowed to leave via the same door. If you have transported anything via freight on the train, you'll have to go back the next day to pick it up. The customs office is around the back of the building, and is shut from 12 to 2PM. At other times, it's not very busy. At all. There are no charges for collecting customs-cleared goods, and the bureaucracy is fairly simple, especially after the chaos at Beijing railway station.
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North Korea (officially Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK) is a country in East Asia. It occupies the northern half of the Korean Peninsula that lies between Korea Bay and the East Sea, al... More
Capital:P'yongyang Currency: North Korean won (KPW) Government: Totalitarian dictatorship Population: 23,113,019 (July 2006 est.) Religion: Atheist. Traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist, some Christian and syncretic Chondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way) Note: autonomous religious activities now almost nonexistent; government-sponsored religious groups exist to provide illusion of religious freedom Time zone: UTC +9
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A senior Chinese official is traveling to North Korea on Saturday, a news report said, in what is seen as a mission to jump-start stalled international talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs.