Koreans in U.S. have visited N. Korea

Among the Koreans living in the United States who are from North Korea, many have visited North Korea during the past 10 years and have met their relatives there.

Korean Americans who have U.S. citizenship are free of South Korea`s National Security Law, so there is no restriction preventing them from visiting North Korea. Since the mid-1980s, North Korean authorities have allowed separated families in the United States to visit North Korea to meet their kin.

At first, several channels for visits to North Korea were created, chiefly by pro-North Korean dignitaries or organizations in New York and Los Angeles. But at the request of North Korea, the National Federation of Korean Residents in the United States, led by pastor Ham Sung-Kook, has solely handled the visits to North Korea since several years ago.

The organization takes applications from those who wish to visit North Korea and collectively obtains visas from the North Korean mission to the United Nations.

"I was told by the Support Committee for Overseas Koreans that a total of about 6,000 Korean Americans have visited North Korea for reunion with their separated families since the 1980s,¡± Joo Nam-Hoon, 58, head of the organization`s Washington chapter, said.

Still, an official at the South Korean embassy to the United States said that it is true that thousands of Korean residents in the United States have visited North Korea during the early 1990s, when South-North Korean relations improved relatively.

By early the 1990s, the North Korean authorities collected US$300 to US$600 per person, including accommodations and transportation. These days, however, they are charging only the actual costs, according to Korean Americans who have visited North Korea.

However, they typically offer some money to their relatives in North Korea because of their difficult economic situation, and they typically spend about US$10,000 (about 11 million won) on a visit to North Korea.