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Not many people can say they’ve been to North Korea, but this month’s private Russian tour offered a glimpse into a secretive country largely shut off from the rest of the world.  

A group of around 100 Russians were among the first to visit the country since the pandemic on a four-day trip and the North Koreans put on a show – from a flight on the country’s only airline, to empty ski resorts and accordion performances.

But the images and videos from the tourists paint a picture of what it’s like inside North Korea that contradicts the official version. They offer snapshots of a country that’s faced serious food shortages in recent decades and is under a range of international sanctions.

The tour began with an Air Koryo flight from the Russian city of Vladivostok to the capital Pyongyang. The airline is operated by North Korea and is made up of an ageing fleet of mostly Russian-made aircraft.

According to one of the visitors, the group was comprised of influencers, tourists, journalists and 13 school-aged children.

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‘Everything falling apart’ on flight out

Complaints began from the tourists as soon as they boarded the plane – contrasting with the smooth version of the trip presented by Russian media outlets.

“The plane is old and smells of mothballs,” one traveller wrote on Telegram, saying that the 41-year-old aircraft “is reminiscent of ‘something that was stored in a closet for a long, long time, and then brought out into the light’.”

Another traveller, posting on Instagram, complained: “It was even difficult to fasten the belt.”

The same tourist concluded simply: “Everything is falling apart.”

‘Don’t look at the tourists’ – accordions and crafts on arrival

Once in Pyongyang, the group was taken to Mangyongdae Children’s Palace on the Western outskirts of the city, where they watched uniformed children recite accordion music, engage in crafts and perform a concert.

Video footage posted by tourist Elena Bychkova shows that as the children played for the tourists, a giant screen behind them alternated between footage of a mountain and North Korean soldiers.

Posting a video of the children weaving in a classroom, one tourist commented on the apparently restricted nature of the scene, claiming: “The children were apparently told to sit calmly and in general, don’t look at the tourists.”

The group were also taken to see two giant statues of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il – as well as the Juche Tower and a monument commemorating Soviet contributions to the Second World War.

In Pyongyang, the group was housed at the Yanggakdo International Hotel.

Claiming that they were not allowed to leave the site, travel influencer Ilya Voskresensky wrote on Instagram that when he inquired as to why, he says he was told “because we don’t know Korean and we may have problems”.

While it is unclear exactly how the visit and itinerary were organised, tickets cost $750 and were booked through the Russian travel company Vostok Intour.

‘Patriotic music’ and ‘personal escorts’ on the slopes

After spending a night in Pyongyang, the tourists were flown to Wonsan and taken to Masikryong ski resort, a facility completed in 2014 as part of the country’s bid to encourage foreign tourism.

Once there, Mr Voskresensky noted the distinctly North Korean features of the ski facilities, saying: “Patriotic music is playing on the slope, various propaganda videos are shown on the big screen.”

Even while skiing, the group appears to have been accompanied by minders. Sharing a video showing a man skiing behind him and his companion, Mr Voskresensky wrote: “This is our personal escort and it’s not paranoia.”

In an indication of North Korea’s continuing ability to source goods from the West, Sasha Danilenko posted a photograph taken at the resort, showing her atop a Canadian Ski-Doo snowmobile.

After two days at the ski resort, the group returned to Vladivostok.

Visitors left unimpressed but alliance is growing

On the prospect of a repeat trip, tourist Yulia Meshkova told her followers: “I will no longer go for moral and ethical reasons.”

In another post, she characterised the state as a “totalitarian dictatorship” concluding that as a country it “does not represent tourist value”.

The tour came at a time when ties between Russia and North Korea, and their respective leaders, seem to be strengthening fast in a growing pariah alliance.

Kim Jong Un paid a visit to Mr Putin in Russia last September.

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin gifted Kim Jong Un a luxury Russian limousine which Kim said he “liked” on his recent Russia trip, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described North Korea as a “close neighbour”.

In January, the US accused Russia of using North Korean-sourced weapons in Ukraine. Although both Moscow and Pyongyang denied conducting arms deals, last year they vowed to deepen military relations.

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The defence secretary has said the government will take a “very close look” after Sky News found UK exports are almost certainly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

Drone equipment and heavy machinery are among items being sent to countries including Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan, from where they are understood to be forwarded to Russia.

Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway said it was undermining the official UK sanctions regime and bolstering Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

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Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told the House of Commons on Thursday: “I did read at length Ed Conway’s excellent thread talking about this issue.

“It is the case that when you set up sanctions initially they tend to work, but they’ll eventually work their way and find another route to market.

“As Ed Conway points out in the thread this is an international problem… I can assure him that the British government will be taking a very close look.”

Officially, flows of heavy machinery, electrical equipment and cars from the UK to Russia have dropped to nearly zero – with the government calling it “the most severe package of economic sanctions ever imposed”.

However, Sky News analysis of Britain’s official trade statistics gives a different perspective.

It shows that while UK firms’ exports to Russia have fallen sharply, exports to various former Soviet satellite states have risen at an unprecedented rate.

Among items being exported are significant quantities of “dual use” items that can be repurposed into weaponry.

Exports to four countries have risen by over 500% since the outbreak of war and, worryingly, by far the biggest class of goods being sent are “parts of aeroplanes, helicopters or unmanned aircraft”.

British exports to Kyrgyzstan, the small former Soviet satellite state, are up more than 1,100%, for example.

These exports are dominated by heavy machinery and vehicles which can no longer be sent directly to Russia.

They are also up nearly as sharply to Armenia, which according to Robin Brooks – former chief economist of financial body the IIF, has recorded a sharp increase in its onward exports to Russia.

Mr Brooks said it’s been going on for some time and that other European countries, notably Germany and Poland, also send large quantities of hardware to Russia via these states.

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He told Sky News that firms were “clearly getting an order from somewhere that is a Russian satellite that happens to be domiciled in one of these Central Asian countries”.

He said the rise in exports was “completely insane” and that Russia was “the only reasonable explanation”.

Prior to Mr Shapps’s comments, the government told Sky News they are constantly attempting to tighten the sanctions regime.

“Any non-compliance with these tough sanctions is a serious offence and punishable through large financial penalties or criminal prosecution,” said a spokesman.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron added 50 more people and businesses to the UK sanctions list on Thursday.

Some 2,000 individuals and companies have been sanctioned since the start of the war two years ago, according to the Foreign Office.

The latest measures target companies linked to the manufacture of munitions, Russian importers and manufacturers of machine tools, and oil and diamond traders.