Previous North Korea dictator, Kim Jong-Il's body has been put out in a state mausoleum for public viewing. Jong-Il passed away on Dec. 17, 2011 from a heart attack.
The Huffington Post reported that last week, the first group of tourists were allowed to enter.
The Telegraph reported that the display of his body is at the Kumsausan Palace of the Sun in the capital city of Pyongyang. His body is laid out and dressed in his army uniform that he so often wore and then covered in a red sheet. Next to him a pair of his favorite platform shoes, sunglasses and an Apple Macbook Pro laptop that he was thought to have been using when he had the heart attack that killed him.
Inside his mausoleum is also a yacht, a car and the train carriage which is thought to be where he died, reported The Telegraph.
The Times of London interviewed one of the tourists at Jong-Il's mausoleum who said that North Korea had "done a good job."
Despite the influx of tourists to see Jong-Il's body, it is still difficult to visit North Korea. The Huffington Post reported that there are some travel companies that are offering up trips to the country, such as Koryo Tours, but traveling independently does not seem like something that will occur soon in the highly controlled government.
Visitors must be accompanied by guides during their stay and at one point they weren't allowed ot bring phones into the country, but that law has now changed according to The Los Angeles Times.
Photographer Jeremy Hunter said tot the Telegraph about a visit he made to the country.
"We were told that all mobile phones, GPS equipment and compasses, camcorders and any camera that looked professional would be confiscated and handed back on departure," he said. "Two minders accompanied us everywhere we went. One, Miss Kim, was a svelte young woman in her twenties, university educated and confidently bilingual, elegantly dressed and clutching a designer handbag; the other, an older, somewhat sullen man always remained behind the group to ensure no one attempted to take a photograph of anything not on the designated itinerary."
The Los Angeles Times reported that though tourists are allowed to bring in phones to North Korea, they are not allowed to make local calls.
Other Jong-Il centered attractions in the country include his private residences and local guides in the area have much knowledge of the former dictator's life.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
