So you're about to head to North Korea for a few days of meetings. All your bags are packed, you're ready to go. You're standing there outside your door. And you realize: you have no idea what North Korea is like.

Sure, you know where you're staying. But what's North Korea really like? More practically:

How should you greet your business partners?

If you're invited to someone's house, what sort of gift should you bring? If any!

Are there any special considerations for female travelers?
Or female business associates?

What do the electrical outlets look like?

Perhaps most importantly: if you order the ho dduk, what on Earth is that going to look like?


North Korea: Business Traveler's Passport is an iPhone/iPad app for business travelers. It contains over a hundred pages of information on North Korea, focusing on areas of particular concern to the business traveler. While it does contain a small amount of information on hotels and sightseeing opportunities, these sections are intentionally light. Instead, it has entire sections of information on:

• North Korea Basics: A brief history of North Korea, with some background and historical highlights.
• Country Facts: demographics and other statistical data.
• Doing Business: Greetings & courtesies, meeting protocol, business attire, business entertaining, etc.

• Women: As travelers, are there any special considerations in North Korea? As a businesswoman, are any extra measures needed? How are North Korean women treated in their own country?

• Money: What does the money look like? How much should different service people be tipped, if at all?

• Travel: Visa info, departure formalities, electrical system, etc.

• Safety: Emergency numbers, notes on street crime, a few Pyongyang hospital locations, health & medical care

• Points of Interest: Some interesting museums and cultural sites, in case there's time in between meetings.

• City Views: Background on Pyongyang, with a handful of hotel descriptions.
• Telephone System: The subtleties of dialing to & from North Korea, with info on the locally-available phones. For example: are cell phones even allowed into the country?

• Life Cycle: From birth to marriage to old age, what's life like?
• Gift Giving: A few pages on the subtleties of giving personal or business gifts.

• Holidays and Festivals: Solid background on the popular holidays and festivals.
• Religion: Background on North Korea's varying religious climates.
• Superstitions and Folklore: Common superstitions, along with North Korean stereotypes.
• Food and Recipes: Descriptions of common korean foods, along with recipes for appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts, including dooboo kimchee, ttokkuk, jap chae, bulgogi, and ho dduk (ho ttuk).

• Terms Dictionary: Over 100 words & phrases translated into Korean.

• Embassies: Embassy locations and contact info for the handful of countries with representation in North Korea.
  

Being part of the Business Traveler's Passport series means that the app also has easy navigation, editable bookmarks, changeable font sizes, is searchable, and has an array of text & background color choices. If you've got any questions, do drop us a note! Shockingly, we actually enjoy talking to our customers.