I Went to North Korea. Here's the Shocking Truth 🇰🇵 

My new JUST GO shirts/hats/masks just launched! Only 100 of each color and size - grab yours before they sell out 😊 shop.drewbinsky.com/

the way your old video was is the exact reason why it went viral. It was original, raw, no crazy edits, no order. The moral, it's all good my friend. Keep the content real. The imperfections are all part of the plan

How is no one talking about how cute this little girl is at 8:03 when she was about to eat her ice cream but took it out to bow towards the camera

2:22 As a South Korean, it is very sad for me to say that it was “One family chain”. My grandfather hadn't seen his family in North Korea since the Korean War, and he always looked at pictures and missed them, but he eventually passed away. Many of my friends have grandparents from separated families, and most of them never saw their faces again until they died.

I was in the DPRK in 2014 for about a week, same tour group as yours, Koryo as well. We flew into Pyongyang from Beijing and saw a few of the sights there, then did an overland train across the country and spent nights in Wonsan, Hamhung, and Chongjin in the far northeast. I extended my tour too to Sinuiju and Dandong. My big highlight: shaking hands and saying “hello” in Korean to a little boy in Hamhung, probably his first time seeing a foreigner let alone connecting with one!

7:43 loved the way how the girl greeted you...shows how they respect people..

8:04 The precious nod and smile from the girl there. We’re all humans and able to connect. No matter where your are from! ❤️

Drew, you deserve the greatest credit for your channel. I usually don't comment many YT videos but after watching dozens of yours, I cannot refrain from leaving at least one comment. In my view, you display a naturally curious, unbiased and yet critical attitude, making your films truly authentic, fun and instructive. By encountering local people with humility and on eye level, you set an example for any (Western) traveller. I do believe that if schools began using your videos as material in geography classes, the world would indeed become a better place. P.S. I travelled to North Korea, too and could identify with your emotions in most situations. Buen viaje, gute Reise, goede reis, szerokiej drogi, bon voyage, boa viagem, 一路平安, safe journey!

Did I hear KENYA 🇰🇪 continues to win as athletes. We run faster than antelopes. Great video Drew!

Thank you for your beautiful and interesting knowledges of North Korea. Much love and God bless you from Dhaka Bangladesh.

I swear, this is the only channel where the comments section is decidedly wholesome, regardless of the video's content. I think it's because you set the foundation for a lot of comradary with your humble nature. It's so nice to scroll through a section so filled with appreciation for people of different cultures. Really puts faith in humanity back into my sorry old soul.

When he said the winner of the marathon was Kenyan I wasn't even surprised.

Such a unique experience you were able to have! I also taught English in Korea! I was there from 2017 until last fall and it is one of my favorite countries as well. Have you been able to hold onto the Korean you learned or have you lost most of it from lack of use? I learned a lot while living there and I'm actively trying to keep my ability to speak/read/write it because I think it is such a beautiful language

Im so early there isn't random people blessing my family.

8:03 The way the lil girl bowed warmed my heart 😍😭💜

Thank you so much for this. I would really really love to have some opportunity some day too.

Your video inspired me to do more research on North Korea as an international relations student. NK is an isolated country and it’s extremely interesting in many aspects. Thank you for sharing an awesome video!

Good day from somalia 🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴

Thank you Drew. You are a Godsend. I am 75 years old with lots of physical maladies. I depend on brave young guys like you to keep me informed. I am very gratful for you. Godspeed

Drew you sound like such a nice guy ! I think your lucky to have been in every country in the world but I think all the countries on the world are luckier to have you visiting!

Thanks Drew just for talking about Korea so that ppl around the world can have an idea what's going with these countries. Im from Seoul and my granpa was also refugee from north Korea. He almost got killed if he couldnt find a hide spot luckily somewhere in toilet while escaping. I'm now studying in US as graduate student and sometime I just got surprised by this significantly big contrast between the two same but different countries... We don't have a clue when this will end like how Germany did, and maybe it might not happen until I die. As a Korean this is emotional and very sad :(

When I saw “paid promotion” I genuinely thought he is getting sponsored by Kim himself LMAO

I clicked so fast, I ignored my science homework for Drew’s video

7:40 That is the first shot of a North Korean child smiling I have seen that doesn't look staged.

This is an awesome channel that provides a unique view of a bunch of countries. Keep it up! Seriously man!!

Amazing video drew. I am a 13 year old boy from Pakistan you have motivated me to travel. So when I grow up I will visit every country in the world

Im so happy i wasn’t born there

Just amazing one Drew, especially I am also very curious about North Korea.

Thanks Drew. I can really relate to your DPRK video. My interest in the DPRK was piqued a few years back by the captivating BBC series, ‘Michael Palin in North Korea’. Also, several years ago, my intrepid son (like you) visited Pyongyang for their annual marathon and was enthralled by the experience. I’m an Australian who's been living and working in Vietnam since 2017, and have taken every opportunity to explore neighbouring countries. So, back in late July 2019, and at very short notice (8 days), I managed to book a three-night, four-day sightseeing tour of the DPRK with Explore North Korea tour company in China. On the 25 July I joined a Chinese tour group at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, and we caught the night flight to Pyongyang. I was the only Westerner in the group of forty wonderful Chinese tourists. I have lived and worked in China for a total of about four years, so I am very much a Sinophile! The airport at Pyongyang is modern, and the DPRK customs and immigration officials were polite and efficient. The tour began immediately after lunch on the first day and the itinerary was very full and very much designed for my Chinese companions. I discovered that there is a very strong bond between China and the DPRK. Food for thought. Fortunately, I was assigned an English speaking DPRK tour guide, Hong, who was extremely helpful, a fountain of knowledge, and good fun. When we first met, he did however ask me where I worked, and when I mentioned the American University in Da Nang, Vietnam, his brow wrinkled with that look of consternation. Whoops! ‘Nice weather today Hong...’ Hong was nonetheless surprisingly open in terms of the topics we discussed. Pyongyang is completely out of step with cities as we understand them: wide and bare and spotlessly clean tree-lined streets, with smartly dressed locals walking with purpose alone or in pairs. There is no advertising (save propaganda billboards), no shops or shopping centres that you could identify from other buildings, no crime, no graffiti, barely any traffic (a consequence of the sanctions) and giant candy-coloured government apartment blocks everywhere. On the second day, I was wandering through an exhibition and chatting idly with Hong when he said to me ‘We launched another missile yesterday. I was surprised to hear that!” I feigned shock and said jokingly “Quick get me out of here!” He grabbed my arm, and laughingly started to escort me away. He then looked at my arm (I had goose bumps from the chilly aircon) and said to me “You’ve got chicken skin!”. That evening we attended ‘The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang’ at the 150,000 capacity May Day Stadium in Pyongyang. ‘The Mass Games’ involve 100,000 participants and performers. Spectacular! On the final day we visited the DMZ where, at a guide’s suggestion, I was afforded ‘the rare privilege as a foreigner’, of being photographed with a DPRK soldier (I do acknowledge that some readers might be ‘uncomfortable’ with that). Cheers! Paul LP

drew binksy isnt biased hes just honest which we all appreciate from him

Nice, looking forward to meet Drew in Moscow in the coming months.Happy weekend to the community from Russia 🇷🇺 👋😀

You're an artist too, besides being a content creator. The more raw and unedited, the more real it is. I love it!

Thanks man, good vids! I spent a year in Korea as a soldier back in '96. The only NK we experienced was constant propaganda being blasted at us from the North. Some of us would actually hallucinate during training because of it. We always wondered about Puyang, not much known about it at that time. Also caught malaria.

For all ya travelers who want to get to North Korea...but you’re afraid or don’t have that much money...you still can get a glimpse of the country if you visit the DMZ by a day tour from South Korea and it actually counts as a visit

Please don't cringe when you watch your old work. Growth is never embarassing ❤️

I love your channel Drew! You are living my dream life! I’m originally from Liberia but I grew up in the US and still live here. Yes, of course I saw your video on Liberia! Lol. Btw, do you learn the languages of all these countries you visit?! Your life has gotta be crazy awesome and you’re probably one of the most well rounded people out there. Keep doing what you’re doing!!

Your old videos are not cringy, but raw and capture the time perfecly. What an awesome life, once you travel to excotic places you want o keep doing it again. My trip to China is one of the most memorable experiences in my life.

I went 2 times to North Korea, first time as tourist, I spent a 5 days tour there and as you mentioned in the video, its also for me the most interesting country in the world. After this 1st trip I had more questions then before and these brought me to write my master thesis about tourism in north korea. Basically about the motivation to travel there and how the perception is changing. At the beginning I wanted to collaborate with tour operators doing tours there but didnt get any positive response so I decided to do a tour again in order to get to know more people who travelled there and afterwards was conducting an online questionnaire. Summarising, I am glad to have done this so I was on my own trying to get to know more about this isolated country. Thank you for creating this content about NK, it always amazes me how other people experienced this country.

Small correction: The Korean Peninsula was already split before the Korean War, since the end of World War Two, as the US and Soviets both established regime-loyal governments for their own influence in their sides of the peninsula.

Fascinating content. So very sad for those dear people. I visited Czechoslovakia while on active duty as a U.S. naval officer, 1985. What stunned me is that it was every bit as depressing and gloomy and sad as my advance information said it would be, and that was nowhere near the level of the DPRK.

Wow you are great!! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions!!! You are really passionate about what you do!! God bless you!! 🙌🙏

Love you from Ghana 🇬🇭

I'm thinking about Malaysia now after you uploaded a video about North Korea...

I love you back Drew. I worked and traveled all 50 states from 20-73 on vacations and retirement. My favorite USA cities were Las Vegas, Rapid City, and Kalispell, Montana, Singapore and Acapulco were my favorite foreign destination out of many. Thank you so much.

Hi Drew, i was in North Korea in Dec 2018 for 5 days, pretty much the same experiences as you, i was however able to speak freely with citizens as i took the train to and from Dandong. I have also traveled to nearly every country in the world and agree that its a very interesting experience (when i was there only 6 people in our hotel yet everything was open and staff on duty 24h we were able to leave our rooms but not the hotel at night.

So much thoughts and I loved it! Aside from sharing the story of North Korea, your insights meant so much on the realities every country face day by day. That aside from all the beautiful places, there are indeed pressing issues that we (from other places/outsiders perspective) cannot see or unable to see. Glad that you’ve shared this. Fascinated and would want to visit this country soon.

Love y’all from Norway🇳🇴

Wow! Great story. Reminds me on Bulgaria in the 70‘s. You were only allowed to go to restaurants prepared for the tourists. The people looked all very depressed. In Sofia they all had pale faces. All looking on the ground running to their jobs. I had the feeling I am in a Kafka movie. So that is Communism at it‘s worst.

you were lived in south korea!! i found you by chance, and im south korean...amazing. and thanks for exact travel experience and deliver reality for seriously!

Drew, I’ve been following your channel ever since the North Korea video, and it’s honestly amazing to see how your content has improved greatly (not that it was bad to begin with). Keep doing what you do, and I hope that you’ll have even cooler experiences to share from traveling around the world!

4:47 😂😂😂 the guy right there

Drew, have you thought about doing a follow-up on the people you interviewed (like Evelyn) who escaped from North Korea and how they're doing now?

Hi drew,I recently discovered your videos,I've been binging out on them ,and they are fantastic! In your north korea videos are really something.I can't put into words.Your outlook on life is beautiful.please keep making more videos❤

LOVE YA ALL FROM ITALY❤

I clicked so fast, North Korean soldiers failed to capture me trying to cross the border

Hey Drew, love your videos and been watching since you was at like 200k. Love seeing your channel grow. I’ve been wanting to make videos myself, so this is a real inspiration.

Kudos Drew. Wonderful insights as always.

So proud of this guy. I subscribed back when he had 80,000 subs

Just a quick fact about the Pyongjang Metro: It was the public transport system of East Berlin, North Korea bought it after the German reunification. Also very interesting and high quality video you did there, Drew. I just love your channel because in many cases, it is just the only way to find out about some countries without the prejudice of western media. Thank you so much❤️. I hope that one day we can all be as one free people without repressing systems!

first of all thanks for that clear subtitles and clear voice of yours. so we can understand the English of yours...thanks buddy

Hi Drew, you may enjoy seeing Fun for Louis and his visit to N Korea. I recognized your tour guide in this one, Louis Cole is from the UK, and has a lively RU-vid channel. While in N Korea, he and his tour group taught this tour guide surfing, skateboarding, and made a video of her singing over shots of her surfing lessons. She was delightful and they made her laugh a lot. Really brought out her personality.

This is the main reason why im still comparing you to other traveller/s vloggers,content creators.I just found out that you being raw and natural is just satisfying.The way you deliver your opinions and sympathy towards people of a certain country makes it beautiful.

This is awesome, the youtube algorithm has brought me videos about DPRK lately, for whatever reason, and now my favorite travel vlogger puts this out for us. Thank you, Drew! I've also thought about teaching in S. Korea but it's no longer feasible for me. Love seeing other people talk about these amazing experiences! I really hope to go to S. Korea one day 🤞

Great video! I am interested in Asia in general, hope to get the opportunity to visit South and north korea at some point! Cheers, stay healthy!

I just got introduced to the videos. Love everyone I watched so far. Safe travels

Even though I am South Korean, it is so impressed what i can feel and see North Korea from your channel. and thank you for your effort!

Another awesome video, Drew, please come back to Canada some day and show the world our beautiful provinces.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with me, Drew! I have heard of North Korea and the human rights violation but not to that extent specifically, I would love to go to North Korea and meet the people there also like you did, I will follow the rules of the country and I would love to record my moments when I go to North Korea in the future!🙏🏽💞

Love from Nairobi, Kenya

That gaves me goosebumps that how hard is their lifes. I hope one day all of them can live happly and people who made them live like this is just gone to anywhere where they cant make same things again

This is exactly what I want to see. Great content. You really said a lot about NORTH KOREA

Thanks for sharing your experience ! Learnt many things !

Thank You For Sharing This Beautiful Video

Man, millions of kids are there who have so much potential in life. Some have amazing talents and ideas but unfortunately it is blocked by the country

Can’t miss any videos of Drew! Such an inspiration

One of the things I regret when I was in China was not seeing more parts of Asia. I meant to see the cherry blossoms in Japan back in 2010, but there is always post-COVID.

That is the video I found you from! Keep up the great content Drew!

Such an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing! Your story telling inspires me to improve my travel videos!

Yeay!!I'm early! I JUST FINISHED WATCH YOUR NORTH KOREA VIDEO!!

Thanks for sharing such an interesting video allowing us to travel thru your eyes.

Thank you for both documentaries on NK. Haven’t seen the ones you did featuring people who were born there, but have left.

I'm malaysian 🇲🇾. The average person here knows about the Malaysia-North Korea issue. We will continue to oppose and will not bow to the selfishness of North Korea and also oppose the insults from Malaysia's own neighbors.

It would be amazing if he went there with his team and created a documentary

This is definitely better than your first video on the topic!

Just subscribed, stumbled across one of your clips by accident...now hooked 🤣🤣🤣 Love your stuff. Cheers from Canada !!!!

Great video as always, Drew! I was also able to go to North Korea in 2019, and just like you, I was naive and didn't know much about foreign cultures and didn't have a lot to put into perspective. My trip was very similar to yours, as I also went there during the Marathon event and it was indeed a unique experience to be able to run on the streets of Pyongyang without feeling restricted to a tour guide or the bus. Unfortunately I don't speak korean (yet), so I wasn't able to communicate with the locals just like you, although highfiving the kids was still absolutely surreal and remains one of the coolest things I've done to this day. :) I did go to South Korea 2 months later (as this was part of a 3 month long travel), and the contrast was just how you described it. Absolutely surreal! I did have the most amazing time in South Korea and definitely the most surreal time in North Korea. Oh btw! I see we stayed at the same hotel in North Korea! Did you also check out the casino in the basement? They actually had wifi down there when I was visiting. I was able to text my friends, but they freaked out and thought it was North Koreans who texted from my phone, since there was no way I should be able to text from inside North Korea haha! :D Stay safe! :)

North Korea's embassy left Malaysia not long ago😁you just learned something

I am from Pakistan and it was soo nice to see that you loved my country.Plan your next visit soon plzz.Stay safe and I wish you the best ma guyy

Great video!! I really enjoyed it! I'm reading "Under the same Sky" by Joseph Kim. It was great to see some video of North Korea so I can picture the area while reading the book. I feel so sorry for the North Korea people.

the reason why it is a deep metro is so that it can be used for a nuke shelter

it's sad how people can't leave this country. i feel really really bad for them..

Great video. We spent 2 weeks in DPRK in 2016 also during the 7th party Congress. We travelled all over southern DPRK and loved it!

Man do what your doing love your videos your Awesome keep doing what your doing I love you stay safe(I do not love you in you know) I'm sure many people feel the same

Love you bro You are my travel inspiration Thankyou for motivating me🤘

8:05 best part of this video... love this child ♥️♥️

The airliners you flew on (or at least that which was shown in the video) are Tupolev 204s. They are actually NOT soviet era stuff, but relatively recent aircraft from the late-2000s (2007 and 2010 to be exact). They are Russian, but the contemporaries of the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737NG.

Guess, the video was really good. And thank you for follow-up video. NK is really an interesting country to visit.

Hey Drew, thanks for all of your great content, your a great guy, in a bigger picture, what you are doing helps reunite us as a society. Being informed of other countries helps get rid of the closeminded stereotypes we tend to put on countries.

Drew out here stepping up his thumbnail game. Very cool.

I think you and your team are great kind people.