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(CNN) — Mexico has tequila. Colombia has aguardiente. Cuba has rum. Brazil’s spirit goes by the name of cachaça, a rum-like liquor steeped in history. Unlike much rum, it is not made from molasses but from fresh sugarcane juice that is fermented and distilled.The spirit was first made by slaves who worked in sugarcane mills in the early 1500s, shortly after the Portuguese introduced cane to the country. Once a staple for low-income workers, the drink initially was known as “pinga” before it became better known by its name cachaça.Now it’s the key ingredient for caipirinhas, and sold abroad for prices comparable to whiskey. “Twenty years ago, we were selling it to people who came to our distillery by horse or carriage,” recalls Pedro Eduardo Valente, who works at the Planalto Farm distillery. It’s has been in his family for generations.”They would carry off five or six jugs. Our cachaça dominated our area. People didn’t want any other brand.”Valente’s ranch is on the outskirts of Brotas, in the state of São Paulo, which is known for its production of cachaça.Although producers of the spirit can be found in most of Brazil now — the last count in 2011 put the number at 40,000 — Pedro is proud of his ranch’s family-owned operation, which he runs with his son Carlos.For the Valente family, it’s all about tradition. Pedro learned the skill of cachaça distilling from his father and has passed it down to Carlos, who in turn hopes his own son will carry on the tradition.A family businessCachaça is a liquor produced from sugarcane in Brazil.ShutterstockLike rum, cachaça has two varieties: unaged, known as “branca” (white) or “prata” (silver), and aged, known as “amarela” (yellow) or “ouro” (gold). The former is usually bottled immediately after distillation and, as a result, tends to be cheaper. The Planalto Farm, however, focuses on the aged variety and has used the same fermentation and distilling process for more than a century. “The tradition of cachaça in the state of São Paulo — I think a lot of it came from our family,” says Carlos. His great-grandfather arrived in Brazil from Italy in 1888, and he was an early producer of cachaça.”We taught a lot of people to make cachaça,” he says. “A lot of people learned from us because at the time there weren’t any distilleries in the region. Ours was the first, we were pioneers.”The cachaça made here is aged from one to five years in large wooden barrels that have been in the family for nine decades.Here’s how to create the perfect caipirinha using cachaca, the Brazilian spirit.The barrels don’t give off any flavor, explains Carlos, because they are so old, and so the spirit is able to rest without its taste being changed. But the barrels do soften the acidity of the cachaça, says Pedro.”For those who like a good cachaça, you have to use aged barrels so they don’t give off the flavor of the wood,” Carlos says.Currently, the Valentes use a homemade bottling machine and make the labels by hand. But they’re bringing the distillery up to date and are waiting on a new labeling machine to arrive. It will print new, redesigned labels that they’ll use to sell their spirit abroad.The label is going to be more modern, says Carlos, “with the history of our cachaça, explaining how it has been made.”Good quality cachaça can be enjoyed neat, but most commonly the spirit is used to make caipirinha cocktails. Sip or mix?Planalto Farm is a family-run business in the state of São Paulo.CNNMade with muddled lime and sugar, crushed ice and cachaça, and served in a short glass, the caipirinha can be found almost all over the world.Carlos, however, likes to stick to tradition. “For the older generations like my father, it’s a sip before lunch, a sip before dinner, to spark your appetite.”No lime, no sugar, not a caipirinha in other words, to savor it. Not to say that it isn’t good in a caipirinha … with our traditional Galician limes, it makes an excellent caipirinha. But the essence of cachaça is to drink it pure.”According to figures from 2015, around 1.8 billion liters were produced in just one year, with 15 million of those exported worldwide. It’s estimated most producers are informal microdistilleries. In 2012, UK drinks group Diageo bought Ypióca, the country’s third largest producer, based in the northeastern state of Ceará, with hopes of taking the spirit worldwide. Exports in 2016 amounted to around 8.7 million liters, compared with Mexico’s 196 million liters of tequila in the same year.Despite Diageo’s ambitions, the drinks export industry remains dominated by beer, and so worldwide consumers may have to wait a little longer for cachaça to become as readily available as tequila.In the meantime, Brazilians will continue to enjoy their country’s staple spirit. It wasn’t always a drink for everyone, but it has gained a lot of popularity in the past 20 years or so, Carlos says.”All Brazilians like cachaça today,” says Carlos. “It has won its place.”

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CNN’s Johnita Due shows us around Tallahassee, Florida, where you can see how the actions of civil rights activists, including Due’s parents, contributed to the national movement.

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(CNN) — A long time ago, Uzbekistan was the beating heart of the world.It sat at the center of the Silk Road, collecting and dispersing luxuries for trade to lands from China and India to the Mediterranean. More importantly, it sent rills of knowledge flowing through its web of trade, everything from algebra to Arabic to astronomy. However, trade along the Silk Road had long declined when its splintered khanates — Khiva, Samarkand, Bukhara, Kokand, etc. — buckled to the Russians one by one in the 20th century.Fortunately, there’s so much more to the Central Asian country than the Silk Road. Buddhist monks scudded through its southern fringes, carrying the freight of their newfound faith from India to the Far East. Synagogues were nourished here. Today as you travel through Uzbekistan, you will find ripples of all this history and more.Get taken for a ride on the metro Tashkent is marbled with drab, blocky Brutalist Russian architecture that soars towards the heavens. But the city isn’t just vertical; it pushes downwards too. Deep into its bedrock, the Tashkent metro, opened in 1977, is an extraordinary example of Russian invention. Each underground journey is bookended by exquisitely-designed stations — in one, hoary vaulted ceilings are blazoned by baroque chandeliers; in another, the face of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space flames to life; a third is lit with extravagant murals of cotton, Uzbekistan’s cashcrop introduced by the Russians (that is now leeching the lifeblood from its soil). Up until 2018, all photographs were forbidden (thanks to its role as a nuclear bomb shelter and military site), but that rule has happily been upended. Tip: If you don’t have time to ride around the city, take the tube from Mustaqillik Maydoni (Independence Square station) to Pakhtakhor for a glimpse of the system.Up your starch intake with non and plovAcross Uzbek kitchens, the clay or brick tanoor takes pride of place. From within emerge wedges of somsa, lamb’s meat or pumpkin or potato shelved into flaky savory pastry or smokey hunks of meat, stabbed through with a skewer. Non is ubiquitous and it will follow you across every meal in every province of the country; a facsimile of the sun, the bread is seen as life itself.Meher MirzaBut these are all supporting acts when it comes to the flatbread, non. Sloped into a clay or brick tanoor, a disc of non emerges blistered, stretched flat in the center, girdled by a springy hem and impressed with custom designs (courtesy of a stamping tool called a nonpar), each of which is leashed to its own bakery. It is an edible advertisement; sometimes, even a phone number is baked into it. Non is ubiquitous and it will follow you across every meal in every province of the country; a facsimile of the sun, it is seen as life itself.But in fact, it is plov that is Uzbekistan’s national dish. A spice-spare cousin of its south Asian cousin pulao, plov is a fortifying rice dish striped with carrots, onions, berberries (small, tart berries) and cumin crowned with a cockscomb of mutton pieces, but can swell to include quince, beef, peppers, horsemeat, boiled eggs and chickpeas cooked in sheep fat or cottonseed oil. Many ingredients in plov, Uzbekistan’s national dish, can be found in the markets.Meher MirzaPlov can be an everyday dish, but also a dish meant for gorging, for tippling, for ebullience, one often offered up at wedding feasts. Luckily for tourists though, it’s also available everywhere, from the littlest eateries to the fanciest restaurants. Tip: For a proper plunge into plov, try the Central Asian Plov Center in Tashkent, one of Uzbekistan’s biggest cities, where it is the only item on the menu.Swig vodka!The Soviets left Uzbekistan a rather uneven legacy. They carved borders from a disjointed scatter of caravanserai towns. They imprinted Cyrillic on the country. They sucked dry the Aral sea, an environmental catastrophe of incalculable proportions. They attempted to peel away the people’s religious ways (the Russians purportedly stuffed the Fergana Valley’s 15th Kok-Gumbaz mosque with bottles of alcohol). Yet the most insidious was their culinary footprint (i.e., the introduction of vodka to the local table). It’s quite possible the drink has done more to loosen the stays of Uzbekistan’s Islam than anything else. Vodka is the beverage of choice across Uzbekistan and is a part of nearly every meal.Meher MirzaNo matter where in Uzbekistan you travel to, all but the most devout nurse a bottle of okchai (white tea, a euphemism for vodka). Noon or night, the correct way to drink is by flagging each glass with a toast. Stroll through a dazzling NecropolisGales of tourists blow through mausoleum-heavy Samarkand every day: to peer at the Bibi Khanum mosque, to ogle at the exquisite Registan complex. But perhaps the most extraordinary of all is the Shah-i-Zinda, a cobblestoned corridor of cobalt domes, minarets, pillars jostled into a crowded necropolis. Although legend pegs the Shah-i-Zinda as the burial grounds of Prophet Mohammed’s cousin, Qusam ibn Abbas, it’s more likely that the earliest monument cropped up a mere millennium ago. Each mausoleum in Samarkand is disparate, but the whole melds together in a sparkling jigsaw of a jewel box, brocaded with glossy turquoise and aquamarine tiles. Meher MirzaAs the centuries passed, more and more mausoleums were added (the most beautiful being the 14th century resting place of Timur’s niece Shadi Mulk and sister Shirin Bek Ata). The area serves as a pilgrimage for both Samarkand residents and visitors: a living monument to death. Each mausoleum is disparate, but the whole melds together in a sparkling jigsaw of a jewel box, brocaded with glossy turquoise and aquamarine tiles that intensify to purple and midnight blue, as though the sky has lent its blue to the earth. Gawp at The Karakalpakstan State Museum of ArtWhile the Soviet Union juddered under Stalinist rule, an art collector was leading a gentle rebellion under his very nose. In the middle of the scrubby hinterlands of the semi-autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, Igor Savitsky toiled to amass a grand collection of Soviet (Russian and Uzbek) avant garde paintings that might have been lost forever under the bloody regime. See works by Vladimir Lysenko and Alexander Volkov in The Karakalpakstan State Museum of Art.Meher MirzaIt was not a task for the faint-hearted. Under Stalin’s narrow lens, anything other than social realism was shrugged away as Formalism and liable for imprisonment, while Savitsky’s collection was a shrine to cubism, impressionism and futurism, radical in its rebuke to totalitarianism. In 1966, he opened his museum. Its remoteness both served and saved him, keeping him away from the eye of Stalin’s gibbering generals, while forcing the museum to languish in obscurity up until a few years ago. Today, the work displayed is indeed staggering, including work by Vladimir Lysenko and Alexander Volkov cheek by jowl with that of contemporary local artists, across several floors. Downstairs, a cafe serves decent burgers and crisped fries, a gentle reprieve after an afternoon of heavy viewing.Visit a Silk Road oasis come to lifeOnce even the most buccaneering travelers shuddered at the mention of Khiva; the caravan town had a reputation glutted with mercurial, bloodthirsty khans known to torture and slaughter visitors at whim. Today of course, buses disgorge tourists from around the world into the old town, Ichan Kala, that sits aloof from the rest of the trafficked city. The caravan town of Khiva is now on the tourist trail.Meher MirzaIt is now a UNESCO-stamped repository of Uzbek history brimming with formidable architecture — pale sand-colored tombs singular in their simplicity, sit cheek-by-jowl with madrassehs and museums cloaked in a tumult of teal. The buildings have all been painstakingly restored by the Russians, its cobblestone streets corridored by sanitized stalls selling all manner of touristy bric-a-brac. It resembles, almost, the set of a film. Still, it is all very charming and carnival-esque, and perhaps the only place in Uzbekistan in which you can sink yourself properly into a caravanserai of yore by staying at the Orient Star.Gaze at a 15th century observatoryAt a time when Europe was still moldering in the dark ages, Uzbekistan was soaring into its renaissance. From here came algebra, thanks to Muhammad al-Khwarizmi. Medicine and philosophy came via Avicena in the 10th century. Al-Biruni, a man of astonishing talent, wrote treatises on mathematics, anthropology, astrology and geography in the 11th century. Centuries later, Ulugh Begh, grandson of Timur and sultan of Samarkand, drew on this ferment of knowledge to found a cutting-edge astronomical observatory on top of a hill in Samarkand. Unfortunately, his mind bent little to political affairs — he was murdered in 1449 by his own son, and his observatory later destroyed, but visitors can still see the ribs of a mighty sextant curling down a trench, the largest meridian instrument of its time. (Among other astonishing things, it discovered almost 200 new stars, and predicted, almost to a minute, the exact length of a year.) Close by, a modest museum archives what little knowledge remains of Ulugh Begh and his scientific advances. Buy silk from the last traditional silk-makers in MargilonAlthough camels once lurched across the Silk Road carrying everything from paper, furs, spices, gunpowder, animal skins and gold, there is no single material that paints a picture of the Silk road as succinctly as … well … silk (the Uzbeks muscled out the knowledge of silk-making from the Chinese). Meher MirzaSilk was a booming part of Margilon (and Uzbekistan’s) history, with bolts of shimmering fabric carried to Russia, Persia, Constantinople, India, Syria, Arabia, Italy, even the Horn of Arabia.But when the Soviet Union invaded the country in the 19th century, artisan was usurped by industry, and driven to near extinction. Silk-work was funneled into industries and factories whirred out millions of meters every year.But the old knowledge stuck, and once the Russians were ousted, a few artisans of Margilon traded the factory for their old ways of weaving and patterning (the ikat style is heavily favored, the colors drawn from alum, walnut skin, peels of onion and pomegranate).Today, this is maybe the last center of traditional silk-making in Uzbekistan, and it forms a vital part of the city’s economy and cultural discourse. UNESCO has listed it under its Intangible Cultural Heritage icons. Kumtepa market (5 kilometers from the city center) is thick with bales of silk. Yodgorlik, a silk-making factory is a tremendous tourist attraction, and shops selling silk clothes and skull caps are everywhere. Perhaps this then is the dawn of a new Silk Road.Explore ancient Buddhist monasteries A sun-ripened stupa stands on the banks of the Amu Darya. The stupa is part of a large complex of Buddhist structures in Termez, a city that curls round the south-eastern fringe of Uzbekistan. The sun-ripened stupa is part of a large complex of Buddhist structures in Termez, in Uzbekistan’s southeast.Meher MirzaAnd although the country’s Buddhist history is seen only as a caption within its epic history, Termez is veined with stupas and monasteries scattered pell-mell, a sort of flotsam village stranded in time: Fayaz Tepa, a dun-coloured mud-brick monastery; Kara Tepa, a labyrinth of hollowed-out rooms cloistered into rock. And squatting in a dill field is Zurmala tower, breaded by sand as if the soil was reasserting itself over the structure. All of these were built more than 2,000 years ago in the Kushana period by Buddhist monks drifting through the land, carrying their religion with them from India to the Far East. The stupas are etched with holy scriptures, but not much else remains — all artifacts have been peeled off and deposited into museums across the country. Nevertheless, they are extraordinary, forgotten links to a fascinating age. Retreat to a lost world In the flatlands of the Republic of Karakalpakstan lies a portal to another era, that of the glorious Zoroastrian Persian empire, maybe the world’s first superpower, whose demesne once stretched from the Indus River to the Balkans in Europe. Visit Karakalpakstan and see ancient ruins with storied histories. Meher MirzaKarakalpakstan is crossed with desperate ruins touched with majesty — the roofless honeycomb of a castle, a fire altar breached long ago, a whaleback of a fort rising from the solitude of the desert. The best preserved of all is Chilpik, a Zoroastrian funerary tower in which the dead were lain prone to be consumed by vultures, perhaps the best way for death to collaborate with the ecosystem (the remains were swept into ossuaries). The way to this landscape is via Nukus — the Tashkent hotel offers a very comfortable stay. If, however, you are tight for time, meander through Afrasiyab in Samarkand instead, a sweep of citadel with an excellent museum fringing it; or explore Ming Urik, a sandy relic of a fortress, hidden down a quiet side street in Tashkent.Ogle at the ancient town of BukharaThe entire old town of Bukhara is a UNESCO-recognized masterpiece of medieval Muslim architectureMeher MirzaThere is much to do in Bukhara: ramble around the 10th century tomb of Ismail Samani at Samonids Recreation Park, with its intricately-fretted walls; wander through the Ark, a fifth century fortress whose glowering ramparts are now snarled with traffic; gaze at the sombre Kalyan minaret, spared by Genghiz Khan when he razed the city in 1220; marvel at Chor Minor Madrassah with its nest of domes enameled in sapphire. The entire old town is a UNESCO-recognized masterpiece of medieval Muslim architecture. It is as beautiful as a hallucination.Tip: An excellent place to break your ramble through the old town is the Lyabi-Hauz — travelers and locals alike gather round the lucent waters of this pool for a cup of coffee or an ice cream.Travel tips: Know before you goUzbekistan has several international airports but most of them only cater to flights from Russia. If you’re flying in from anywhere else, your first port of call will, by necessity, be Tashkent. For those who are strapped for time, a day in Tashkent should suffice before pushing off to Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. But if you can slice, say three weeks out of your life, do extend your itinerary to cover Nukus and the Karakalpakstan region, Termez, and Margilon with day trips to Andijon and Kokand. The best way to travel between cities is by train, but if that doesn’t float your boat, at least take the speedy Afrosiyob Express from Tashkent to Samarkand (tea is free!). Spring and fall are the best times to visit.Meher Mirza is an independent writer based in Mumbai, with an interest in exploring the anthropology of Indian food and culture through a postcolonial lens.

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(CNN) — They’ve got a reputation for sun-soaking, all-night-partying and all-round-hedonism, but Spain’s Balearic Islands are attempting a rebrand.The regional government has introduced a series of laws that attempt to curb alcohol excess in the tourist hubs of Magaluf and Playa de Palma on the island of Majorca and San Antonio in Ibiza.No longer will party boats promote seafaring intoxication, happy hours are to be prohibited and — once it hits 9:30 p.m. — the shops will cease selling booze altogether until 8 a.m. the next day.Under new regulations, some tourist destinations in the Balearics will no longer be able to offer drinks deals like this.David Ramos/Getty ImagesPub crawls will be barred and the perilous craze known as “balconing” — where people attempt to jump from hotel balconies into swimming pools — will be strictly forbidden.”The Balearic Islands will thus become a leading destination in combating excess tourism,” reads the government press release announcing these changes.Those found flaunting the rules will face fines — in the most serious of instances, such as the sale of alcohol outside of permitted hours — businesses could find themselves paying € 60,000 (over $66,000).The new scheme is due to be in place for at least five years.New directionMagaluf, in Mallorca, is synonymous with partying.Clara Margais/Getty ImagesHit the streets of Magaluf on a summer night and you’ll find hordes of young European tourists, lured by cheap flights and the promise of a pleasure-seeking week of debauchery, spilling out of clubs and bars.The Balearics say they’re teaming the new regulations with newly designed marketing, and a switch towards “sustainable and respectful tourism,” with the aim of forcing “real change in the tourist model of these destinations.”Among European tourists, the Balaerics have a reputation for hedonism.David Ramos/Getty ImagesWith their balmy climate, sandy beaches and hidden pockets of nature, the Balearics offer far more than just popular party spots. Justin Francis, CEO at travel company Responsible Travel, tells CNN Travel that the key to changing the reputation of Majorca and Ibiza is to support new tourism opportunities on the islands.”The authorities in the Balearics now need to work to encourage local, cultural-based as well as nature-centered tourism so as to attract the type of travelers who will better respect the destination. They should look to do this outside of the traditional ‘hotspots’ in particular,” he says.Francis points to other European destinations, including the Spanish city of Barcelona, that have taken moves to transform their fortunes in recent years.Tourist perspectiveBut what do the young tourists who visit these partying hotspots think of the proposed changes?Londoner Kate Chan is unimpressed. The 19-year-old, who previously worked for a travel company that organizes holidays in Ibiza, tells CNN Travel that happy hour culture is crucial to the island’s economy.”We even sold bottomless drink packages before the super clubs. It’s a way for Ibiza’s economy to survive, because the super clubs like Amnesia cost around €30 for a double spirit and mixer,” she says. It’s “completely off-putting if there aren’t pre-party deals in place,” adds Chan.”Who goes to Ibiza for a civilized time anyway?”Chan agrees that more stringent alcohol rules could cut down on some of issues in Ibiza — such as “balconing,” or drunken fights — but doesn’t think the island can rebrand over night.Ibiza hosts DJs from across the world, attracting music fans.David Ramos/Getty ImagesJack Painter, 24, is a British house music fan who has visited Ibiza on several occasions. He tells CNN Travel he’s in favor of the new regulations.”Ibiza is home to some of the biggest and most prestigious dance music venues in the world, and hosts important residencies from the most influential artists in the world of electronic music,” says Painter. “This attracts real music fans looking for an experience and the chance to enjoy sets by their favorite producers.”Generally speaking, these tourists respect the island, Painter says. They’re not just there to get drunk.”What lets us and the island down are the sleazy, cheap boozing establishments in San Antonio’s west end. These establishments are aimed at nothing more than getting holidaymakers as drunk as possible on ridiculously cheap booze.””And [they] attract the sort of loutish, anti-social behavior that British tourists are known for and that understandably creates huge friction with the local people.”Partying prospectsBusinesses could find themselve fined € 60,000 (over $66,000) if they flaunt the new rules.Clara Margais/Getty ImagesMeanwhile fellow Brit James Sawyer, 23, says he can see both sides of the argument.”I’ve been to Majorca on family holidays and to the strip to party. I had completely different experiences and both were great for different reasons,” he says.”The strip transports a night out in Leeds [a university city in the north of England] to a nicer climate, virtually everyone’s English and it’s essentially Neverland. It was fun aged 16 to 18, but I’d never go back for a rerun of the latter holiday.”That said, Sawyer says he’d consider going to Ibiza to party, but these new rules make him hesitate.”I’m less likely to go with these restrictions,” he says.Still, he’s pragmatic about his partying prospects: “There’s going to be somewhere else popping up that serves the same purpose,” says Sawyer.”It is sad that the restrictions might prevent someone else having that experience as a teenager but I understand the islands are much more than pre-adult drunken experiences.”

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Airbnb announced Tuesday that one couple will be granted the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay in the historic building that has become symbolic of the iconic balcony from “Romeo and Juliet.”The Casa di Giulietta has become a magnet for lovers and fans of the play — despite Shakespeare never actually specifying the exact location of Juliet’s home.In Shakespeare’s 16th-century play, set in the Italian city of Verona, Romeo and Juliet profess their love for each other at the balcony.The room features the original bed from the 1960s film adaptation.AirbnbEvery year, thousands of letters arrive at Casa di Giulietta, keeping the nonprofit Juliet Club busy writing replies.Now, Airbnb is offering a modern-day Romeo and Juliet the chance to stay overnight in the historic building, which operates as a museum.The couple will be the first to stay in Juliet’s room since 1930, Airbnb said in a statement.The medieval-themed bedroom will also feature the “Letto di Giulietta” — the original bed that featured in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Airbnb said.”This stay will give one couple the unique chance to celebrate their love in what is possibly the most romantic home in the history of literature,” said Giacomo Trovato, Airbnb’s general manager for Italy. The winning couple will also have a special meal cooked for them in the house’s grand dining room.AirbnbCouples wishing to take advantage of this unique offer will have to write a letter detailing their own love story and explain why they would be the perfect guests for the romantic getaway.In addition to spending the night in Juliet’s “bedroom,” the pair who wins the competition will be given a Romeo and Juliet inspired tour of Verona and a private tour of the Casa di Giulietta. They will read and reply to some of the most recent letters sent to “Juliet” and have a candlelit meal prepared by Michelin chef Giancarlo Perbellini.

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(CNN) — South Koreans may soon be able to travel on their own to North Korea under new rules being considered by their government. The South Korean Ministry of Unification, which oversees policy towards the country’s northern neighbor, has hinted that barriers to independent travel to the north could be removed in the future. The ministry’s deputy spokesman, Kim Eun-han, said individual tourism was not subject to sanctions and that “the government is actively reviewing to allow South Koreans to visit North Korea individually as long as the safety for the citizens can be guaranteed.”He added: “Allowing South Koreans with individual visas to visit North Korea is also being considered, but it is too early to let you know about the process or details as there are matters to be reviewed.”However, that doesn’t mean that South Koreans should start booking their vacations just yet. The two Koreas were divided along the 38th parallel after World War II and fought a conflict between 1950 and 1953. In 2018, the leaders of both sides committed to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and pledged to bring a formal end to the Korean War, which has never been declared over.However, tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months, as the North has ramped up missiles tests and its rhetoric against the United States, which is an ally of South Korea.Currently, there are only two ways for South Koreans to visit the North, which is nicknamed “the hermit kingdom” for its relative isolation.The first option is to go directly between the two countries — such as during a tourist trip across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) or a reunion of separated families at Mount Kumgang, a resort near the border.South Koreans still need both an official letter from the North and an approval from the South in order to travel this way.Pyongyang Pub, a North Korea-themed bar, has opened its doors in the South Korean capital — and it has raised a few eyebrows.The other choice is to visit via a third country, usually China. South Koreans who wish to visit the North for civilian-level exchanges would need an official invitation letter from North Korea, a visa, and the South Korean government’s approval. One of the foremost reasons for wanting ease of travel between the two Koreas is time. Speaking at the January 15 briefing, Kim said: “We see the urgency among the separated family members who are getting older every day, and are seeking various possible means to help them.”So what does this announcement from the South mean, if anything?If South Korean citizens were able to obtain visas to visit the North, then there would ostensibly be nothing stopping them from visiting as individuals. But without the protection of an established tour group, officials in the South are still skittish about being able to secure the safety of their citizens north of the border. North Korea currently has a small but tightly controlled tourism industry. Visitors should be expect to be monitored and observed by government minders and cannot go beyond the sites they are specifically permitted to visit.

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