Marijuana is pretty much legal

Technically it’s illegal, but it seems not everyone knows that. Here’s the grocery bag full that I bought in a market in Rason for about 80 cents.

There's free healthcare

If you’re pro-Obamacare, just wait till you get a load of Kimcare. Tourists who’ve sustained accidental injuries while visiting North Korea have received free and surprisingly high standards of medical care at the country’s elite, private hospitals.

There's microbrew

North Korea inherited their brewing technology by way of 19th-century German colonists in East Asia, and the beers here were better than anything I tried in neighbouring China.

It's totally safe

From a purely tourist perspective, you’ll never travel anywhere as safe as North Korea. Excepting the possible outbreak of a nuclear war, you’ll be given the royal treatment from start to finish.

They like your favourite 90s bands

At the karaoke bar in Pyongyang, the catalogue features singalong classics such as Slipknot, Pearl Jam, and Nine Inch Nails. Although, at the time of my visit they politely explained that the disks had been taken elsewhere for cleaning. Just bad timing, I guess.