North Korea opened its borders for its annual Pyongyang Marathon, and one YouTuber who competed was stunned by what he discovered in the country.
North Korea is notoriously isolated from the rest of the world, but every April, it allows foreigners to compete in the Pyongyang Marathon.
The race, also known as the Mangyondae Prize International Marathon, first allowed foreign runners to participate in 2014 — 33 years after it was first founded in 1981. A decade later, 27-year-old YouTuber Harry Jaggard entered the competition and was shocked by what he saw.
Jaggard is a self-described “professional idiot completing side missions.” Boasting over 2 million subscribers, he records his travels in “less-visited areas of the world” like Syria and Papua New Guinea and shares his adventures online.
In April 2025, Jaggard decided to cross North Korea off his list of travel destinations after the country finally opened its borders to tourists, having closed them for the last five years.
However, he wasn’t visiting as a tourist; instead, he was running in the Pyongyang Marathon under the Amateur Athletics Association to experience North Korea’s capital city freely, without supervision.
YouTuber gets unprecedented view of North Korea as country opens to tourists for first time in 5 years
Much to his surprise, he was allowed to film content for his channel without many restrictions, remarking at how easygoing the North Korean people and government were about his vlog.
“I was not expecting [to be able to vlog] at all,” he said in a statement to the New York Post. “I thought that it would be very minimal, maybe a few clips that I would voice over. To have the freedom that I was given was crazy. They were very relaxed.”
That being said, he was keenly aware that he was only seeing the ‘perfect’ parts of North Korea, describing it as a sort of “highlight reel.”
“They showed us the tour that they wanted to show,” he explained. “It’s like going on a tour of America but only seeing Las Vegas, like the shiny parts.”
On his trip, Jaggard was stunned to see “modern houses,” “super clean” streets, and even bustling nightlife, visiting a beer house to sample some of the country’s local drinking fare.
“I had so much fun, I’ve enjoyed every single minute of this tour,” he said in a vlog. “It’s been eye-opening, incredible, amazing.”
Jaggard was even more impressed after completing the marathon, successfully running the 42km course in 3 hours and 40 minutes despite only training for one month.
However, North Korea shut down tourism quickly following Jaggard’s trip for the marathon and suddenly canceled dozens of visas – something CNN speculated might have been a result of his vlog.
Overall, the YouTuber was thoroughly impressed by North Korea’s kind citizens, describing his interactions with them as “heartwarming” and making it clear that its people are far different from the country’s impression overseas.
“For me, the experience was more about the people that I met,” he told the Post. “They are portrayed to hate all foreigners and hate the West, but that’s not really true. We had so many interesting conversations off camera that were just very heartwarming.”
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