Every day we hear more stories about the heightened tension between North Korea and the US - and how we are getting uncomfortably close to nuclear war.
There have been many news reports on the plight of North Korean people, with some living through severe poverty and malnutrition.
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There are also allegations by defectors of serious human rights violations at the infamous Hoeryong concentration camp.
But travel blogger Drew Binksy wanted to see whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) lived up to the media hype.
Credit: Facebook/Drew Binksy
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His interest in the hermit nation was sparked after studying the country during college and by teaching English in South Korea for 18 months.
So he set off on a three day trip to the capital, Pyongyang.
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He posted his experience to Facebook and YouTube but stressed that: "I'd like to disclose that all tours to North Korea are heavily organised and pre-planned as to what we could do, eat and see. Everyone must stick with tour group at all times or else they will face severe consequences.
"Also this is not a video about politics so please make you own judgements and take everything I say with a grain of salt.
"I put together this short video to give you an inside look of North Korea from my own personal experiences and I'm not oblivious that what I saw was a skewed perspective of the realities that may exist behind closed doors."
He says the hotel he stayed in was fairly modern and gave impressive views of the city.
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Drew visited monuments, the main square of Pyongyang, took the metro (which ranks among the deepest underground transport systems in the world at 110 metres below ground level), ate at restaurants, and even sang karaoke.
Credit: Facebook/Drew Binksy
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Essentially it was like any other holiday.
But while that was incredibly scripted and organised, Drew says it was his conversations with the locals which provided the best insight.
Because he knew conversational Korean, he said got a better look at what life is like than most foreign tourists.
He says: "From what I saw with my own eyes Pyongyang is actually a pretty chill place and not what I expected to see. Kids go to school and make jokes with their friends, adults ride their bikes or take the metro to work, they even have taxis on the streets.
"It's important to realise that everyone has hopes and dreams, just like you and me, and family time is important to them. People are people."
Credit: Facebook/Drew Binsky
But just before you might have started to look up the best deals to fly to the hermit country, Drew did have this to say: "Many things felt staged in order to make their country appear in perfect condition.
"Very few people in North Korea have access to the internet or what's happening outside of their borders. The information they consume is controlled by the government."
Bearing in mind the current military and political climate, it might be wise to hold off packing your bags for North Korea until things settle down a bit.
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Drew BinksyTopics: travel, North Korea