Foreign Reporters Barred from N. Korea Congress After Being Invited

North Korea invited about 120 foreign reporters to its rare Workers' Party Congress that began last week. However, a report from Chosun suggests that the reporters have not yet been allowed inside the congress event. 

According to reports, each reporter was barred from the actual event and instead given a tour around the city. Each person was assigned a minder who would essentially serve as a chaperone. Reporters were able to tour a factory in Pyongyang, a cancer research center, and several tourist locations. 

"Is what I'm experiencing some real-life version of 'Waiting for Godot'? Or perhaps it's more like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'" the Los Angeles Times' reporter asked. 

A report from Japan's Kyodo News suggests that not only were the foreign reporters not allowed to cover the event properly, but they were "cajoled" into going on tours and see around the city. They had nothing to do with the actual congress.

And yet, reporters who have been on North Korea tours in the past say that this tour was less controlled than others in the past.