News circulated recently of a British tourist Del Dinsdale who crossed into North Korea from the Chinese border. The guard confiscated the device and when Del explained it was actually an electronic cigarette the man proceeded to give it a try for himself after being assured it wasn’t a bomb!
Dinsdale explains in more detail:
“He began to smoke it with such delight as he had never seen an electric cigarette in his life. He then began to show all the other border guards and asked if I could give him it. I explaining he would not be able to buy the liquids in his country so he gave it back and presented me with some North Korean cigarettes. It’s highly illegal taking photos of army guards and for him to allow me to do this is very strange. I suppose it shows that perhaps they are getting more lenient. I believe it’s the only photo of its kind.”
Despite another North Korean guard forcing him to delete the photos immediately afterwards, he was able to recover them from his “recently deleted” folder on the phone.