North Korea can only be visited by an organized tour, but this can be a large group or a party of one. Prices start from around $1000/?700 for a 5-day group tour including accommodation, meals and transport from Beijing, but can go up considerably if you want to travel around the country or "independently" (as your own one-person escorted group). Tour operators/travel agencies that organize their own tours to North Korea include:
- Adventure Korea - Seoul
- Asia Pacific Travel, Ltd. - Chicago
- Choson Exchange - US, UK and Singapore. Not a tour agency, rather they provide training in business and economics in Pyongyang, but they occasionally bring people to visit North Korean universities
- DDCTS - Dandong
 - Geographic Expeditions - San Francisco
- Juche Travel Services - UK, Beijing
- Koningaap - Amsterdam
- Korea Konsult - Stockholm
- Korea Reisedienst - Hannover
 -Koryo Tours and Koryo Group - Beijing, Shanghai, Belgium, UK
- Lupine Travel - Wigan
- North Korea Travel  - Spain, Hong Kong
- The Pyongyang Project - Beijing/Alberta/New Jersey (Canadian/American non-profit that organizes academic programs, student delegation trips, exchanges and Korean language study abroad at universities in the DPRK)
- Viajes Pujol - Barcelona, Spain
- Regent Holidays  - Bristol
- Tiara Tours - Breda
- Universal Travel Corporation - Singapore
- Uri Tours Inc. - US
- VNC Asia Travel - Utrecht
- Young Pioneer Tours - China, Canada -
- Your Planet - Hilversum, the Netherlands
No matter which company you decide to book with, all tours are run by the Korean International Travel Company (with the exception of a few, such as Choson Exchange and The Pyongyang Project who both work directly with various government ministries and domestic DPRK NGOs) and it will be their guides who show you around. The average number of tourists per group each company takes will vary considerably so you may want to ask about this before booking a trip.
Most people travelling to North Korea will travel through Beijing and you will probably pick up your visa from there (some agents arrange their visas elsewhere beforehand though). The North Korean consulate building is separate from the main embassy building at Ritan Lu, and can be found round the corner at Fangcaodi Xijie. It is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30AM-11:30AM and 2PM-5:30PM, and on all other days except Sundays from 9:30AM-11:30AM. Bring your travel permission, US$45 and two passport photos.
Your guides will take your passport and keep it during your stay in North Korea, or at least for the first couple of days of your tour, for "security reasons" (or simply because your entry and exit dates must be registered - the black stamps on the back of your visa or passport). Make sure your passport looks decent and doesn't differ from the most common passports from your country.