The costs of reporting from North Korea

North Korea rarely allows foreign correspondents into the country, but when it does, it makes them pay.

When Pyongyang invited 121 journalists to attend the birth anniversary celebrations of North Korea's founder-president, Kim Il Sung, just over a week ago, it was a great chance for the country to showcase its military might and present its socialist-realist propaganda to the world.

The visit also allowed North Korea to earn some foreign currency.

The cost of a seven-day reporting trip to one of the world's most impoverished and insulated countries came to about $2,500 each, all paid to various government agencies. That represents about five years wages for an average North Korean.

Every charge was at the official exchange rate of 100 North Korean won to the dollar, despite a black market rate of about 8,400 to the dollar, according to people inside North Korea. All transactions had to be in cash, in hard currency.

Faced with increasingly tightening international sanctions that are threatening to throttle off some lucrative exports, such as coal, any hard currency is a welcome addition to Pyongyang's coffers.

Government minders escort journalists almost everywhere, so it's difficult to get won at the black market rate. In any case, foreigners are not allowed to use the local currency.

Most North Koreans I spoke to denied there was any black market for dollars. Except for one man who told me when no one else was listening that the unofficial rate fluctuated between 8,300 and 8,400 won to the dollar "depending on whether we've just had a nuclear test."

North Korea likely received more than $300,000 from the money the visiting journalists spent on flights, hotels, visas and daily expenses.