Uri Tours: Record number Americans visiting North Korea since 2009 thanks to New Jersey tour group Catch the latest reports on life in North Korea and think, I'd like to try that? A booming number of Americans are traveling to North Korea thanks to a New Jersey-based tour company that's expecting a record number of foreigners to visit this year since 2009. Uri Tours, the same agency that helped organized former-NBA player Dennis Rodman's highly-publicized trip last month, say they expect at least 500 people to obtain visas through their service this year. They say that's five-times more than when the country first opened its doors to outside visitors for most of the year in 2009 opposed to previously allocated select dates. Admirers: A photo of a described North Korea traveler admiring the artwork shows him taking a knee near a painting of a female soldier, left, while another man enjoys the festivities during Kim Il Sung's birthday last year Happy Birthday tour: In the Kim Il Sung Birthday Tour beginning April 10 foreigners are able to first-hand witness and participate in the late leader's 101st public birthday, seen another year But perspective guests shouldn't expect anything close to a Cancun-style retreat according to at least one previous customer. All tours assign each foreigner with their own minder whose job is the watch and stay with them everywhere they go - no exceptions. 'You meet this guy who is like the fun uncle, and it's really hard to wrap your head around that he's working for this regime,' said Nicholas Java, a 30-year-old Columbia University grad student. "You don't feel 100 percent comfortable there," he admitted to the New York Post. But I encourage people to go. Java, who toured with Uri last May, said the minders aren't all that bad though emphasized the lack of privacy given by recalling a request to once go for a jog in the area but instead told to run around the hotel's parking lot. He added that guests have to put up with a few other things during their stay. Upon touring a museum, he recalled once being referred to as 'big-nosed Americans' by his guide, and being ordered to bow before statues of the late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong Il. Leadership: An American student visiting last year described being ordered to bow before two giant statues depicting the late North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung and his son Kim Jong Il, both seen here Smiles: An American is seen happily posing for photos among North Korean soldiers during one of Uri's 7 to 13-day tours said to be booming Food tour: Among their six specialty tours listed on their website is their Food and Culture Tour offered in both June and October, with a lavish authentic Korean meal seen here Flights: Passengers on Korean Air snapped this photo of their supplied meal on board the plane, with Air Koryo now flying into Pyongyang five times a week between April and October He says the electricity also frequently goes out and it gets cold during meals. Someone's always quick to run in with candles though. He hopes that if more Americans go it'll inspire conversation among the people there, possibly saying: '"Wow, Americans aren't bad."' In a Reddit forum this month Uri CEO Andrea Less also noted that anti-American propaganda isn't uncommon to see on the streets. She adds personally seeing it decline a bit in recent years, however. Perspective guests are able to choose from a number of signature series tours, private tours, educational, corporate and special projects tours through their website. Among the signature tours listed on their page are the Kim Il Sung Birthday Tour beginning April 10, the five-day standard in both May and November, the Food and Culture Tour in both June and October, the Pyongyang Golf Tour in May and October, the Arirang Mass Games Tour in August and the DPRK Mountain Tour in September. Accommodations: At the folk hotel in Kaesong guests are supplied with padded mats over heated floors which are described as very Korean In the Kim Il Sung Birthday Tour foreigners first-hand witness and participate in the late leader's 101st public birthday while also visiting the recently re-opened Kumsusan Memorial Palace where the bodies of the late leaders are held, according to the Uri website. The company additionally boasts of this year in particular being a good time to travel with North Korea planning to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War known as Armistice Day. Last week the North announced they had nullified the 1953 Korean War armistice citing it as prohibited under the terms of the cease-fire. But there are no signs as of yet they plan to actually take steps beyond this declaration. American students: Graduate students from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs are seen in front of the Monument to Three Charters for National Reunification Last week on Reddit Ms Less took questions about their tours answering everything from North Korea's prison camps to talk of men and women upright vanishing - an experience she says she's never personally witnessed. She fielded one specific question on what would happen to their tours and American's visas if North Korea's regime falls and becomes more of an open society. Historically, we have seen tensions between the U.S. and North Korea rise and fall periodically. We've weathered through it all,' she wrote. The State Department explicitly allows U.S. travel agents to arrange group travel to the DPRK, so everything that we do is above board. On the North Korea side, we have never had any of our tourist visas approved and then later revoked. Tourism is an easy and safe route to gain access to the country. Air Koryo reports now flying into Pyongyang five times a week between April and October.