In recent comments to NK News, Mongolia’s former President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj revealed that he asked to inspect North Korea’s notorious prison camps during a 2013 visit to the country — a bold and unusual request that DPRK authorities refused.

But the ex-leader was far from the first outsider who sought to see the secret internment camps that are at the center of allegations of human rights abuses in the country. And in one little-known episode, North Korea even looked prepared to invite a prominent nongovernmental organization to tour one of these prisons, providing lessons for engaging with