Barness is founder and chief executive of Snow Lion Expeditions, a Salt Lake City travel company that specializes in trips to Asia. Two years ago, he went to Sundance and met a couple of British guys who had gotten in good with North Korean officials while making three films north of the 38th Parallel and its demilitarized zone.

One of the three was about gymnasts performing in the Arirang, or Mass Games, which involve up to 150,000 participants.

"I told them what we did and they said, 'Let's work together. We have access,' " Barness said.

He agreed, and on Friday he will lead a group of 15 American tourists into North Korea for three days - including an opening day visit to Pyongyang's May Day Stadium for the pageantry of the Games highlighted in the Sundance film.

"It's amazing. It's incredible. . . . I've never been north of Panmunjom," Barness said of the border village that symbolizes the division between North Korea and South Korea.

Barness has been to South Korea several times since 1983, but this will mark his first real trip into the secretive North. His group, mostly from the U.S. West and East coasts, will gather in Beijing on Friday. At the Red Capital Club they will be briefed and learn about the protocol of traveling in North Korea.

"We'll see a lot of Mao paraphernalia. That will be an appropriate beginning for this trip," Barness said, referring to China's Communist leader, who supported his North Korean comrades in the early 1950s war.

The next morning they take a 90-minute flight to Pyongyang, where they will embark on a whirlwind three-day excursion past statues of the late Community ruler Kim Il Sung and his son, current leader Kim Jong Il, to the Mass Games and the palace that serves as Kim Il Sung's mausoleum, then past other medieval-era palaces, the U.S. Pueblo "spy ship" captured in 1968 and more statues of the Kims.

Lonely Planet, a popular U.S. travel guide, calls North Korea "one of the world's most bizarre countries," with "quirky Kim-centric sights."

Noting the country allows no independent tourism - "come by group tour or don't come at all" - Lonely Planet's Web site includes one account of a trip to North Korea in which a local guide advised his group, "If you take photos, please make sure you get the whole of the president in the frame. It is disrespectful otherwise."

Asia Pacific Travel Ltd., a small, upscale tour operator specializing in deluxe travel, received North Korean approval to take groups to the Mass Games in 2006.

That first year, however, performances were canceled after a severe typhoon hit the Korean peninsula. Last year, "we were able to take or send a variety of small groups . . . on four- and five-day tours," said Asia Pacific's Web site.

So Barness knows he is going where few Americans have gone before. "It should be a really interesting ride," he added.

mikeg@sltrib.com