Roger Shepherd's first hiking trip to North Korea's pristine Paektu plateau went so well he's planning to do four more next year.
Mount Paektu, the highest mountain on the Korean peninsula at 2,750 metres above sea level, sits near North Korea's border with China.
Originally from New Zealand, Mr Shepherd quit his job in the police force and moved to South Korea in 2010 to set up a hiking tour business.
Mr Shepherd has been hiking the North Korean side of the peninsula-spanning Paektu Daegan mountain range since 2011, but last month he was able to take a foreign tour group to the holy mountain for the first time.
He said the hikers he took up Mount Paektu — two Australian women and two Norwegian men — were fascinated by the scenery across North Korea's rural highlands and plateaus.
"The first time I saw it I thought it was possibly one of the most beautiful mountains in the world I'd ever seen," Mr Shepherd told the ABC's The World program.
While he was able to take a group of foreigners with him into the hermit kingdom, he said he hoped South Koreans would also be able to hike the region one day.
"I really, dearly would like to see an opportunity, especially for the South Korean people, to perhaps travel to the same parts of North Korea that I've already been to," Mr Shepherd said.
