There is no way you can cross the DPRK-ROK border other than flying via Beijing.

@tigertiger

Yes, you can't get from North to South Korea, but unless you're going to live in Korea then there's no use bringing your cat there as a quick fix to flying it to Britain as the stipulations would still be the same.

If you wanted to take your cat out via HK then this can be done by companies who will do what's needed in transit ie. The cat flies to HK, then gets everything done there, then flies out a day or two later. Unfortunately I don't hear good things from people whove done it this way.

If you're going from China to Hong Kong to live then you'll have to put your cat in quarantine for 3 months when you enter HK.

Great thanks everybody! It's very much appreciated. I'm pretty sure that we won't be going to the DPRK anytime soon but I appreciate the tangent.

We previously moved her from Shanghai so she was microchipped there. I believe we can buy a scanner ourselves and as long as we have the correct scanner during transit it'll be accepted in the uk.

To make matters more complicated, we have three different pet passports due to traveling around China. Our current one is from Shengmei Animal Hospital 盛美动物医院 where she received her rabies vaccine etc. I don't want any more confusing documents so will be going there later today to try the next step.

One thought. It might be more reliable to get information and even do this exporting of the animal through channels that your Shanghai vet knows of.

I'm sure the cat would like to go with you but he/she might change her mind if she knew she had to spend months in quarantine.

I remember a friend taking her cat home and she had to go to some

sanitary department for animals where she got all the needed paperwork done. Your vet should be able to give you the address. For a little fee she also got a paper that said that the cat passed the necessary quarantine. ;)

The department is called sth like jianyizhan, 检疫站， quarantine station near Dianchi lake.