A friend of mine is Korean, and I was talking to her about this the other day. Australia doesn't have an embassy or consulate in North Korea, and North Korea doesn't have an embassy or consulate here either. Australians in North Korea can get emergency assistance from the Swedish Embassy in North Korea, otherwise they must seek assistance from the Australian Embassy in South Korea. The problem with that is that it's impossible to get a direct telephone line between North and South Korea. Australians who seek to visit North Korea usually go to China and seek visas from the North Korean embassy in China, then fly from Beijing into North Korea... I daresay very few Australians have actually visited North Korea though...
Oh, also, you're ALWAYS with a guide and you can only see what they show you. You can't talk to the locals. All mobile phones, radios, GPSs, satellite phones, etc are seized upon entry - if you're lucky, you'll get them back when you leave. Your belongings will be thoroughly searched, and your telephone calls monitored. You can't use Korean currency and you can only shop in stores for tourists. You need to ask for permission to take photos, which can't be of anything other than what your government guide has decided is a tourist attraction, and you can be put in jail for taking an unauthorised photo or a photo that makes North Korea look like a bad country.
North Korea is in a state of famine, and North Koreans who try to escape to China are usually tricked into prostitution or hard labour. There are always power failures in North Korea too, and mobile phones only work in Pyongyang (the capital).
My friend said it used to be possible for tourists to walk through the demilitarised zone to take a look, but some South Korean tourists got shot by North Korean soldiers.
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