A small group of international tourists has made a five-day visit to North Korea, marking a significant step towards the reclusive dictatorship’s potential reopening to tourism after a five-year hiatus.
While a group of Russian tourists visited last year, this trip signifies a broader move to welcome back international visitors.
The tour, organised by Beijing-based Koryo Tours, took 13 tourists to the North Korean border city of Rason, home to a special economic zone. The group, hailing from various countries including the UK, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy, entered North Korea by land from China.
During their trip, the tourists were limited to a curated itinerary, visiting factories, shops, schools, and paying respects at the statues of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.
“Since January of 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are glad to have finally found an opening in the Rason area, in the far north of North Korea,” Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell said.
“Our first tour has been and gone, and now more tourists on both group and private visits are going in, arranging trips,” he added.
After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world’s most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders.
In February 2024, North Korea accepted about 100 Russian tourists, the first foreign nationals to visit the country for sightseeing. That surprised many observers, who thought the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and major ally.
A total of about 880 Russian tourists visited North Korea throughout 2024, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said, citing official Russian data. Chinese group tours to North Korea remain stalled.
This signals how much North Korea and Russia have moved closer to each other as the North has supplied weapons and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Ties between North Korea and China cooled as China showed its reluctance to join a three-way,…
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