The country that received international tourists for the first time in five years

A small group of foreign tourists visited North Korea In the last week, becoming the First international travelers to enter the country in five yearsexcept for a group of Russian tourists who went to the north last year.

The last trip indicates that North Korea could be preparing for a complete resumption of its international tourismwith the aim of attracting currencies necessary to relive your economy, according to experts.

The travel company Koryo Toursbased in Beijing, reported that he organized a five -day trip from February 20 to 24 for 13 international tourists to the North Korean border city of Rason, where the country’s special economic zone is located.

The general manager of Koryo Tours, Simon Cockerell, indicated that the travelers of the United Kingdom, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy They crossed by land China. He mentioned that in Rason they visited factories, shops, schools and statua of kim il sung y kim jong ilthe grandfather and the father of the current leader Kim Jong Un.

“Since January 20, 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are happy to have finally found a OPENING IN THE RASON AREAat the north of North Korea, ”said Cockerell.

“Our first tour was already and returned, and now more tourists, both in group and private visits, They are entering and organizing trips“He added.

After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly prohibited tourists, evacuated diplomats and severely reduced border traffic in one of the most draconian COVID-19 restrictions in the world. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly softening the restrictions and reopening its borders.

In February 2024, El País accepted about 100 Russian touriststhe first foreigners to visit the country to do tourism. That surprised many observers, who thought that the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, the largest shopping partner and main ally of North Korea.

A total of approximately 880 Russian tourists visited North Korea throughout 2024, said the South Korean Unification Ministry, citing Russian official data. Chinese group Tours to North Korea are still stagnant.

This points how much North Korea and Russia have approachedsince the north has supplied weapons and troops to Russia to support his war against Ukraine. The ties between North Korea and China cooled as China showed their reluctance to join an anti-state tripartite alliance with North Korea and Russia, according to experts.

Before pandemic, tourism was an easy and legitimate source of foreign exchange for North Korea, One of the most sanctioned countries in the world due to its nuclear program.

North Korea is expected Open a huge tourist site on the east coast in June. In January, when President Donald Trump boasted of his ties with Kim Jong Un, he said that “I think he has huge capacities for condominiums, he has a lot of coast”, in probable reference to the site of the Eastern Coast.

In 2023, the country invited foreign golfers to participate in an amateur tournament in its capital, Pyongyang, an initiative that mainly pursued the objective of “developing friendship ties” especially with southern Korea inhabitants.

And last December, the North Korean government announced that Samjiyon could be visited, a city in the north, near the border with China that had been inaugurated in 2019 after monumental works, just before the pandemic.

The new city is near Mount Paektu, legendary cradle of the Korean nation, and was qualified by the country’s government as the culmination of “socialist utopia”.

Kim Jong-un headed the inauguration ceremony of the city in which, according to North Korean propaganda, Kim Jong-il was born, father and predecessor of Kim Jong-un.

Defined as “Epitome of modern civilization” By state media, in the city there is a museum on the revolution, a stadium for winter sports and a skiing station in the vicinity.

The project includes a New railway line Even Hyesan, 10,000 homes and a blueberry and potato treatment plant, the two most important resources in the area.

The return of Chinese tourists would be key To make the North Korean tourism industry lucrative, since they represented more than 90% of the total number of international tourists before the pandemic, said Lee Sangkeun, an expert from the National Security Strategy Institute, an analysis institution led by the South Korean intelligence agency. He mentioned that in the past, up to 300,000 Chinese tourists visited North Korea annually.

“North Korea He has been strongly investing in tourist sitesbut there has not been much internal demand, ”said Lee. “We can evaluate that this country now wants to resume international tourism to attract many tourists from abroad.”

Las Restrictions that North Korea has typically imposed on foreign travelers -such as the requirements of be accompanied by local guides and not photograph places “sensitive“- They will probably harm their efforts to develop tourism.

Lee said that Rason, the site of the Eastern Coast and Pyongyang They would be the places where North Korea feels that you can easily monitor and control foreign tourists.