North Korea could reopen its doors to international tourists in December after more than four years of being closed off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Beijing-based travel agency said.
Koryo Tours announced on its website on Wednesday that it had received confirmation from its local partner that tourism in Samjiyon, at the foot of Mount Paektu near North Korea’s border with China and possibly the rest of the country, would officially resume in December.
An archive photo taken in May 2023 in Dandong, China’s Liaoning province, shows a sightseeing boat carrying Chinese tourists on a river flowing along the border with North Korea. (Kyodo)
Pyongyang closed its borders in early 2020 due to the pandemic, but has welcomed a small number of Russian tour groups since the beginning of this year. Koryo Tours said the official itineraries and dates for its North Korea tours would be announced in the coming weeks.
Before the health crisis, Chinese made up a large proportion of foreign tourists visiting North Korea.
In July, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Samjiyon and said the country would build a major ski resort nearby. He said the resort would be “particularly attractive even to foreign friends,” according to the official Korean news agency.
