North Korea will fully reopen its borders to foreign tourists in December after a nearly five-year ban due to the pandemic, two tour operators said, while Pyongyang had not confirmed the information on Thursday.
The East Asian country largely cut itself off from the outside world in early 2020 when it abruptly decided to close its borders, including to its own nationals.
A decision taken due to the presence in neighboring China of a mysterious virus which would later cause the COVID-19 epidemic.
Trade with China has since resumed in small increments, and last year North Korea’s first international commercial flight landed in Beijing after a three-year hiatus.
In February, Russian tourists were able to visit North Korea for the first time since the end of the pandemic, amid diplomatic rapprochement between Moscow and Pyongyang.
But this destination remains generally closed to other nationalities, including the Chinese, who before 2020 were the most numerous to visit the country.
A full resumption of tourism in North Korea now seems to be taking shape, according to two tour operators specializing in this destination. North Korea has not made any official announcement.
Ski resort
“We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism [dans la ville nord-coréenne de] Samjiyon and potentially the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024,” Beijing-based travel agency Koryo Tours said on Wednesday.
“The wait has been long” for the resumption of tourism in North Korea, Koryo Tours director Simon Cockerell told AFP on Thursday.
“Demand has been strong throughout” the pandemic, said Cockerell, who expects a “rebound” for this destination.
The North Korean town of Samjiyon, located near the border with China, is a gateway to Mount Paektu, where, according to official accounts, the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was born.
His son and successor, Kim Jong Un, has invested huge sums of money in developing the area, including new apartments, hotels and a ski resort.
Exact dates “to be confirmed”
China-based tour operator KTG Tours, which specializes in North Korea, wrote on its Facebook page that tourists will be able to visit Samjiyon “this winter.”
“The exact dates are yet to be confirmed. So far, only Samjiyon has been officially confirmed, but we believe Pyongyang and other places will open as well,” the tour operator added.
Before the pandemic, some 5,000 Westerners visited North Korea each year, according to figures released by tour operators.
Americans alone made up nearly 20% of this market before the United States banned its nationals from the destination following the death of Otto Warmbier in 2017.
The student, who was imprisoned in North Korea and then released by Pyongyang after 18 months, died on American soil shortly after his repatriation in a coma.
Koryo Tours warned, however, that after about five years of hiatus, “things might be a little more chaotic than usual” for the first foreigners to visit North Korea again. Especially in December, when temperatures are freezing.