Western tourists enter North Korea for the first time in five years

Apart from a few Russian tourists last year, few tourists have been allowed into North Korea since the Covid-19 pandemic - until now. This week, North Korea opened its borders to a small group of Western tourists for the first time in five years.

Travellers from the UK, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy are the first group of Western visitors to the country since the country closed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year a group of Russian tourists came on a ski trip.

Beijing-based travel agency Koryo Tours said it had organised a five-day trip to the northeastern border town of Rason for 13 foreign tourists.

Manager of a travel company Simon Cockerell said the visitors crossed the North Korean border by land from China. While in the country, they visited factories, shops, schools and statues of the country's first two supreme leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

He added that further tours are currently being arranged.

North Korea usually imposes restrictions on foreign travellers, forbidding them to take photos in sensitive places and forcing them to be accompanied by local guides.

The country first closed its borders to foreign tourists in January 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Before the pandemic, tourism was a legitimate source of foreign currency for North Korea, one of the most sanctioned countries in the world.

According to the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea's intelligence agency, more than 90 % North Korean tourists came from neighboring China before 2020.

But when North Korea imposed one of the world's most drastic Covid-19 lockdowns to limit the spread of the virus, diplomats were quickly dispatched from the country and border traffic was severely curtailed.

Since 2022, North Korea has slowly begun to ease restrictions and reopen its borders, allowing approximately 100 Russian tourists to enter the country in February 2022.

According to South Korea's Ministry of Unification, approximately 880 Russian tourists visited the country during 2024.

Experts believe the visit of foreign tourists is a sign that the country is trying to revive international tourism to bring much-needed foreign currency into its ailing economy.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is also expected to open a major tourist site on the country's east coast in June. US President Donald Trump responded in the affirmative, saying: "I think he has tremendous fitness. He's got a lot of coastline."

Lee Sangkuen, an expert from the institute, said: "I know it's true: North Korea is investing a lot in tourist sites, but there's not much domestic demand."

"We can guess that North Korea now wants to resume international tourism to bring in many tourists from abroad."

euronews/ gnews.cz - RoZ