North Korea is ready to open its door to international tourism in order to revive its struggling economy.
As reported by NBC, a small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea between February 20 to February 24, 2025.
This trip marked the first international tourists group to enter the country in five years, other than some Russian tourists, who went to North Korea last year.
The Beijing-based travel company Koryo Tours said it arranged a five day trip for 13 international tourists to the northeastern North Korean border city of Rason.
Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell revealed that the travellers from several countries including Greece, New Zealand, France, Canada, Austria, Italy and Britain crossed by land from China.
Their tour of the country included factories and shop visit, along with that the group saw the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the late grandfather and father of the current leader Kim Jong Un.
"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," Cockerell shared.
In one of the world severe pandemic restrictions, North Korea banned tourists, and sent back all the diplomats, at the beginning of covid-19.
In February 2024, the country accepted around 100 Russian tourists for sightseeing in a surprising move, as many experts believed that the first foreign nationals to visit the country would be from China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and ally.
North Korea is expected to open a massive tourism site on the east coast in June, with hope for the return of the Chinese tourists as they represented nearly 90% of the total international tourism before the pandemic.
