For the first time in six years, North Korea has invited hundreds of foreign runners for the Pyongyang International Marathon.
According to CNN, North Korea on Sunday, April 6, 2025, hosted its first international marathon after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Related: North Korea welcomes international tourists for the first time in years
As per the state media KCNA news agency and Rodong Sinmun, around 200 foreign athletes from China, Romania and other countries arrived in North Korea to participate in the event with the local competitors.
Simon Cockerell, general manager at Beijing-based Koryo Tours, said that the foreign athletes who arrived in Pyongyang on Friday and Saturday practised at a hotel before the Sunday race.
Koryo Tours, the official partner of the Pyongyang Marathon, helped authorities in arranging the sign-up process for international visitors for the event in the state that sealed its border in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.
The state slowly started uplifting the restrictions since 2023, but the capital is still closed for regular tourism.
As per Koryo Tours, the marathon was a round-trip course through central Pyongyang, passing Pyongyang’s landmarks to the countryside just outside of the city centre, before coming back to the stadium with a crowd of 50,000 locals.
Furthermore, the Pyongyang International Marathon is one of the events that is part of celebrations of the April 15 birthday of Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder and grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong Un.
Related: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un pays respect to late father on birth anniversary
