After five years of COVID-19 lockdown, it appears that North Korea will now reopen to tourists, according to two tour operators specializing in trips to the closed country.

The Beijing-based travel company Koryo Tours states on its website that tourists will begin to be allowed in starting in December.

”We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism to Samjiyon and potentially the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024,” the company writes.

Another China-based tour operator states the same.

”"So far, only Samjiyon has been officially confirmed, but we believe Pyongyang and other locations will also open," the company KGT Tours writes on its social media.

Samjiyon, located near North Korea's mountainous northern border with China, is the closest town to Mount Paektu - the birthplace of the country's late supreme leader Kim Jong-Il, according to official North Korean history. His son and successor Kim Jong-Un has invested enormous resources in developing the area with apartment complexes, hotels and a ski resort.

North Korea closed its borders in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Since then, the borders have been closed to foreign tourists – except for a small group of Russian tourists in February of this year.

Even before the pandemic, tourism to the closed country was limited. According to travel companies, around 5,000 Western tourists visited the country each year.

Source: TT-AFP