OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:51 PM – Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Two Tourism companies have announced that North Korea will reopen to traveling foreigners by the end of 2024 following a shut down of all tourism.
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The announcements from KTG Tours and Koryo Tours announced that tourism will be limited to the city of Samjiyon, an area in North Korea near the Chinese border.
“We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism to Samjiyon and likely the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024,” said Koryo Tours. “Having waited for over four years to make this announcement, Koryo Tours is very excited for the opening of North Korean tourism once again.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Samjiyon was a popular destination for Chinese tourists, which provided the largely financially isolated country an extra income of foreign funds.
Even though official North Korean channels have not confirmed the change, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un recently inspected Samjiyon construction sites and he has previously mentioned a desire to prioritize visitors from what he referred to as “friendly” nations, such as “China and Russia.”
North Korean borders have been sealed off from tourists entering the country since the COVID-19 pandemic, with one exception being 100 Russian visitors that were allowed into the country back in February.
Typically, foreign visitors are closely watched by North Korean authorities on guided tours in which they are only allowed to interact with chosen citizens and stay in isolated hotels.
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