As Travel Tomorrow reported earlier in February 2025, North Korea has finally opened its borders to international tourists other than Russians, with the first small group for five years entering the pariah state on the 20th of the month.
While South Korea’s Unification Ministry says 880 Russian visitors went to the Democratic People’s Republic during 2024, other international visitors have remained unwelcome since the outbreak of Covid-19, when diplomats were ejected and border traffic ground to a halt.
Economic growth through detente
International isolation is not unfamiliar in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula, given the country is a totalitarian dictatorship centred on the ruling Kim family and the concept of Juche or self-reliance. Russian tourists have been encouraged due to an ongoing rapprochement between North Korea and Russia that has also seen military cooperation over the Ukraine war. And even real estate magnate and US President Donald Trump, who claims a positive rapport with Kim Jong Un, has noted the republic’s vast shoreline and “tremendous condo capabilities”.
Now 13 tourists from as far and wide as Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, and the UK, have been allowed in, which some say could signal a detente in relations with the outside world.
What was the tour like?
The visitors arrived via China on a tour organised by Beijing-headquartered Koryo Tours. Following an itinerary published earlier in February they went to Rason, a port city on the Sea of Japan and a special economic zone intended to promote growth through foreign investment.
“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,” Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell told press.
Taken on trips to factories, schools and shops, the Koryo guests will have had little freedom to explore independently and been accompanied by official escorts. They also were expected to pay tribute to the country’s former Supreme Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il by visiting statues.
Chinese tourism will be gamechanger
Though North Korea appears to be moving towards a pro-tourism strategy, witness promotional videos that went viral for their strange atmosphere last year and the arrival of Russian guests, commentators point out the real gamechanger will be opening back up to China – the country’s biggest source market for tourists, accounting for over 90% of visitors according to South Korean intelligence data from the Institute for National Security Strategy. The fact that it is a Beijing firm that has led this first international tour for half a decade is promising in that respect.
