North Korea to reopen to international visitors

After four years of "lockdown" to prevent disease, North Korea will welcome its first international tourists, a group of Russians, in February.

The Russian tourists' four-day tour, departing on February 9, took them to Pyongyang and a ski resort.

Kindergarten students take a photo with their teacher in front of the Grand Mansudae monument in Pyongyang. Photo: Inertia network

A travel agency based in Vladivostok, a city in Russia's far eastern Primorsky Krai region that borders North Korea, said the region's head visited Pyongyang and held talks on the issue in December 2023.

Simon Cockerell, general manager of Beijing-based Koryo Tours, said his North Korean partners had confirmed the information and said the trip was a special one. "North Korea has not had any international visitors for more than four years, so any tour is a positive step forward," Cockerell said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at a summit in eastern Russia in September 2023 and pledged deeper cooperation on economic, political and military fronts.

North Korea is one of the Asian countries with the strictest Covid-19 control measures and has yet to fully reopen to international visitors. According to Seoul-based NK News , North Korea saw a sharp increase in Chinese tourists in 2019, who brought in $175 million in revenue.

Anh Minh (According to Reuters )

Source link: https://vnexpress.net/trieu-tien-sap-tai-mo-cua-don-khach-quoc-te-4699938.html