SEOUL (AFP) – A tour operator said Monday it had opened bookings for trips to a North Korean border city to celebrate former leader Kim Jong Il’s birthday, offering foreign tourists the first chance to visit since the pandemic.
Tour operators said in January that the North would reopen Rason, a city on the border with China, to foreign tourists, five years after Pyongyang sealed its frontiers in response to Covid-19.
Neither North Korea nor China have commented on the plans.
Koryo Tours said the February tour in Rason would be “the first trip back to North Korea since the borders closed in January 2020”.
“This tour will take you to the must-see sites in Rason, North Korea’s Special Economic Zone. Plus, you will travel to North Korea to celebrate one of the biggest holidays, Kim Jong Il’s Birthday,” the Beijing-based travel agency wrote on its website.
The birthdays of members of the ruling Kim dynasty are typically feted in the North with large scale public celebrations.
The birthday of former ruler Kim Jong Il — father of current leader Kim Jong Un — is marked as Day of the Shining Star on February 16, and typically features large-scale public celebrations, including military parades.
Itineraries on offer also included visiting North Korean factories, schools and a bank at which tourists can open their very own North Korean bank account.
However, although the tour is open for bookings, it is “not yet confirmed,” Koryo said, adding it was “awaiting information from the Chinese authorities on the opening of the Chinese side of the border”.
The tours were slated to start in China, with guests to be driven to the border with the nuclear-armed North.
Another travel agency, Young Pioneer Tours, also announced Rason tour packages in January.
Rason became North Korea’s first special economic zone in 1991 and has been a testing ground for new economic policies.
It is home to the socialist country’s first legal marketplace and has a separate visa regime from the rest of North Korea.
Tourism to the North was limited before the pandemic, with tour companies saying around 5,000 Western tourists visited each year. Americans were banned from travelling to the North after the imprisonment and subsequent death of student Otto Warmbier in 2017.
North Korea shut its borders in early 2020 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and later bolstered defences along its northern boundary with China to deter its own nationals from re-entering the country illegally.
Pyongyang has since reopened the border to some trade and official delegations, and North Korea last year permitted Russian tourists to enter the country for the first time since the pandemic.
Chinese tourists — who made up the bulk of foreign visitors to North Korea before the pandemic — have not returned to the country, with experts speculating that it may be linked to Beijing’s growing displeasure over Pyongyang bolstering ties with Moscow.
The North has sent arms and ammunition, plus thousands of soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said.
Pyongyang’s actions are “destabilising not only the Northeast Asian region but also Europe,” Asan Institute for Policy Studies research fellow Lee Dong-gyu told AFP.
“From China’s perspective, North Korea’s actions could negatively impact its relations with the US or European countries, as well as its economic recovery. Due to this, China seems to be subtly pressuring North Korea.”
On the surface, China is maintaining the appearance of friendly ties with long-time ally North Korea, and has not publicly criticised Pyongyang’s moves to boost ties with Russia.
“However, through measures like restricting tourism or imposing economic pressure, China appears to be signalling its dissatisfaction,” Lee added.
