Western tour agencies entered North Korea for the first time on Thursday since the end of the pandemic, the companies said, voicing hopes the isolated country may soon reopen a border city to foreign visitors.
In January, travel agencies said the North would reopen the border city of Rason to foreign tourists, five years after Pyongyang sealed its frontiers in response to Covid-19.
The Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which offers mainly Western tourists a glimpse into the secretive nation, wrote on its website that “staff crossed the border in the early hours of this morning”.
“We’re happy to finally enter North Korea,” the travel agency wrote in a blog.
“The country is not yet fully open to tourism and this is a special trip for staff only.”
But they hope to confirm the opening of Rason to tourism in “the coming days”.
Another travel agency, Young Pioneer Tours, also uploaded a picture of a passport with a North Korean border stamp, declaring they were “first to be back in five years”. — AFP
