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Tengrinews.kz – North Korea has halted international travel to a city near the Chinese border, according to travel agencies. This means Pyongyang has reversed its recent decision to open its borders to tourism after five years of isolation, citing France 24.
In early 2020, North Korea closed its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and later strengthened defenses along its northern border to prevent its citizens from illegally re-entering the country from China.
Last month, the borders reopened for tourists, and several Western tour operators reported sending a small number of foreign visitors to the northeastern city of Rason.
However, some companies stated on Wednesday that these trips have been suspended for unclear reasons.
North Korea has already welcomed several international trade and official delegations and, for the first time since the pandemic, allowed Russian tourists to enter the country last year.
Rason, located near the borders with China and Russia, became North Korea’s first special economic zone in 1991.
Before the pandemic, the vast majority of foreign visitors to North Korea were Chinese, although some U.S. citizens also traveled there until Washington banned such trips in 2017 following the imprisonment and subsequent death of student Otto Warmbier.
South Korean citizens, as Pyongyang remains formally at war with Seoul, are prohibited from entering without official permission.
Earlier, Pyongyang unveiled its first tourist resort. North Korea completed the long-term construction of a large-scale tourism project—the Wonsan-Kalma resort city in Kangwon Province. The official opening of the site is scheduled for June next year. The country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, personally visited the new tourist center.
