This image captured from the website of Koryo Tours, a travel agency in Beijing, shows the announcement on Jan. 16, of the reopening of foreign tourism to Rason. Yonhap
Western tour agents have entered North Korea for the first time since it closed its borders to tourism in 2020 due to COVID-19, to inspect new tourism sites, a tour agency's website said Friday, amid signs of Pyongyang reopening to Western tourists.
Koryo Tours' staff crossed into North Korea's northeastern border city of Rason in the early hours of Thursday as part of "a special trip for staff only" since the country is not yet fully open to tourism, according to the website of the Beijing-based British tour agency.
The trip aimed to "discuss with our partners as well as check out any new tourism sites and find out any key North Korea tourism updates," it said.
"We hope in the coming days (or) weeks we will be able to 100 percent confirm the opening of Rason, North Korea, to tourists," the firm also noted.
The news came as North Korea has shown signs of opening up tourism to more outsiders after initially resuming it to Russians early last year.
Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours, another travel company specializing in North Korea tours that reportedly joined the latest trip to Rason, announced last month that North Korea would open its tourism to Chinese and all other foreign guests, excluding Americans and South Koreans.
Koryo Tours is currently accepting bookings for travel programs to Rason in March and April.
North Korea is also scheduled to open the new Kalma tourist zone along the east coast for service in June, with expectations that it may seek to attract foreign tourists as a way of earning foreign currency amid U.N. sanctions. (Yonhap)
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