After nearly five years of complete border closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea will begin reopening to international tourism by the end of this year, CNN reports, citing two tour companies with links to the isolated country.
The mountainous city of Samjiyon, widely believed to be the birthplace of the late leader Kim Jong Il, will be the first destination for tourists.
“We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism to Samjiyon and likely the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024,” Koryo Tours said, adding that itinerary and further details will be finalized “in the coming days and weeks.”
In a separate Facebook post, KTG Tours also said exact dates for the tours were to be confirmed.
“So far just Samjiyon has been mentioned but we think that PY [Pyongyang] and other places will open too!”
Samjiyon straddles the Chinese border and is close to the highest peak on the Korean Peninsula, Mount Paektu, an active volcano of paramount importance and historic significance to both North and South Koreans, as it is considered the cradle of the Korean people.
The ‘Paektu’ bloodline
Though South Koreans are restricted from visiting the North, South Korea’s former president Moon Jae-in and then first lady Kim Jung-sook visited the top of the mountain with Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju in 2018, underlining the symbolism of the mountain.
Visiting the summit of Mount Paektu is akin to making a religious pilgrimage for North Koreans. The fabled “Paektu” bloodline is what gives the ruling Kim family legitimacy, say observers, who note Western historians’ conflicting claims the second-generation leader was born in Russia.
Samjiyon was once a popular destination for Chinese tourists, who used to arrive by busload prior to Covid-19. Tourism provided North Korea with revenue despite international sanctions over Pyongyang’s illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally inspected construction sites within Samjiyon earlier in July, state media reported.
North Korean state media have so far not reported changes concerning the country reopening in a limited capacity to foreign visitors, but North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has previously indicated he would prioritize visitors from “friendly” nations, which include Russia and China.
The road to reopening
The pandemic left North Korea’s borders hermetically sealed from nearly all of the outside world for several years – restrictions that largely continue except for small tour groups from Russia – who were allowed to enter this year amid Kim’s deepening partnership with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
About 100 Russian tourists were welcomed in North Korea earlier this year, traveling via a North Korean-owned Air Koryo plane from Vladivostok.
But pandemic border restrictions forced most diplomatic missions and international nonprofits to pull out of North Korea, leaving the impoverished nation of around 25 million arguably the most isolated it has been since the Cold War.
United States passports are not valid for travel to, in, or through North Korea, unless they are specially validated by the US Department of State. The department classifies North Korea as “Level 4: do not travel.”
The declarations come just a month after Kim Jong-un himself visited a new beachside tourism site, the Wonsan-Kalma zone, under development on the country’s eastern coast. Kim, who has made tourism a priority for boosting the North Korean economy, declared the resort will open in May 2025 after years of construction delays due to the coronavirus and international sanctions.
