- North Korea has reopened to Western tourists this week.
- Westerners can’t visit Pyongyang, but they can go on tours to the Rason Special Economic Zone.
- A tour guide told BI his first group in years included people from the UK, Australia, and Jamaica.
North Korea reopened its borders to foreign tourists this week.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has been largely closed to Westerners. But on Thursday, Pyongyang allowed tour groups to visit the country’s Rason Special Economic Zone, a region near the Russian and Chinese borders.
On Thursday morning, Rowan Beard of Young Pioneer Tours led one of the first foreign tour groups to return to the country.
Beard told Business Insider that the group consisted of 10 people from a number of different countries, including Singapore, Australia, the UK, Jamaica, and Germany.
“The country has been closed for five years so it’s been a huge build-up and a huge interest from people wanting to go,” he said.
While some of the visitors are specifically interested in North Korean culture, history, and society, Beard said that others simply wanted to tick off another country.
“Some of the people we’re taking, North Korea is the last country for them to visit,” he said.
Another couple, he added, grew up under communist rule in Romania and wanted to visit North Korea, a communist dictatorship, for nostalgic reasons.
“You get all these different types, it’s a mix of interests,” Beard said.
Courtesy of Young Pioneer Tours
Beard told BI that he only learned of the potential reopening about a week prior, so the first group was made up of those who could quickly arrange flights to China and have their entry permits processed in time.
Another tour is scheduled for March 2, with 26 people booked onto it, he added.
Beard — who said he visited Rason a week before it reopened to assess the conditions — said North Korean officials have not set a specific quota for how many foreign tourists can visit but that numbers are small due to “logistical” limitations.
“There are logistical constraints in Rason when it comes to hotel vacancy, the amount of English guides that are available, and the buses they have,” he said.
Courtesy of Young Pioneer Tours
The State Department issued a ban on US citizens traveling to North Korea in September 2017 following the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was arrested on a tour and who was released in a vegetative state, dying soon after.
A July 2023 State Department travel advisory warns against travel to North Korea, citing a “continuous serious risk of arrest and long-term detention of US nationals.”
Russians, however, have been back visiting North Korea’s shores since the start of 2024, and Pyongyang remains closed to all but Russian tourists.
Foreign tourists on guided tours generally face strict regulations in North Korea — they must be accompanied at all times and are only allowed to take photos of approved sites.
The tourism industry has provided a crucial source of foreign currency for North Korea, which has struggled under international sanctions.
Later this year, the Wonsan-Kalma beach resort is set to open and is already advertising tour dates for Russian visitors.
