North Korea has forbidden the visits of foreign tourists shortly after Westerners have been left to enter the country again, for the first time in the last five years, the tour operators, quoted by the BBC, announced.
Phenian image, North Korea photo shutterstock
The decision comes after, in February, Western tourists were allowed to visit RESON, a city in the east of the country. This step had been considered a sign of a possible gradual opening of the North Korean regime to foreign visitors, after the borders had been closed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to mediafax.ro.
Several international tourism companies, including KTG Tours, Young Pioneer Tours and Koryo Tours, said that trips to North Korea have been suspended to new orders.
“We have just received news from our Korean partners that Reson is closed for everyone. We will keep you updated ””said KTG Tours in a Facebook post.
Those who plan trips in April and should refrain from reserving flights “Until we have more information ”said Young Pioneer Tours, also in a Facebook post.
The Phenian did not offer a reason for sudden stop.
On February 20, the first Western tourists began to arrive in Reson, a city designated as a special economic area, to test the new financial policies.
Tourism operators have told BBC that recent visits to RESON were subjected to even more severe restrictions than before pandemic. Tourists had limited access to travel and interactions with locals, and telephone signals and internet access were non -existent.
Earlier this week, Koryo Tours said it accepts international applications for Pyongyang marathon for the first time over the past five years. The event is scheduled for April 6, but now it is not clear if they can be processed.
North Korea received about 350,000 foreign tourists in 2019, of which 90% were Chinese, according to media reports.
The first Romanian tourists
Known Romanian Vloggers “HaiHui in two ” They became the first Western tourists who walked in North Korea after five years of isolation caused by pandemic. The two entered the terrestrial, from China, together with a group of ten people, through an accredited agency.
North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world, led by three generations of the Kim family, under a strict authoritarian regime. Starting with 2020, the country has completely closed its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic, imposing some of the hardest travel restrictions globally. Officially, the regime argued that the measures were needed to protect the virus population, but prolonged insulation led to a severe economic crisis, affecting food and drug supply.
“I entered North Korea. We are the first Westerners who, after five years, walk in this isolated country, led by three generations by the Kim Dynasty. I entered the terrestrial, through China and fulfilled all the entrance formalities that the agency with which I went. ”they said.
The border crossing process took about three hours, and the vloggers noted that tourists were less strictly controlled than the North Korean citizens. An essential aspect of entry was the declaration of all electronic devices, such as phones, laptops and cameras.
“As a tourist, you are not allowed to film anything, anytime. You always have to wait for the guide’s instructions. Also, you can not take any step without being supervised, any route is predetermined ”they explain.
In addition to an official guide that provided them with information about the country, the two were accompanied by two unofficial guides and a photographer designated by the authorities documented every moment of the trip and finally offered them a stick with the captured images.
“We had an official guidewho answered us all the questions about North Korea, Two other unofficial guides, who suspect were people of the system and a photographer who posed and filmed continuously and offered us at the end of the trip a stick with all the memories of here, but we believe that their purpose was another ”, they say.
