North Korea welcomes foreign tourists again in December five years later

North Korea closed its borders in early 2020 to protect itself from the Covid-19 pandemic and even prevented its own citizens from entering for years.

2024-08-16

North Korea will reopen its borders to foreign tourists in December, after banning access to its territory for almost five years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, two tour operators announced on Thursday.

“We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism in Samjiyon and potentially the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024,” Beijing-based Koryo Tours said on its website.

The city of Samjiyon, near North Korea’s northern border with China, is a gateway to visiting Mount Paektu, where, according to official reports, the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was born.

His son and successor, Kim Jong Un, invested huge sums of money in developing the region, including new apartments, hotels and a ski resort.