Western tourists had three weeks to experience North Korea – which has remained closed to travellers from non-allied states – before it was shuttered again without warning
Kim Jong Un has stopped tourists from visiting a city in North Korea just three weeks after opening it since the pandemic.
Adventurous tourists were notified last month that tours were being offered to Rason, a city close to the Chinese border, after Western travel agencies were notified of the opening of the area by partners in the DPRK.
Just a few weeks later, the same travel agencies took to social media to announce a suspension of the Rason tours.
“Oh no! Just received news from our Korean partners that Rason is closed to everyone. We will keep you posted,” KTG Travels, which is based in Spain, posted on Facebook.
Tour coordinator Rayco Vega explained: “We do not know the reason nor how long this will last.”
Young Pioneer Tours, which is based out of the Chinese capital, Beijing, shared a similar post. They said: “We have been advised by our partners in the DPRK that tours to Rason are currently paused. We are in the process of clarifying how this will impact your upcoming trips. We recommend that those planning tours in April and May refrain from booking flights until we have more information.”
Another agency called Koryo Tours had offered a five-day trip to the rarely-seen corner of the Hermit Kingdom. They announced: “There has been news that the Rason border may be temporarily closing for tourism. We are currently working to confirm and understand the situation with our partners and will announce any further updates as soon as possible.”
The agency was the very first to take tourists, apart from Russians, to the country in five years. At the time, the company’s manager Simon Cockerell said: “Since January of 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are glad to have finally found an opening in the Rason area, in the far north of North Korea.”
Last week, a 23-year-old content creator shared with The Mirror how he was one of the first tourists allowed to return to the country.
“You get a slip of paper and you have to collect the stamps. I don’t even know what all the stamps were for, but you have different checkpoints,” Luca explained. “So [at one, for example] you have to disinfect all your bags, and they check your temperature… But it is only when you have like your five or six stamps, that you’re actually in the country.”
North Korea closed its borders to tourists back in 2020 due to rising cases of Covid-19, but since the country has worked to upgrade their healthcare.
“It is one of the things the North Koreans want you to see, especially since they worked to step up their healthcare system and build a new pharmacy,” Luca explained. “In the pharmacy, you meet a lot of locals that are just shopping for for whatever they need.”
In the UK, it perhaps would be rather surprising to see someone lay flowers at the feet of a Keir Starmer statue, but this is part of respecting leaders in North Korea. Across the country, propaganda posters and bronze statues of the country’s supreme leaders are scattered everywhere. As a tourist in the country, individuals are respected to uphold the rules and respect the leaders.
Part of this, meant Luca had to visit a bronze statue of Kim Jong Un and lay a bouquet of flowers at his feet, before bowing and retreating to allow the other tourists in his group do the same. “If you didn’t buy flowers, you couldn’t go,” he stated.
