North Korea reopening borders to int’l visitors in December

Dhaka: North Korea is finally reopening its borders to international visitors in December 2024, after almost five years of hiatus following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local tour operators on their websites on August 14 announced that the country will be welcoming tourists to the northeastern city of Samjiyon and “likely the rest of the country” in December 2024.

North Korea has largely been closed to international tourists since 2020, when the Covid pandemic emerged. The country’s tour operators claimed they had never come across such a lengthy closure of the borders.

International flights to and from North Korea only resumed in 2023, when a small group of Russian tourists flew there for a private tour in February. The Russian tour group included people in the tourism business and travellers from all parts of Russia.

North Korea has been building what it has called a “socialist utopia” in Samjiyon, a city near the Chinese border, billing it as “a model of highly civilised mountain city”, with new apartments, hotels, a ski resort and commercial, cultural and medical facilities.

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