North Korea invites tourists after five years. Such attractions are planned
For the first time in over five years, foreign tourists can visit North Korea, one of the modern totalitarian countries. For now, only one zone has been opened for them.
This week Koryo Tours, a British tour operator based in Beijing, announced that he resumed reservations for visiting North Korea. For now, foreign guests will be able to enter only the Rason zone in the north-eastern part of the country. This is a change after five years, when the totalitarian state tightly closed the borders during the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, North Korea allowed only Russian tourists to enter.
Trips to North Korea are coming back
For $ 720 (about PLN 3,000), tourists will spend four nights on Rason – a special economic zone bordering Russia and China, which is supposed to attract foreign investments. Two nights are planned in the Chinese city of Yanji. There is no international airport in Rason, so organized trips will get here through the Chinese border.
The first group of 20 people is to come here on February 12-18, when the main celebration of the birth of the deceased country leader Kim Jong Ila is planned. This is one of the most important holidays in North Korea. In addition, tourists are to visit the Farm of Synrzyk, “Sea Cucumbers” and will go to the viewpoint on the border of three countries, from where they will see China and Russia. Tour operators are also tempting with opening an account at the local bank.
The British want to know the beaches in the country Kim Jong Una
Tourists from Western Europe, although they should be aware of threats, are apparently also hungry for emotions. As many as 250 British signed up on the website interested in holidays at the Wonsan-Kalm seaside resort, called “Benidorm of North Korea”. He received such a nickname after in 2017 the dictator was supposed to send a reconnaissance mission to the Spanish Costa Blanca coast to see why he is a tourist magnet. This summer, Wonsan is to open for guests through a travel agency in Vladivostok.
“The Wonsan-Kalma resort was built using forced work. Holidays are morally and ethically bad – it causes disgust, “said the enthusiasm of European tourists Greg Scarlatoiu Director of the Human Rights Committee in North Korea. However, not only moral considerations, but above all your own safety are involved.
The United States banned citizens traveling to this country after the death of American student Otto Warmbier in 2017, who came there as part of a trip organized by Young Pioneer Tours.
22-year-old Warmbier, a student of the Virginia University, was stolen by a propaganda banner from the hotel during a visit to Pyongyang in January 2016. As part of a sentence for committing an enemy act against the government, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard works. He remained in North Korea for 17 months. A year later he was sent to the United States in a coma. Soon he died.
Young Pioneer Tours operates to this day and from February 16 will also take guests on trips to Rason.
