A small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea in the past week. It is the first international travellers to enter the country in five years except for a group of Russian tourists who went to the North last year. The travellers from the UK, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy crossed by land from China. North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world’s most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders. The latest trip indicates North Korea may be gearing up for a full resumption of its international tourism to bring in much-needed foreign currency to revive its struggling economy, experts say. The return of Chinese tourists would be key to making North Korea’s tourism industry lucrative because they represented more than 90% of total international tourists before the pandemic, a think tank run by South Korea’s intelligence agency said.
