5 years of isolation Now you can travel to North Korea again
After five years of isolation, North Korea is gradually opening its borders to foreign visitors. The supposed travel adventure probably serves Kim Jong-un's regime for more than just promoting tourism.
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- After five years of lockdown due to the pandemic, North Korea is once again allowing foreign tourists to enter the country.
- Travelers are only allowed to stay in certain places - spontaneous exploratory tours are taboo.
- The regime wants to earn foreign currency with new vacation destinations and present a positive image of North Korea.
- Experts warn that traveling to the country is not without its dangers - the example of Otto Warmbier is a warning to exercise caution.
After years of strict coronavirus measures, North Korea is back on the tourist map - at least for a small, hand-picked target group. Initially, only Russians and Chinese were allowed to enter the country, but now the regime is gradually opening its doors to Western travelers. However, there is no question of free exploration.
"Until now, you were only allowed to enter in groups and not as an individual tourist, and you couldn't move around freely," Martin Fritz, a freelance journalist in Tokyo and expert on North Korea, told SRF. You are not allowed to leave your hotel in Pyongyang without a guide. For Western visitors, however, the offer remains limited.
Tourism in North Korea was already severely restricted before the pandemic. According to estimates, around 5,000 Western tourists traveled to the country every year.
Highly regulated contact with the population
One of the first destinations is a town called Samjiyon near the Chinese border, which was built especially for tourists. Skiing in winter, hiking in summer - it sounds idyllic. But appearances are deceptive. According to Fritz, Kim Jong-un's strategy is to accommodate tourists in their own resorts and heavily regulate contact with the population.
Rason is a special economic zone in the north-east of the country that was established in 1991. Tourists are allowed to enter, but the exact conditions are still unclear. The newest tourism region is the Wonsan-Kalma coastal zone, which was opened after ten years of construction. Luxury tourists are to be welcomed here in future.
Dictator with tourism ambitions
The official explanation for the opening up of the country is: economic upturn through tourism. In fact, the construction of new vacation resorts is one of Kim Jong-un's prestige projects. However, experts see another motivation.
"I think he wants to show the rest of the world that North Korea is a normal country - with beautiful scenery, good food and good infrastructure," says Fritz. However, the regime is not interested in mass tourism. The business should be profitable and they want to charge the highest possible prices in order to collect foreign currency, i.e. to fill the coffers and exert control.
There is a particular focus on Russian tourists. While they are often eyed critically in Europe, a friendly welcome awaits them in North Korea. "In Turkey or Europe, Russian tourists are treated with hostility because of the war in Ukraine. They don't have to fear that in North Korea," says Fritz.
An adventure with risks
For Western visitors, however, the offer remains limited - and not without risk. Politically interested travelers or adventurers looking for the allure of a closed-off country are usually drawn to the capital Pyongyang. However, the regime is known for its arbitrariness.
"Anyone traveling to North Korea should be aware of the potential dangers," warns Fritz on SRF. The case of US student Otto Warmbier remains a cautionary tale. Warmbier was arrested in North Korea in 2016 for alleged espionage and died shortly afterwards in custody under unexplained circumstances.
The editor wrote this article with the help of AI.