North Korea Reopens to Tourists for First Time Since COVID-19 Pandemic

North Korea has reopened its doors to international tourists for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the accepted tourists is Lena Bychcova, who was in awe after seeing her North Korean tourist visa come through. The situation comes as many Russian tourists have found themselves locked out of nearly all tourism destinations.

Tourist Trip to North Korea

However, as North Korea is an ally of Russia, the Asian nation offered a rare opportunity for travel. Bychcova, who is a marketing professional, is among roughly 100 Russian nationals who have been allowed to travel to North Korea this month,

The situation is believed to be the hermit kingdom's first international tourist trip since the coronavirus health crisis. Tourism in the North is tightly controlled by authorities as individual travelers are not permitted into the nation and groups are accompanied by minders.

Tourism revenue that the Asian country receives is used to support the regime of dictator Kim Jonh Un. Additionally, traveling to North Korea does not come without risks. An example of this is when American college student Otto Warmbier was detained during a North Korea trip in 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster, as per CNN.

The student was later returned to the United States after 17 months of being detained, was left in a vegetative state, and died shortly after. Now, Bychcova and the rest of the Russian tourists arrived in Pyongyang on Feb. 9, 2024. They traveled via a North Korean-owned Air Koryo plane from Vladivostok.

While the marketing professional admits that she was initially anxious about the trip, she said that curiosity got the better of her. She said that she could not pass up the chance to see a nation that only a few tourists ever have the opportunity to explore.

Improving North Korea-Russia Relations

Another Russian tourist who is part of the tour is travel blogger Ilya Voskresensky who felt similar tense as Bychcova. He listed his part-time job, which is selling vintage dishes, as his profession instead of revealing that he is actually a content creator.

Despite the excitement of some of the people who joined the tour, the images and videos from the tourists themselves paint a picture of what it feels like inside North Korea. They offer a view into a nation that has faced serious food shortages in the past few decades and is struggling under a series of international sanctions, according to Sky News.

One of the visitors noted that the group included influencers, tourists, journalists, and 13 school-aged children. But as soon as they boarded the plane, they started to voice out their complaints, which is a contrast to the smooth version of the trip that was presented by Russian media outlets.

The tourist trip also comes as North Korea and Russia are working to bolster their relationship. Kim visited the European nation last September to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The development also came as a surprise to Asian observers who believed that the first set of travelers to go to North Korea would be coming from China. Beijing is Pyongyang's biggest diplomatic ally and economic pipeline, said Aljazeera.