North Korea’s experimental capitalist city is about to open to tourists (but there is a catch)
A remote region in North Korea will reopen to tourists this month, the first organized tour open to international tourists since it closed in January 2020.
The five-day package organized by Koryo Tours in Beijing, the five-day itinerary centers on the northern city and does not feature the capital of Pyongyang, which remains unattracted by tourists.
Located on the border between Russia and China, Rason’s special economic zone is the only part of North Korea that openly promotes capitalism. Here, residents can buy and sell houses and even open a private bank account.
The tour includes some traditional tour activities such as seeing seals and taking cooking classes. There are more niche experiences like visiting sea cucumber farms (a delicious North Korean dish), visiting school uniform factories, and stopping in medical facilities for chronic gastritis.
As always, there are some major asterisks around booking trips to North Korea, and Western visitors should be aware of the risks of arrest and detention. This is all we know about North Korea’s reopening of the world.
What do we know about the city of Larsen?
The special economic zone of Rason is located in northeastern North Korea, close to its border with Russia and China, which is a particularity because it is the only place where socialist North Korea promotes capitalism.
For example, this is the first ever North Korea tests on mobile networks, and the country’s first card payment system has also been tested here.
Tourism office in Northeastern North Korea’s city of Rason, the only place in North Korea to promote capitalism – AFP via Getty
There is a casino, which is mainly frequented by Chinese businessmen, a bazaar where North Korean merchants can sell goods made in China, and (free ice-free – rare ports around the world) have leased it to Chinese and Russian companies.
In North Korea, home ownership is technically illegal, but in Larsen, loopholes in the law have been exposed, allowing residents to purchase real estate as part of their local experiments.
Given that it is across the country from Pyongyang and without airports, few foreigners would visit Larsen over the years (the legend has only one visitor visited in 2006), but in 2011 a small number allowed journalists and businessmen . for New York TimesEdward Wong describes a three-hour drive from the rutted dirt tracks on the Chinese border.
Tumen River marks the border between North Korea and China – AFP
He reported frequent power outages, few shops or restaurants, and described men watching men drying cuttlefish on the roof immediately.
What’s in the itinerary?
Briefing Day
“Return of North Korea’s Tourism Tour” begins in the Chinese city of Yanji. On the first day, after landing in Yanji, visitors must attend the “late evening forecast” at the hotel, where you will be informed of your etiquette and the safety of your trip to North Korea. The briefing lasts for an hour.
The tour started at a briefing in the Chinese city of Yanji, a transportation and trade hub between China and North Korea – Washington Post, via Getty Images
Day 1
On the first day you will be on the Wonjong Bridge from China to North Korea. When you arrive at Larkin (the larger of the two sister cities of Larson), you will explore Haian Park and visit Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia (a flower named after the North Korean leader) to be planted and planted greenhouse. After a Taekwondo demonstration and a visit to the palaces of students and schoolchildren, it’s time to go to the Nanshan Hotel in Lajin. Koryo Group describes the hotel as “a moderate scale” and “more than its prime.”
the next day
Highlights today include visiting a foreign language bookstore, an art gallery set up in a “two-story building without windows” and visiting Pipha Island where you can enjoy the seals on a boat. The afternoon brought some really fun activities, such as Kimchi making and visiting a training center dedicated to the game “Go”. You will also visit a bank where you can change funds to local currency (don’t be taken out of the country), and perhaps most exciting, a visit to the Rason School Suilt Suberication Factory.
Catch a boat to Pipha Island to meet the residents’ seal population – Alamy
Third day
A diverse day. The itinerary includes a visit to the town of Tumangang on the Russian and Chinese borders, where you can visit Russia – a picnic friendship home and a three-lined border view.
Tumangang is a small town located on the border between North Korea and Russia – Getty
After swaying at a duck farm and visiting a sea cucumber breeding farm, it arrives at Sonbong (the smaller of Rason’s two sister cities). After a quick hike in Shahyang Mountain, it returns to Rajin.
Fourth day
Today (February 16) is General Kim Jong Il’s birthday, which means all bets are closed. “We expect citywide celebrations, including mass dance, to be the highlight of all state-owned holiday tours. Today’s itinerary is not fixed as we will try to attend as many festivals as possible,” the tour said.
Paintings of North Korean past leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il can be found all over the country – Getty
Fifth day
They saved the best until the end. After visiting the merger of the food processing plant by Rumble Brewery (North Korea’s leading brand) and Paekhaksan, you will visit Chonghak Sanatorium, a medical facility for chronic gastritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Then, it goes back to Wonjong Bridge and Yanji, where you can fly home.
How much does it cost and when will I travel?
Koryo Tours is selling a trip that is consistent with Kim Jong II’s birthday. It merged four nights in two at Rason and Yanji, China. The tour will be priced at €705 (£586) per person between 12 February and 18 February 2025.
What does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say?
According to foreign, Commonwealth and the Office of Development (FCDO), North Korea has not been obscured with “red” (“don’t travel”). However, the entire country is orange, meaning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that in addition to basic travel to the country.
It noted: “While daily life in the capital Pyongyang seems calm, North Korea’s security situation can change rapidly without warning the authorities in advance that it may take action. This poses significant risks to British tourists and residents.”
FCDO also recommends that North Korea’s fire safety awareness may be low, same-sex relations and behaviors are considered unacceptable, and insults to North Korea’s political system will be “taken very seriously” – foreign nationals may not face arrest for not arrest Show enough respect, warn.
Although tourists can now visit Larsen, North Korea, they may be postponed by the country’s human rights record – Ed Jones
The United Nations condemns North Korea’s human rights record, while Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International highlight the country’s lack of freedom of speech and prisoner camps because of those who commit political crimes. It is reported that between 80,000 and 200,000 prisoners were subjected to forced labor, physical abuse and possible executions.
North Korea, including Otto Warmbier, has many Western tourists in custody, who were sentenced to 15 years of hard work in 2016 for stealing propaganda flags from hotels. The following year, he returned to the United States due to severe neurological damage – he died shortly after his return.
What does telegraph experts say about North Korea?
Telegram Travel Reporter Minty Clinch visited North Korea in 2018. She wrote: “This is an extraordinary but very isolated country. And how it does its best to ensure that tourists who go it are quarantined and banned from establishing meaningful contact with North Koreans. So far, the country has been in most people’s It’s no surprise that there are no high appearances in the travel plans.”
During her journey, she was confiscated semi-complete crosswords, and she described her prophetic journey as “harsh and compulsory”, and she visited a hotel that “don’t encourage leaving the building without a guide, even going around Reasons.”
Telegram travel reporter Nigel Richardson once described North Korea as “the most secret, weird, thought-provoking, frightening, yes-yes-yes-is-fun destination on Earth” – Getty
other Telegram Travel Journalist Nigel Richardson visited North Korea in 2013 and described it as “the most secret, weird, thought-provoking, frightening, frightening and – is – an interesting destination on Earth. ”
Richardson muses: “We wonder if these experiences can be created for our benefit. After all, a system that can mobilize thousands of mass games can certainly eliminate the fantasy of public transportation and pleasure.”
Still want to book? There is a fishing catch
Besides having to make a quick final arrangement to find yourself in North Korea in less than a week, there are other considerations.
On the first tour, there were only 20 tourists with only 20 visitors, and the other catch was other parts of North Korea, including the capital of Pyongyang, which are still closed to tourists, so you can’t do any extras around the duck farm and schools Tour Larsen’s unified factory.
Crucially, the trip will not continue at all. Koryo Tours said on its website: “We published Rason Tours in February, March and April. These North Korean tours have not been confirmed as we await further information on the border opening dates. You can book a location today and Wait for further confirmation.”
There are other error alerts. Last August, people were excited about the brand new tour of Samiyan, which is also close to the Chinese border. But in the end these did not move forward.
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