North Korea has reopened tourism in the special economic zone of its northeastern border city Rason to foreign tourists, the website of a China-based travel agency showed Friday.
“North Korea has reopened tourism in Rason, it’s Special Economic Zone in the northeast of the country, according to our local DPRK partners,” the website of Young Pioneer Tours, a travel company specializing in North Korea tours, said. DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The official reopening is technically effective” from Thursday, it said, adding that this is only a “breaking story” and “things could change rapidly in the coming days.”
“Rason, the oldest and largest of North Korea’s 29 economic development zones, has been central to the country’s push to attract foreign investment. It has one of North Korea’s first and biggest markets, was the site of the country’s first mobile network, and is the only place where North Korea legalised buying and selling homes in 2018, according to experts and North Korea’s government publications. Once a North Korean experiment in limited capitalism, the Rason Special Economic Zone appears to be the epicentre of the isolated country’s growing cooperation with Russia, experts say, including possible shipments of arms for the war in Ukraine.
In recent months, there have been clear signs that the area is poised for a comeback, with ships docking there for the first time since 2018, and satellite imagery suggesting a spike in trade from both the port and a rail line to Russia.
Although China – with its vastly larger economy and deeper historic ties with North Korea – might seem the obvious driver of a recovery in Rason, experts say the country’s deepening cooperation with Russia may make a more immediate impact.
“Now that North Korea and Russia are becoming very close against the backdrop of the Ukraine war, Russia might send more tourists to North Korea, which can reinvigorate tourism (in Rason),” said Jeong Eunlee, a North Korea economy expert at South Korea’s government-run Korea Institute for National Unification.
Koryo tours as well as Young Pioneers are the two main tourism organizations offering tours to North Korea. Most trips originate from either Vladivostok, or from Beijing. The tours are generally focused on Rason and Yanji, and Pyongyang and offer visits of factories, sea cucumber farms, and banking opportunities, Hae’an Park, Pipha Island, and even boat rides to see seals. Pyongyang tours include Pyongyang Grand Theatre, Kim Il Sung Square, Mt. Myohyang , Korean War Museum, Pohyon Temple, USS Pueblo, Manpok valley, Kaeson Funfair.
One of the more interesting tours is the annual Pyongyang marathon, to be held this year on April 11, 2025. The marathon attracts people from all over the world, to participate in a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or full marathon through North Korea’s capital, and downtown sites.
