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The Korea Times

For Zhang Yue, a 29-year-old marketing specialist from Fuzhou in southeastern China, news reports about North Korea had painted a picture of a country vastly different from other travel destinations.
“I think many people have stereotypes about travelling there with worries about whether it’s dangerous, or view it as a somewhat ‘special’ or ‘niche’ destination for something like an adventurous experience,” she said. “I hope to have the opportunity to see it with my own eyes.”
Like Zhang, many Chinese people who haven’t visited find North Korea an intriguing destination, which seems to be driving their interest in travelling there.
In August, North Korea announced it would resume foreign tourism in December, starting with the northern area of Samjiyon near Mount Paektu. The news quickly prompted China-based travel agencies Koryo Tours and KTG Tours to begin offering excursions.

On Chinese social media, many people who visited North Korea shared photos from previous trips and recounted their experiences, while others expressed curiosity in visiting.
Others, though, were not at all interested, citing concerns about safety and restrictions during tours.
“You won’t see the real North Korea. The areas allowed for tourism are all isolated zones, pretty much like a film set. Going there or not is meaningless,” one wrote on Weibo.
Before the pandemic, North Korea was a popular destination for Chinese tourists, attracting about 200,000 visitors in 2018, accounting for 90 per cent of all foreign tourists to the country, according to a report from Chinese state tabloid Global Times. In 2019, a record 350,000 Chinese tourists were estimated to have visited North Korea, according to North Korean media reports.


Previous typical itineraries included departures from the border city of Dandong in northeastern China’s Liaoning province by train or bus to North Korea, or a flight from Beijing to Pyongyang. Popular tourist attractions include Kim Il-sung Square and the Mansudae Grand Monument in Pyongyang, the inter-Korean border truce village of Panmunjom and Mount Myohyang.
A travel agency’s advertisement on the Chinese online travel platform Fliggy promotes a presale for tours departing from Shanghai starting December 1. The itineraries feature a six-day trip that includes visits to Pyongyang’s Juche Tower, Arch of Triumph, and Chollima Statue, as well as the capital’s subway stations and schools, along with the city of Kaesong and the Military Demarcation Line.
In July, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited Samjiyon and highlighted plans to promote international tourism.
Beijing had expressed hopes for more exchanges.
In April, Chinese envoy to North Korea Wang Yajun visited Kaesong and expressed hopes that promoting the country’s historical and cultural sites could attract more Chinese tourists, aiming to “deepen tourism cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and North Korea, and enhance mutual understanding and trust between the two peoples”.

Connie Xu, a 34-year-old resident of the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, visited the Rajin-Sonbong economic zone that borders China in 2014, and has expressed a desire to return.
For her 2014 trip, Xu travelled from the Chinese border city of Huichun and remembers her itinerary included having soup dishes for breakfast and visiting local markets where she bought seafood. She enjoyed the local cuisine and felt a sense of nostalgia as she observed the country’s similarities with China’s past.
“The local buildings and fashion made me feel like I was travelling back to the 1990s,” she said. “And I was impressed by the food. Simple dishes like fried eggs and soybean paste soup were really delicious when I had them in North Korea. Even after all these years, I still remember the taste, it’s just like the flavours from my childhood.”
Xu, an ethnic Korean in China, said her familiarity and understanding of Korean history also keeps her interested in knowing more about the country.
Zhang said most of her understanding of North Korea comes from the news, where nuclear weapons, defectors, and the country’s “extreme isolation” are often reported.
North Korea feels like a mirror reflecting China’s past, and I want to see for myself whether it is as the news describes or if there are differences
Connie Xu, Chinese tourist
“There’s even a description of the country as like China during the Mao era,” she said, referring to the time of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
“As a younger generation whose limited understanding of that time only comes from textbooks, North Korea feels like a mirror reflecting China’s past, and I want to see for myself whether it is as the news describes or if there are differences.”
Amy Zhang, a 22-year-old in Guangzhou, shares similar sentiments, saying that she wants to visit the country that appears to be “very mysterious,” while local people seem “quite simple and sincere” from photos. But she added that while she doesn’t have concerns about safety, she is still somewhat worried about potential issues with internet access.
The mysteriousness might not appeal to everyone, however.
Sherry Wang, a 28-year-old who works in Beijing, said she has never considered visiting North Korea, particularly in light of recent news about the country’s launches of rubbish balloons.
“The situation seems quite chaotic,” she said.
“I also don’t have much of a specific impression of the country’s tourism. I might consider visiting if I’m touring several countries altogether in East Asia but will not hope to go for a trip only to North Korea.”


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North Korea

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Tourists from China pose for photos before the Three Charters monument in Pyongyang in 2019. Photo: AFP

Chinese tourists take photos as they stand on Kim Il-sung square in Pyongyang in 2019. Photo: AFP

Chinese tourists on the Yalu River in the Chinese border town of Dandong in 2018. Photo: AFP

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South Korean soldiers during drills in Seoul last month. Photo: EPA-EFE

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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee wave national flags during the celebration of the 79th National Liberation Day in Seoul on August 15. Photo: EPA-EFE

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during the celebration of the 79th National Liberation Day in Seoul on August 15. Photo: EPA-EFE

Then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and then North Korean leader Kim Jong-il raise their arms before signing a joint declaration during a summit in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

A worker dismantles loudspeakers set up for propaganda broadcasts near the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea. Photo: AP

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rides a white horse to climb Mount Paektu. Russia reportedly sent two dozen horses to its neighbour in exchange for artillery shells. Photo: KCNA/KNS/AP

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un ride a car in Pyongyang, North Korea on June 20. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits a construction site at an undisclosed location in North Korea at the weekend. Photo:   KCNA via Reuters

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An engineer checks power transmission equipment in Dandong last month. North Korea said it was especially opposed to proposed radio stations in the northeastern Chinese city. Photo: Xinhua

Buildings are seen on the North Korean side of the Yalu River from Dandong earlier this month. Proposed radio stations in the Chinese border city could cause “serious interference”, Pyongyang claimed. Photo: Kyodo

News

Asia

East Asia

North Korea was a popular destination for visitors from China before the pandemic, attracting about 200,000 visitors in 2018


North Korea was a popular destination for visitors from China before the pandemic, attracting about 200,000 visitors in 2018.
