After Years of Isolation, North Korea Reopens to Foreign Tourists. The Price Is Over $600

After five years of isolation, North Korea is beginning to ease its strict border controls, allowing foreign tourists to enter—but only under tight restrictions. Despite ambitions to develop a “Miami” in Wonsan, for now, travel is confined to one highly monitored region: Rason.

It still doesn’t permit visits to its capital, Pyongyang.

The border closure. In January 2020, as COVID-19 spread through China, North Korea made the radical decision to close its borders to foreign visitors.

Given that up to 350,000 tourists—primarily Chinese—visited the country in 2019, authorities deemed it a necessary measure.

A “temporary” ban that lasted five years. At first, North Korea framed the closure as a short-term precaution, as announced by Young Pioneer Tours, a company specializing in travel to the reclusive nation. However, the ban stretched on indefinitely, lasting well beyond what many had anticipated.

The first sign of change came in 2024, when the government permitted Russian tourist delegations to visit—making them the first foreign travelers allowed since the pandemic. Now, nearly five years after the initial closure, North Korea is extending access to a select group of tour companies and visitors.

A cautious reopening. According to The Straits Times, in early February, North Korean officials allowed a small number of tour operators to enter as a test before the official reopening on February 20.

Among them was Rowan Beard of Beijing-based Pioneer Tours, which planned to bring about 10 tourists. Another company, Koryo Tours, arranged a trip for 15 visitors.

Who’s visiting? After an initial scouting trip by Beard, foreign tourists from Singapore, Australia, Germany, and Romania arrived, along with travelers from the UK and Jamaica. CNN even reported that an American, Justin Martell, joined the tour by acquiring citizenship in St. Kitts and Nevis, circumventing the U.S. travel ban.

More from Xataka On

Kalma Is North Korea’s First Real Effort to Become a Travel Destination. For Now, Only Russians Are Allowed Entry

Looking to China. While North Korea has welcomed a handful of Western visitors, its real focus remains China. Kyodo News reports that authorities are preparing to resume large-scale tourism from their biggest market. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists contributed up to $175 million in revenue, making them a crucial source of foreign currency.

Price tag: $670 per visit. Interest in visiting North Korea remains high, with Beard noting that inquiries “saturated” his company’s email inbox. However, visiting isn’t cheap. Young Pioneer Tours offers a five-day, four-night package for $670, while a slightly longer trip with added stays in China costs $720.

“For many, North Korea is a mysterious destination,” Beard explains. “There’s little to no internet, making life there feel like stepping back into the 1980s.” Though some restrictions on photography have eased, visitors still face strict limitations. “They only told me off once,” Gerg Vaczi of Koryo Tours told CNN, “and that was for filming a guide.”

Limited openness. While this shift marks a significant policy change, travel remains tightly controlled. Foreign tourists—except Russians—are still barred from Pyongyang, the country’s capital. Instead, all visits are restricted to Rason, an economic zone created in the 1990s with unique administrative conditions.

Why Rason? Located near China and Russia, Rason lacks an international airport, meaning all travelers must cross the Chinese border under strict supervision. The region serves as an experimental zone for North Korea’s limited economic reforms.

Visitors are offered carefully curated experiences, including factory tours, aquaculture farms, and school visits. They can even open a bank account at the Golden Triangle Bank. However, Beard acknowledges logistical challenges, such as limited hotel availability, a shortage of guides, and restricted transportation.

Why now? The timing of this reopening raises questions. While Western tourists historically numbered only around 5,000 per year, Chinese tourism was a vital economic driver. In 2017, following the case of tourist Otto Warmbier, the U.S. imposed a travel ban on its citizens visiting North Korea.

North Korea is “desperate for foreign currency,” Hazel Smith, a professor at SOAS University of London who has lived in the Asian country, says. It’s “not just for oil, but basic technology like irrigation or health services,” he adds.

Images |Thomas Evans (Unsplash) | Uri Tours (Flickr) | Micha Brändli (Unsplash)

Related | Russia, China, and North Korea Own Hypersonic Weapons. To Defend Itself, the U.S. Wants to Build Its Own ‘Iron Dome’