North Korea and China PRC resumed the possibility to travel between both countries with Chinese travellers able to visit North Korea, one of the most isolated countries in the world.
CHANGCHUN – A tourist route between China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been resumed with a chartered flight. On July 1st, a flight carrying 71 Chinese tourists left from Yanji to North Korea capital city, Pyongyang . The 400,000-inhabitants city is the centre of the Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Yanbian in northeast China’s Jilin Province.
Yanji has China’s largest Korean ethnic population, as they represent a third of the total population. Due to this diaspora, Yanji is turning into the main trade gateway from China into its secretive neighbour and is the centre of much of the cross-border enterprise.
The flight will run until October 17, with chartered flights on Thursday and Sunday. During a four-day or five-day trip in DPRK, Chinese travellers can visit Pyongyang, Panmunjom and North Korea most famous Mount Kumgang. Since 2002, the latter has been turned into a special administrative region in North Korea to become one of the new tourist destinations to handle both South Korean and international tourist traffic.
The Diamond Mountain –its translation from Korean- stays near to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Another mountain, Myohyang-san, has also been recently added to the list.
“A four-day and five-day trip costs 4,080 yuan (about 658 U.S. dollars) and 4,480 yuan per person respectively,” said Chi Jinnyu, general manager of a travel agency in Yanji, who added that the tickets of first three flights have already sold out. The route between Yanji and Pyongyang opened in July 2012, but services were suspended last year due to increased tensions in North Korea.
They are more initiatives to welcome more Chinese travellers into the country: North Korea is set to open its portion of the Korean Peninsula’s highest mountain to Chinese tourists before the end of the month. The peninsula’s highest peak at 2,749 meters, Mt. Baekdu, is located on the border between North Korea and China. Tourists can visit the Chinese side of the mountain, but the tour route was also suspended last year following the North’s nuclear test in February 2013. The tour starts from Helong, a city located at the border. In June, North Korea started also proposing its first one-day cycling trip from the Chinese border city of Tumen. However, the tour is not available for non-Chinese travellers.
North Korea tourism industry remains in its infancy. According to a report from Reuters published on July 12, 2014, , travel agencies estimate as many as 6,000 Westerners visit the country every year, compared to just 700 a decade ago. They are another estimated 10,000 tourists –a number provided by Chinese travel agencies- going annually to North Korea.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
