A China-based tourism agency recently started taking bookings for a Pyeongyang package tour that includes participation of North Korea's Pyongyang International Marathon, as the totalitarian state has resumed tourism to Western visitors after a five-year hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Koryo Tours posted a promotion on its homepage for a five-night package in Pyongyang April 5-10, which includes running the marathon and visiting the North Korean capital for 2,195 euros ($2,301) per person. Reservations are open until March 14, and the package is exclusively available through the Chinese company, it said.
The agency offers international tourism programs for Asia and Europe, but is most noted for being one of the few companies providing tours to North Korea.
North Korea last month announced that the 31st edition of the annual Pyongyang International Marathon will be held on April 6, with full-course, half-course, 10-kilometer and five-kilometer events covering major spots in the city. It was first held in 1981 in honor of the North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, but was discontinued in 2020.
The marathon is part of North Korea's efforts to attract foreign tourists, after banning them when the pandemic broke out in January 2020. Last month, Pyongyang resumed the tour course to the northeastern special economic zone of Rason for foreign tourists.
North Korea operates tourism via China as one of its key sources of foreign currency, since heavy sanctions imposed in UN Security Council resolutions and by many countries over its nuclear and missile programs hinder trade. Some countries also have travel bans on their citizens traveling to North Korea due to safety concerns.
South Korean nationals cannot travel to the North as neither country acknowledges the other as an official state in their respective constitutions, and the two are technically still at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice.
North Korean tourism here was conducted on a small scale during the era of inter-Korean economic cooperation in the 2000s, but was discontinued after a South Korean civilian was shot and killed while on a tour there in 2008.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
