By It’s the late leader Kim Jong Il’s birthday celebrations, and everyone’s invited.
For the first time in more than five years, foreign tourists can visit North Korea, albeit to the city of Rason, one of the secretive communist state’s least visited places.
Koryo Tours, a tour operator based in Beijing, announced this week it had reopened bookings to see the city after North Korea sealed its borders in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
For about $720, the tour includes four nights in Rason, a city in the country’s northeast near the borders of both China and Russia. Visitors will also get two nights in the Chinese city of Yanji.
The first tour is set to take place between Feb. 12 and 18, during which time major celebrations are planned for the birthday of the country’s late leader Kim Jong Il, one of North Korea’s biggest holidays.
The national holiday, known as the Day of the Shining Star, is typically celebrated Feb. 16. with large public displays, including parades. North Koreans also bow to statues of Kim Jong Il, the father of their current leader, Kim Jong Un.
