A group of Russian tourists arrived in North Korea on Friday, likely the first from any country to enter the isolated state since the pandemic.
The visit highlights deepening cooperation between the two countries following a meeting last September between North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Far East cosmodrome. Russian.
Many Russians now find it difficult to travel to Europe and the United States due to sanctions applied to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. In October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would recommend North Korea as a vacation destination.
The South Korean government said it was not aware of any North Korean state media reports of tourists entering the country since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group will visit the capital, Pyongyang, then go skiing, said Inna Mukhina, general director of the Vostok Intur agency, which is organizing the trip. Vladivostok Airport’s online timetable shows that an Air Koryo plane took off for Pyongyang at 1:39 p.m. local time on Friday.
The group departed from Vladivostok airport in Russia’s Far East. Ms Mukhina said there were “a lot” of people who wanted to take part in the trip, adding that the group included travelers from across Russia, including Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad , stuck between Poland and Lithuania. The group also includes children who study skiing at a Russian school whose goal is to produce Olympic champions.
The reasons why Russians visit North Korea vary, Mukhina said, suggesting that some are interested in the chance to visit a closed country, while others are more interested in skiing and snowboarding.
This is not a traditional tourist group, but a “test delegation” that could pave the way for other Russian tourists, Mukhina said.
The trip surprised Asian observers, who expected that the first tourists to North Korea, after the pandemic, would come from China, North Korea’s biggest diplomatic ally and biggest economic vector.
According to a Tass report published in January, the tour group will visit Pyongyang landmarks such as the “Juche Ideas Tower,” named after North Korea’s guiding philosophy of juche, or self-sufficiency. Tourists will then travel to Masik Pass on the east coast, where the country’s most modern ski resort is located, according to Tass.
“At (Masik Pass) you will find yourself in a true paradise for winter sports enthusiasts,” we can read on the website of the Vostok Intur agency. Here you will find incredible slopes with different levels of difficulty that will satisfy the needs of experienced skiers and beginners alike.
The excursion costs US$750 per person, according to Tass and the travel agency.
According to Tass, the trip was organized as part of an agreement between Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Primorye region, and North Korean authorities.
Kozhemyako visited Pyongyang in December for talks on strengthening economic ties, part of a series of bilateral exchanges since the Kim-Putin summit. Before his trip, he told Russian media that he planned to discuss tourism, agriculture and trade cooperation.
The widening ties between North Korea and Russia come as the two countries are engaged in separate confrontations with the United States and its allies: North Korea over its advancing nuclear program and the Russia due to its prolonged war with Ukraine.
The Kim-Putin summit reinforced global suspicions that North Korea is supplying conventional weapons to Russia as part of its war in Ukraine, in exchange for advanced Russian weapons technology and other forms of support.
North Korea has slowly eased pandemic restrictions and opened its international borders as part of its efforts to revive its economy, which has been devastated by lockdowns and lingering U.S. sanctions. In August, South Korean spy services told lawmakers that North Korea’s economy contracted every year between 2020 and 2022 and that its gross domestic product declined 12% last year by compared to 2016.
Chinese travelers made up about 90% of foreign visitors to North Korea before the pandemic. In 2019, a record number of around 300,000 foreign tourists visited North Korea, earning North Korea between US$90 million and US$150 million, according to analyst estimates.
2024-02-09 18:16:47
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