The secretive country closed its borders five years ago, shutting out aid workers, diplomats and foreign travellers, but last week the first Western tourists were allowed back in – this is what they s

But tourism to North Korea is contentious, especially as travellers have been allowed back before aid workers and most Western diplomats, including the UK's. Critics, including Joanna Hosaniak from the Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, argue these trips mainly benefit the regime.

Those visiting since Covid impressed by tech boom but shocked by ‘brainwashed’ schoolchildren in ‘desolate’ city of Rason

Justin Martell recently became the first known American to step foot inside the secretive nation since the onset of the pandemic more than five years ago.

SEOUL, South Korea — A small group of foreign tourists has visited North Korea in the past week, making them the first international travelers to enter the country in five years except for a group of Russian tourists who went to the North last year.

After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world’s most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders.

A group of Western tourists were treated to a surreal performance of North Korean schoolchildren dancing and singing against a backdrop of animated ballistic missiles during the first officially sanctioned trip to the Hermit Kingdom in five years.

North Korea has further cut itself off from the outside world, limiting diplomatic relations and restricting foreign visitors.