North Korea is allowing foreigners to enter the country for the first time since closing its borders at the start of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
Bloomberg writes about this with reference to the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Those who want to visit the DPRK will have to undergo a two-day quarantine.
Before the pandemic, the country was mainly visited by Chinese tourists. They provided North Korea with foreign currency, which it used for foreign transactions (the DPRK is cut off from international banking operations due to sanctions).
With its borders closed for more than three years, North Koreaʼs economy, according to estimates by the Bank of Korea in Seoul, has fallen to a level lower than when Kim Jong-un came to power more than a decade ago.
- At the end of July 2023, North Korea welcomed foreign delegations — Russian and Chinese — for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. They took part in events for the 70th anniversary of the armistice in the Korean War. North Korea showed a large-scale military parade with its newest weapons.