Russian tourists enter North Korea in first foreign group since COVID-19 pandemic

A group of Russian tourists on Friday made their way to North Korea, marking the first group from any nation to visit the reclusive state following the COVID-19 pandemic in a landmark trip summed up by the Russian embassy as “Pyongyang opens its door.”

This tour highlights the growing collaboration between the two countries, particularly evident after a meeting last September between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East.

With travel restrictions limiting Russians’ access to Europe and the United States due to sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, many are exploring alternative vacation destinations. In October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed his endorsement of North Korea as a potential travel destination.

North Korea shuttered its borders with some of the tightest restrictions during the pandemic, in one incident shooting dead a South Korean who floated unauthorized into its waters.

An Air Koryo flight, operated by North Korea with an ageing fleet of mostly Russian-made aircraft, carried the 100 visitors to the Pyongyang International Airport, the Russian embassy said in a Facebook post on Friday.

The group included people in the tourism business and “travellers from literally all parts of Russia from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok” who will spend four days taking in sights in the North including a major ski resort, it said.

“We will look forward to new encounters with tourists from Russia!” it said. The ski resort it mentioned was a high-profile development project spearheaded by North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un after he took power in 2011.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency earlier cited Russia’s Tass news agency as saying that 97 Russians, including teen ski athletes, departed from Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on the first group tour to North Korea since the pandemic.

The visit comes after Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin met north of Vladivostok in September and pledged closer economic and military cooperation amid charges by Washington that Pyongyang was helping Putin in the war in Ukraine.

With inputs from agencies.