A China-based tour agency has begun taking bookings for an international marathon in Pyongyang next month, marking the latest sign of North Korea reopening to foreign tourists.

Beijing has yet to halt its crackdown on North Korean workers in China or bilateral trade with Pyongyang, Daily NK has learned.

North Korean officials have suspended foreign tourism visits to the insular nation about a month after lifting restrictions for Western tourists, but did not say why the change was made.

Rights groups say Pyongyang imposed excessive and unnecessary measures during pandemic that made ‘already isolated country even more repressive’

North Korea has stopped tourists from visiting, just weeks after the first Western tourists entered the country for the first time in five years. North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions in the middle of 2023.

The country has halted international trips to a city near its border with China, travel agencies said, abruptly reversing Pyongyang's recent decision to reopen its frontier to tourism after five years of isolation.

Beijing-based tour operators are the first to lead groups into the reclusive nation’s Rason Special Economic Zone, which borders Russia and China.

Pyongyang will provide more troops to Russia, who will be deployed to the Kursk region, according to South Korea's intelligence agency.

In February 2024, North Korea accepted about 100 Russian tourists, the first foreign nationals to visit the country for sightseeing. That surprised many observers, who thought the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and major ally.

North Korea has reopened its borders to international tourists for the first time in five years, aiming to revive its struggling economy. The move primarily targets generating foreign currency through tourism,

North Korean workers have been forced to work on Chinese fishing vessels for years on-end, facing verbal and physical abuse as well as harsh conditions. | TAG24