For most of its post-war history, North Korea continues to operate tightly controlled tourism for foreign visitors. Western tourists travel through specialist agencies, most famously, the Beijing-based Young Pioneer Tours, on strictly supervised group itineraries covering the capital Pyongyang, the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and approved sites.
Tourism ended abruptly in January 2020, when the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) became one of the first countries in the world to close its borders in response to COVID-19, and this was before the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared a pandemic. This meant that foreign diplomats were sequestered, foreign NGOs were expelled, and any (albeit limited) cross-border trade with China was suspended for extended periods.
The Reopening Timeline
North Korea chose a more selective approach to any border crossings in late 2023, and allegedly in 2024, a Russian tour group was admitted to ski in DPRK. This tour group was admitted based on a bilateral arrangement between Pyongyang and Moscow that reflected the increasingly close relationship between the two governments following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
This reopening was specific and intended only for Russian tourists, Chinese tourists through a separate bilateral arrangement, and visitors from other countries with which North Korea maintains relatively diplomatic relations. Although tourism has remained closed for citizens of the United States and South Korea, where each country also has advisories against it.
The South Korea–North Korea border remains among the most heavily militarized in the world, with no border crossings in either direction.
What Tourism in North Korea Actually Looks Like
For travelers who are eligible and willing to navigate the logistical and ethical complexity of visiting the DPRK, the tourism experience is unlike most places.
While similar to visits in places like Iran or Bhutan, all tourists travel with mandatory [government-assigned] guides. But, itineraries are fixed and pre-approved, so like in Pyongyang, this would include the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun (mausoleum of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il), the Arirang Mass Games (when in season, typically August or September) which is a choreographed stadium performance symbolizing national pride and identity, the Victorious War Museum, and other various monuments, schools, and model residential buildings selected to present the country in its most favorable light.
While photography is permitted in approved locations and prohibited in others, the rules are enforced by your guides, and accidental violations are supposedly handled through confiscation rather than detention. (You have no power or control over what you might be accused of and what that means as far as punishment goes.) Regardless, visitors should behave with extreme caution and respect at all times. Every aspect of your visit such as transportation, accommodation, meals, and guide interaction, is managed by the state tourism authority.
Should You Go?
If you are thinking about visiting North Korea it does raise ethical questions. For example, any tourism revenue flows to the North Korean state. And, visitors are participants in a tightly controlled performance intended to project legitimacy.
The guidance is straightforward, and you are choosing to enter at your own risk. You need to check your government's current travel advisory, verify whether citizens of your country are currently being admitted, use only established agencies with a long operational history in DPRK tourism, and do not carry any materials (books, articles, electronic devices with cached content) that could be interpreted as "subversive" to the government. The detention of Otto Warmbier in 2016, an American student who died following his imprisonment, remains a reminder of the risk and consequences that "rule violations" can carry in DPRK.