China stops selling N.Korea-bound travel packages

China stops selling N.Korea-bound travel packages. April. 17, 2017 07:20. by Ja-Ryong Koo, Young-A Soh bonhong@donga.com,sya@donga.com.

China’s travel agencies including largest and state-run travel agency have stopped selling its tour packages bound to North Korea in recent days. The cancellation comes as Air China has decided to temporarily halt its Beijing-Pyongyang regular line on Monday. Experts analyzed the decision as an active pressure to North Korea made by President Xi Jinping who recently received the “non-currency manipulator” as a present from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The China Internet Information Center told on Sunday that major Chinese online tour agencies including the largest travel agent Sea Trip and other major agencies will no longer sell tour packages related to North Korea. “We no longer sell packages bound to North Korea since Sunday,” said a Sea Trip employee over the phone while confirming other agencies will follow suit.

While China’s largest government-owned CITS offered group tour packages to the North, it declined to give clear explanations, telling that the packages are no longer available. According to China National Tourism Administration, an official of CITS told that the agency received no explanation on the temporary halt from CNTA, the national tourism board.

China has abandoned their tour agencies to deal with any group tour activities to Korea since March 15 due to the deployment of THAAD in the Korean Peninsula.