Chinese Tours of N. Korea to Resume Next Month

Tours of North Korea for Chinese tourists resuming next month have started to be sold in Beijing and Guangdong province, the China Daily said yesterday.

Five to six licensed tour agencies are recruiting Chinese tourists for travel in North Korea in mid-April. As many as 200 people from Beijing alone will visit next month, the daily said.

A few tour packages are up for grabs. A Chinese state-run travel agency is offering a six-day package and a three-day package. For both, tourists will travel by plane but must do so via Hangzhou, Beijing, the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, and Shenyang, so two full days will be needed to get to and from North Korea.

The three-day package is a brief visit to Pyongyang and costs 3,380 yuan (495 U.S. dollars). The six-day tour costing 6,280 yuan (920 U.S. dollars) covers many parts of North Korea. Tourists will visit the day after their departure Mansudae Grand Monument and Chollima Statue in Pyongyang. From the third day, they will go to Panmunjom in Kaesong, beaches in Wonsan, Mount Kumgang, and then back to Pyongyang.

The six-day package could also include a tour to Mount Myohyang. Tourists can also choose to attend a performance celebrating the birthday of North Korea’s late leader Kim Il Sung April 15.

The tourists will also receive a long list of “don’ts.” They will be banned from making noise, mimicking Kim’s postures in front of his statue, and commenting on North Korea’s leaders, politics, military and economy.

Another big no-no is the taking of photos on the trip from Shinuiju to Pyongyang, streets and markets, and images conveying a negative impression of the communist country.

Tourists also must call South Korea “South Korea” instead of the Republic of Korea. They will also be required to leave at immigration offices mobile phones, products with the South Korean or U.S. flag and other symbols of these nations on them, and magazines with open covers upon entering North Korea.

The list also says few public phones are on North Korean streets, adding tourists can make phone calls only at hotels for 16 yuan (2.30 dollars) per minute.