For the first time in five years, North Korea has cautiously reopened its heavily guarded borders to a small group of foreign tourists, offering a rare glimpse inside one of the world’s most isolated nations. After a prolonged closure triggered by the global pandemic and deepening political tensions, the move is being seen as both a desperate economic gamble and a calculated PR maneuver by Pyongyang.
A Curated Experience, Far from Reality
The first visitors arriving primarily from China, Russia, and select European countries were tightly escorted on pre-approved itineraries, giving them access only to sanitized showcases of life in the secretive state. The tours began in Rason, a special economic zone in the northeast corner of the country, where foreign investment and trade have long been cautiously experimented with under North Korea’s watchful eye.
Every aspect of the tours was scripted. Visitors were shown gleaming factory floors, tidy hospitals stocked with medicines, and smiling schoolchildren singing odes to Kim Jong-un. While the surface painted a picture of order and pride, the reality behind closed doors of food shortages, energy crises, and heavy surveillance remained completely out of view.
Heavily Chaperoned and Closely Watched
Tourists were required to surrender personal phones and GPS-enabled devices at the border, issued instead with pre-approved cameras that were carefully inspected before and after each excursion. Their guides equal parts hosts and handlers shadowed their every step, steering conversations and carefully controlling what locals could say in passing encounters.
Straying from the group or attempting to interact with ordinary citizens was strictly forbidden, with violations risking immediate expulsion or worse. Even curiosity a glance at an unapproved side street or a question that touched on politics drew sharp reminders from the ever-present minders.
Why Now? A Nation in Need
North Korea’s decision to cautiously reopen isn’t driven by a sudden desire for openness. It’s financial survival, plain and simple. Years of isolation, compounded by sanctions, natural disasters, and severe agricultural failures, have left the economy teetering. Tourism, tightly controlled as it is, represents one of the few remaining channels for hard currency to trickle in.
By showcasing a carefully polished version of itself, North Korea hopes to present an image of resilience and order to the outside world, hoping to lure not only tourists, but potential investors to its long-stagnant special economic zones.
The Propaganda Theater in Full Swing
The tours were nothing if not performances. At a local school, children presented choreographed songs about the greatness of the Workers’ Party, set against projected animations of ballistic missiles soaring into the sky. In a local brewery, visitors were invited to sample North Korean beer while standing beneath banners hailing self-reliance and technological mastery.
This seamless blend of hospitality and propaganda is North Korea’s trademark offering just enough curiosity to keep foreign visitors intrigued, while maintaining an iron grip on the narrative.
A Divided Reaction
While some tourists described the experience as surreal and fascinating, human rights organizations immediately sounded the alarm. They warned that tourism revenue directly props up the Kim regime, funneling cash into the very military programs that threaten regional stability.
“Every dollar spent on these tours strengthens the machinery of repression,” one Seoul-based analyst remarked. “These visits, no matter how tightly controlled, give legitimacy to a regime that routinely violates the most basic human rights.”
A Temporary Opening or the Start of Something Bigger?
Whether this limited reopening marks the beginning of a larger diplomatic thaw or merely a short-term economic patch remains to be seen. For now, the message is clear: North Korea wants your money but not your questions.
