North Korea, which opened a window for Western tourism in February, appears to have closed it again after unhappy experiences with the first group’s reports and social media posts.
No groups had been admitted since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. The first group, organized by Beijing-based Koryo Tours, was warned in advance that North Korea was not a place that would tolerate pranks or “controversial stunts,” but it doesn’t appear that incidents like that were the issue. Instead, it appears that North Korean officials were offended by uncensored videos posted by members, feeling that they showed the country in a bad light.
Oh Gyeong-seob, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, told the Korea Times that the influencers’ uncensored footage had revealed too much about life in the North. Mr Oh said: “These materials led to international criticism, prompting North Korean authorities to temporarily suspend tourism until they can establish measures to control information leaks.”
Image by Tomoyuki Mizuta from Pixabay
