In latest days, information that worldwide passenger prepare companies between China and North Korea are resuming has been spreading quickly throughout the journey business.
The set off was an announcement from the official WeChat account of China Railway stating that, beginning March 12, 2026, worldwide passenger trains will function in each instructions between Beijing and Dandong in China, and Pyongyang in North Korea.
Xiangyu, a tour information at a journey company in Dandong, mentioned that a lot of the web pleasure could be untimely.
“Right now the whole internet is spreading the news about the March 12 train reopening to North Korea,” he mentioned. “But the service is mainly for business travelers and specific personnel. In other words, only business visas are currently available — tourist visas for ordinary travelers have not been reopened at all.”
He added that many tour operators are already selling “first departure” tour packages.
“I’ve been working along the border for more than a year and have been watching the situation closely. There has been no official notice about reopening tourism to North Korea. Agencies asking people to pay now to ‘lock in a spot’ or selling so-called inaugural tour groups are basically charging people an ‘intelligence tax’ —gambling with travelers’ money on a possibility.”
In truth, rumors concerning the reopening of North Korean tourism aren’t new. In August 2024, overseas media additionally reported that North Korea may resume tourism. At the time, the Chinese journey business was getting ready eagerly, however Pyongyang by no means confirmed the reviews and the dialogue step by step pale away.
According to official North Korean statistics, greater than 200,000 overseas vacationers visited the nation in 2018, a file excessive, with about 90% from China.
Now that the China–North Korea worldwide prepare service has resumed, journey knowledge platform VariFlight exhibits that on March 11, flight searches to Dandong elevated by about 50% in contrast with the day past, whereas prepare ticket searches to the town rose roughly 20%.
This means that even after six years of suspended worldwide tourism following the border closure, Chinese vacationers’ curiosity in North Korea has not pale.
