State media says Wonsan-Kalma eastern coastal tourist zone can accommodate 20,000 people and is at the heart of leader Kim ...

North Koreans are swimming and playing at a new beach resort that the country is touting as a boost for tourism.

Rason, a Special Economic Zone on the northeastern coast of North Korea, briefly reopened to foreign visitors in February 2025 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Koryo Tours organized ...

The nature emergency was declared at a full council meeting. Credit: ITV Meridian Councillor Grainne Rason said: "I’m delighted to see Councillors recognise the importance of our natural ...

Cork woman Janet Newenham is one of only a handful of Westerners to travel to North Korea in recent years. She tells Sarah Horgan what she witnessed in the secretive state, including a strange ...

While the country’s 13 administrative divisions remain closed, Rason, which borders China and Russia, is the only zone to open. It’s a special economic zone, where its economic policies differ ...

The country did not foresee the war in Ukraine and Russia’s need for weapons and troops when it restarted work on building resorts in 2022. After the first month of reopening, the limits on foreign ...

At a school uniform factory in Rason, North Korea, March 2025. Courtesy of Zoe Stephens, Koryo Group tour guide Absent from the itinerary was Pyongyang. Although Russians have been allowed to visit ...

He arrived in the city of Rason on Feb. 20. (See the video at the top of this article.) FLIGHT PASSENGERS NOW PAYING PLANE TICKET TAX TO DEPART POPULAR TRAVEL DESTINATION ...

Tourist group gets briefing from North Korean host at Namsan Hotel in Rason, North Korea on Feb. 20. [KORYO TOURS] North Korea abruptly suspended foreign tourism just weeks after reopening its borders ...

Late last month, Western tourists began arriving in Rason for group tours, as North Korea reopened tourism to foreigners for the first time since imposing COVID-19 border controls in early 2020.

Tour operators began supporting Western tourism to Rason on Feb. 20, but visitors' movements were more restricted than before the pandemic. Tourists weren't as capable of wandering local streets ...