Self-driven tour to N Korea expected to restart

The suspended project of self-driven tours from China to North Korea is likely to be recovered this May, China News service reports.

In June 2011, North Korea opened up to self-driven tourists for the first time, allowing Chinese tourists to visit specific areas. Three rounds of tours were organized before the subsequent suspension. Around 150 people participated in the program before it was shut down.

The first group of visitors departed from Hunchun Quanhe ports of Jinlin province in northeast China and drove to the Rason areas of North Korea. They then took a tour of the Rajin port, visited the Ocean Village, and watched a children's performance.

The project was suspended in October last year due to the cold winter. As Jiang Hao, manager of the Jilin branch of China Youth travel agency explained, the roads within the North Korea territory always freeze in the winter, making driving unsafe. In addition, the death of the DPRK supreme leader Kim Jong Il affected the project.

The project is still favored by many tourists from different regions of China, so many agencies plan to restart the group tour from this year's May Day holiday. It is expected that by May, there will be 600 vehicles registered to tour the DPRK.

Travel to North Korea is one of the main focuses of the tourism project of Jilin Province, which has opened China-Russia circular cross-border travel, China-DPRK self drive cross-border tour, and tours between Tumen, Jilin and the DPRK border.