North Korea has put the brakes on journalists, travel content creators, and influencer tourists attending the upcoming Pyongyang International Trade Fair (PITF) this October. While the country recently reopened its doors to foreign visitors for the first time in five years since the COVID pandemic, it seems they’re not quite ready for the unfiltered spotlight.
On Sunday, Young Pioneer Tours, a travel agency specializing in trips to North Korea, announced the news on its website. The trade fair is scheduled to take place in Pyongyang from October 27th to 31st, and it will introduce new tour packages. Travelers will have the opportunity to explore Pyongyang and take a hike up Mount Myohyang, North Korea’s equivalent to the Rockies.
Young Pioneer Tours hinted that participants can officially attend the Pyongyang International Trade Fair by obtaining a business visa through the North Korean Foreign Economic Exchange Association, suggesting that the product was actually launched for entrepreneurs seeking to conduct business with North Korea.
According to the travel agency, the product is priced at 3,995 EUR (about 4700 USD), including airfare between Beijing and Pyongyang, China, for a seven-night, eight-day schedule. Participants can attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the fair and tour more than 450 booths showcasing machinery, IT, energy, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and household goods from North Korean and foreign companies participating in the fair.
North Korea’s restriction of tourists in certain occupations seems to be a move to control content that appears to be viewed or mocked negatively from being exposed to the outside world as much as possible.
Earlier in February, North Korea resumed its first special economic zone tour since the COVID-19 pandemic, accepting Western group tourists for the first time in five years. However, the tour abruptly stopped after three weeks and has not resumed to date.
While North Korea did not specify the reason for the suspension, it was interpreted as a reaction to Western tourists who had been sightseeing posting stark and negative reviews on social media such as YouTube and Instagram regarding the reality of North Korea, a closed country.
North Korea is reportedly mobilizing its residents to conduct a tour in the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, located in Gangwon Province. For overseas tourists, the tour is expected to be open only to Russian tourists.
It has not been confirmed how North Korea will select reporters and influencers. If it succeeds in filtering certain occupations through tourism to be conducted in October, controls related to North Korean tourism are expected to be strengthened in the future.