After 52 years of seclusion, Asia's hermit state is about to roll out a welcome mat for visitors. Foreigners, including South Koreans, will have visa-free access to Sinuiju, North Korea's new capitalist enclave, from next Tuesday.
The historic step by one of the world's most xenophobic nations was confirmed yesterday by Pyongyang's consulate in Shenyang, in northeast China, which said it had agreed in principle to drop barriers to entry.
Yang Bin, the Chinese-born tycoon appointed chief executive of the 132 square kilometre special administrative region last Tuesday, said yesterday that the new arrangements would begin next Tuesday. On Friday, he had said visa-free entry would begin yesterday, but a group of South Korean and Japanese reporters in Shenyang hoping to enter the SAR was unable to do so.
'We have agreed in principle to this,' said an official of the North Korean consulate in Shenyang. 'Yang is the chief executive. It is up to him to decide who to let into his SAR. This will include South Koreans. But we have not yet received concrete instructions on how to do this. These should come very quickly.'
Until now, only Chinese tourists have been allowed to enter North Korea without a passport and then only in groups that were organised and subject to 24-hour official surveillance.
Once the visitors enter North Korea they discover they have embarked on a 'holiday' unlike that in any other country, one travel agent said. They must go in a group that is accompanied by a tour guide and an agent of the secret police whose job is to ensure the guide does and says nothing that is against the regulations.
The visitors must agree to strict rules. One is that they may take photographs only of approved places, which exclude street scenes, the view from trains, ordinary people and especially members of the police and the Korean People's Army.