China To Talk Tourism With North Korea As Relationship Thaws

The cooperation between China and North Korea has evolved to a deeper level. Formerly at odds in some issues like the security of the countries' borders and North Korean actions on the Korean peninsula, the two countries are now unlikely bedfellows, discussing tourism and how each can benefit from the other.

KBS reports North Korean officials, as well as a representative from flag carrier Air Koryo, went China last month. The details were not revealed, but sources say that they had talks with some representatives from a big tourism agency in Guangdong Province. The talks might have gone smoothly as they allegedly agreed to sell tourism packages featuring North Korean tourist spots to the Chinese public.

To that end, both countries are expecting warm ties as the Chinese will get to visit some new sites previously unavailable to them; the North Koreans, in turn, gets Chinese money through the visitors to flow into their country.

SCMP says that Chinese tourists are expected to swarm the country by 2018. Perhaps, the biggest draw to the tourists is that they will see sites that no one else had seen before; they may also become the first visitors to the country, which is slowly opening up to the world, following talks with the US, neighbor South Korea, and China.

To accommodate visitors, more routes into North Korea will be made available through the northeast province of Jilin. Tour agencies will be given the task of maintaining and searching for easier routes into the country. There has also been a flood of inquiries about travel information as well as other information about the country.

A deputy manager for a travel company located in Changchun said that improvements to tourism sites in North Korea are underway. This is to prepare for the deluge of visitors; the official also said that they will be managing seven or eight tour routes into the once-reclusive nation, with tours to Nanyo and Pyongyang, Kaesong, and Panmunjom included in the packages.

It also appears that talks have progressed beyond the mere understanding of a full cooperation in terms of tourism. Allegedly, the Chinese government had stepped in to make travel to the country easier. It has committed to help North Korea in terms of its foreign currency shortage, to help it accommodate new tourists spend their money in the country.