North Korea bars Western influencers from trade fair tour
SEOUL
Domestic tourists visit the Mokran Recreation Centre at the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in Wonsan, North Korea's Kangwon Province on July 2, 2025.(AFP)
North Korea has barred Western influencers from joining a delegation of tourists to an international trade fair in October, a China-based tour operator told AFP Monday.
Diplomatically isolated North Korea has welcomed sporadic groups of international visitors in recent months, including hundreds of foreign athletes in April for the first Pyongyang International Marathon in six years.
Travel agency Young Pioneer Tours (YPT) announced July 5 that it would take a group of foreign tourists on a trip to the country rom Oct. 24 to Nov. 1.
But the tour would not be open to journalists, travel content creators or influencers, the company said on its website.
YPT co-founder Rowan Beard told AFP the curbs on creators were "a specific request from the North Korean side."
"We anticipate that once the country officially reopens, there may be stricter scrutiny or limitations on influencers and YouTubers joining tours," Beard said.
Several online influencers have shared slickly produced videos from inside North Korea in recent months.
Priced at 3,995 euros ($4,704), the YPT tour will depart from the Chinese capital Beijing and take in the Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair, North Korea's biggest international business exhibition.
China has historically been the biggest diplomatic, economic and political backer of North Korea, which remains under crippling international sanctions.
Chinese people used to make up the bulk of foreign tourists and business visitors to the isolated nuclear nation before it sealed its borders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But numbers have not rebounded despite Pyongyang's post-pandemic reopening, a trend that some analysts have attributed to Beijing's anger at North Korea's explicit support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
