In 2012 North Korea was visited only by 4,500 foreigners, and in 2014 the number was three times less.
Despite the fact that North Korea is regularly included on the lists of the most dangerous countries for tourists, this country is an attraction to many for its uniqueness.
According to Russian tourists who visited North Korea, despite the meticulous customs clearance and a lot of prohibitions, their impression of the country is inexpressible, as it is a true reserve of totalitarian socialism amidst magnificent nature.
In an interview with Sputnik, Vasily Lebedev, the director of tour company “Otkritiye,” which takes tourists to the DPRK, said that due to geographical proximity, more and more people travel to North Korea from the Far East, especially to the special economic zone of Rason, where they do not need a visa.
Rason is a North Korean city and ice-free port in the Sea of Japan on the northeast tip of the country.
“Tourists from Russia and China come there on weekends to spend time on the clean beaches of the Sea of Japan,” Lebedev said.
Looking at why some people travel to the DPRK, the director said that real adventurers do not travel for comfort but to see something genuine, unusual, something unique, and North Korea is definitely one of such countries.
“It is a unique country; you will not see anything like it in other countries. In addition, simple North Koreans are benevolent and slightly naive. They do not even know that in the outside world their country is considered as an aggressor,” Lebedev said.
