North Korea has stopped tourists from visiting, just weeks after the first Western tourists entered the country for the first time in five years. North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, and started to scale back restrictions in the middle of 2023.

North Korea has abruptly suspended the entry of foreign tourists after reopening foreign tourism for the first time in about five years due to Covid-19, according to tour agencies Thursday.

North Korea has halted international trips to a city near its border with China, travel agencies said on Wednesday, abruptly reversing Pyongyang's recent decision to reopen its frontier to tourism after five years of isolation.

Visitors were taken to Rason, in the country’s special economic zone, on a five-day trip organised by Beijing-based Koryo Tours.