First cycling day trip to North Korea launched from China
May 15, 2014
So close, and now so accessible. A new scheme allows day visas for Chinese tourists wanting to visit North Korea from Tumen.
A new scheme has been announced that provides Chinese citizens with an (almost) hassle-free visa to North Korea within a day, specifically for cycling day trips.
The trip, including the visa, costs around $50.
Some 35 Chinese tourists embarked on the first short cycling tour on May 2.
They cycled across the
border from Tumen, in the northeast of China, and visited Nanyang City
in North Korea before returning to China the same day.
The group visited Nanyang
train station, the Korean War Hero Martyrs Monument, a portrait of Kim
Il Sung, The Tower of Immortality, attended a show and sampled local
snacks from a small farm market behind Nanyang International Hotel.
That hotel is where Kim Il Sung reportedly met Zhou Baozhong, a famous Chinese World War II general.
The first trip took a little more than three hours.
Bike race into North Korea
Zhao Xin, one of the cyclists on the trip, told Xinhua,
China's state news agency, "In North Korea, the food was
pollution-free: vegetables, fish, eggs, they all tasted not bad. We had
no worries eating there."
Rise of North Korea tours in China
Tumen, part of Yanbian
Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China's Jilin Province, is a popular
border city for travel to North Korea.
Travel to North Korea from China has grown recently, with North Korea approving more tour routes from some Chinese cities.
About 10,000 Chinese tourists visit North Korea each year through organized tours, according to Xinhua.
"The biggest advantage
of Tumen in cross-border travel to North Korea is the efficiency in
organizing a visa," said Zhong Shi-jiu, the deputy mayor of Tumen, in an
interview.
"If travelers register
up front with related travel agencies in Tumen as well as Tumen City
Tourism Bureau, then you can get a visa and your trip approved the same
day you apply for one here."
That would make travel to North Korea easier than travel to Hong Kong, at present, for Chinese mainlanders.
The trip isn't available to non-mainland Chinese travelers.
Tumen also offers walking tours between the two countries.
It recently relaunched a train service between China and North Korea's Mount Chibo.
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