Latest news with #Koryo
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
North Korea marathon resumes 6 years after COVID, but it's not for everyone
North Korea hosted the first Pyongyang International Marathon in six years on Sunday, welcoming international runners to the isolated autocratic nation that closed its borders to all outsiders in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The 31st Pyongyang International Marathon drew more than 500 participants, including over 200 international runners, who came from nations including North Korea's neighbors and allies China and Russia. Open to both professionals and amateurs, the event featured a marathon and half-marathon, along with 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer races, according to information provided by the British travel agency Koryo Tours, which is based in China and organizes trips to North Korea for foreign travelers. The only way for foreign visitors to get into North Korea to take part in the race is to buy a roughly $2,500 ticket to join one of Koryo Tours' package trips to the so-called Hermit Kingdom. Those who took part in this year's race from abroad first had to get to Beijing for the flight to Pyongyang. The six-day tour package offered by Koryo was centered around the marathon. The race route started at Kim II Sung Stadium in the North Korean capital, where more than 50,000 people were gathered to cheer the runners on. According to the marathon's official website, the circular route took in "many of the iconic buildings, monuments and streets" of Pyongyang before "heading out into the countryside just outside of the urban center" and then looping back. A North Korean runner was the first to cross the finish line in the main event, according to the country's state-run television. Runners from the United States, South Korea and Malaysia were reportedly excluded from this year's event registration due to ongoing diplomatic tension between those countries and North Korea. The Russian Embassy in North Korea said in a social media post that five Russian nationals had participated in the event, with embassy staff and their families coming to cheer them on. The U.S. and many of its close allies have imposed a wide range of sanctions on North Korea — in addition to multilateral sanctions adopted by the United Nations Security Council — for its repeated weapons and nuclear tests. More recently, the U.S. has also sanctioned Pyongyang for its provision of troops and other support for Russia as it continues its three-year war on neighboring Ukraine. The U.S. State Department has for years warned Americans against traveling to North Korea, with its highest level of alert — a "Do not travel" advisory — in place "due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and … the critical threat of wrongful detention." Greenlanders respond to Trump: "It will never be for sale" "Warfare": Recreating an Iraq War firefight in real-time José Andrés on feeding the needy, and feeding the soul
CBS News
07-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
North Korea holds first Pyongyang International Marathon since borders were sealed during COVID pandemic
North Korea hosted the first Pyongyang International Marathon in six years on Sunday, welcoming international runners to the isolated autocratic nation that closed its borders to all outsiders in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. The 31st Pyongyang International Marathon drew more than 500 participants, including over 200 international runners, who came from nations including North Korea 's neighbors and allies China and Russia. Open to both professionals and amateurs, the event featured a marathon and half-marathon, along with 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer races, according to information provided by the British travel agency Koryo Tours, which is based in China and organizes trips to North Korea for foreign travelers. The only way for foreign visitors to get into North Korea to take part in the race is to buy a roughly $2,500 ticket to join one of Koryo Tours' package trips to the so-called Hermit Kingdom. Those who took part in this year's race from abroad first had to get to Beijing for the flight to Pyongyang. The six-day tour package offered by Koryo was centered around the marathon. The race route started at Kim II Sung Stadium in the North Korean capital, where more than 50,000 people were gathered to cheer the runners on. According to the marathon's official website , the circular route took in "many of the iconic buildings, monuments and streets" of Pyongyang before "heading out into the countryside just outside of the urban center" and then looping back. A North Korean runner was the first to cross the finish line in the main event, according to the country's state-run television. Runners from the United States, South Korea and Malaysia were reportedly excluded from this year's event registration due to ongoing diplomatic tension between those countries and North Korea. The Russian Embassy in North Korea said in a social media post that five Russian nationals had participated in the event, with embassy staff and their families coming to cheer them on. The U.S. and many of its close allies have imposed a wide range of sanctions on North Korea — in addition to multilateral sanctions adopted by the United Nations Security Council — for its repeated weapons and nuclear tests . More recently, the U.S. has also sanctioned Pyongyang for its provision of troops and other support for Russia as it continues its three-year war on neighboring Ukraine . The U.S. State Department has for years warned Americans against traveling to North Korea, with its highest level of alert — a "Do not travel" advisory — in place "due to the continuing serious risk of arrest and … the critical threat of wrongful detention."
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Foreign tour operators return to North Korea ahead of possible reopening
SEOUL, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Representatives from two Western travel agencies crossed into North Korea Thursday for the first time since the isolated regime closed its borders five years ago at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, raising hopes for new tourism offerings to a remote border city. Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours, both based in Beijing, announced that they had crossed the Chinese border into the North Korean special economic zone of Rason to discuss logistics for upcoming tours. "After waiting over 5 years since the closure of the North Korean borders to tourism due to the COVID-19 pandemic back in January 2020, we're happy to finally enter North Korea," Koryo Tours wrote in a blog post on its website. "The country is not yet fully open to tourism and this is a special trip for staff only," the post said. "We will use our time in Rason to discuss with our partners as well as check out any new tourism sites and find out any key North Korea tourism updates." Young Pioneer Tours also announced its arrival in Rason, posting photos of the border crossing and an image of a passport stamp on its Facebook page. "This visit marks a great milestone, as we are the first non-Russian foreigners to set foot in the country since its borders were sealed five years ago due to the pandemic," the post said. Both travel agencies had previously announced in January that North Korea was reopening Rason to tourism and began offering tentative itineraries for group tours. However, trips scheduled to begin this month were postponed, with the companies now taking bookings for March. Rason, located in the northeast of the country near the borders of China and Russia, has rarely been visited by Western tourists. The area became the North's first special economic zone in 1991 and has been a testbed for various market-based activities in the otherwise strictly state-controlled economy -- it is home to North Korea's first mobile phone network, first legal marketplace and first card payment system, according to Koryo. Koryo's planned five-day itinerary includes visits to factories, foreign-language and Taekwondo schools, seaside recreation areas and a bank where visitors will be able to open a North Korean bank account. Young Pioneer's offering is similar. Roughly 5,000 Western tourists visited North Korea annually before the COVID-19 border closure, according to media reports. United States citizens have been barred by the State Department from traveling to North Korea since 2017 following the imprisonment and death of college student Otto Warmbier. Warmbier was detained in North Korea in 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. He was released from prison in a vegetative state and died six days after returning home. A federal judge later found North Korea to be responsible for his torture and death.
