North Korea is accepting more foreigners, but what is its aim?

According to a report by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency on the 4th of this month, North Korea has begun disseminating tourism information through its foreign propaganda media.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan has imposed strict entry restrictions since January 2020 as a measure to prevent infection, but has resumed accepting foreign tourists. In February of this year, entry and exit restrictions were lifted as a measure against COVID-19.
This was the first time a group of Russian tourists had visited North Korea since the end of the Cold War. It is expected that North Korea will also resume accepting Chinese tourists, its most popular customers, in the future.
According to a report by Yonhap News on the 4th, this month's issue of a monthly magazine in North Korea features a museum in the capital, Pyongyang.
The article introduced the Pyongyang bibimbap served at the museum's restaurant, and also included tourist information such as the stone lantern at the site of Gaegoksa Temple, which was built by King Taejo, the founder of the Goryeo Dynasty.
It is such a representative North Korean dish that the late dynasty scholar Lee Gyu-gyeong introduced it as a Pyongyang specialty along with Pyongyang cold noodles.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, North Korea
The border was closed early at the end of the month in an attempt to thoroughly prevent the inflow of the virus and infected people. As the infection spreads around the world, North Korea has long maintained that there are no infected people in the country, although the truth of the matter is unclear.
However, in May of last year, North Korea announced its first confirmed cases. At the time, the North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency said, "We have been firmly adhering to emergency quarantine measures for two years and three months since February 2020.
"A national emergency of the greatest importance has occurred, opening a gap in the front lines," the report said. This announcement came as a shock to the world, as the country had been insisting up until that point that there were "zero cases of infection."
In January of last year, North Korea lifted its border closure measures, but as mentioned above, it reopened the border after the first confirmed cases of infection.
Chains. Logistics were disrupted, and the stockpiles of rice, which were a lifeline, were quickly depleted. As a result, residents were suffering from hunger and it was reported that many were dying of starvation.
North Korea has been strictly controlling the borders and strictly restricting the entry and exit of people and goods.
The Russian defense minister and members of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo were invited to the 2000 anniversary event, and travel between the two countries has gradually resumed.
North Korea resumed international flights between Seoul and Vladivostok in Russia for the first time in about three and a half years. The passenger planes included passengers from China and Russia who had been stranded in the country due to border closures.
North Koreans who had been in the country for a long time boarded planes to return to their country. In late September, foreigners were allowed to enter the country on the condition that they underwent a two-day quarantine upon arrival.
Then, on February 9th of this year, an Air Koryo flight carrying a group of Russian tourists from Vladivostok arrived in North Korea.
They were the first foreign tour group to be welcomed since the border closure imposed as a COVID-19 countermeasure was lifted, sparking speculation that North Korea will begin accepting foreign tourists in earnest.
As mentioned above, North Korea is currently focusing on disseminating tourism information, and on the 2nd of this month, 41 Chinese government scholarship students entered North Korea.
The Chinese Embassy in North Korea announced the news, saying, "This is the first case of an officially dispatched foreign student entering North Korea since the COVID-19 outbreak," and explaining, "The China-North Korea study abroad exchange project has officially resumed."
According to the embassy, 45 privately funded students have recently entered North Korea and begun their studies. Yonhap News reported, "There are speculations that the country may soon open its doors to Chinese tourists.
North Korea has begun to actively welcome foreigners, but it is believed that the aim is to earn foreign currency.