Having retired, Wang Meili plans to travel the globe, including to the isolated country of North Korea, which is located across the river from her ancestral homeland in northeastern China. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic six years ago, North Korea effectively locked its borders and has maintained strict control over outside visitors ever since. Just last month, daily passenger train services with China were restored, and the airport is partially open again. However, it has not yet resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese residents, who were once its most frequent visitors.
To go, we need to obtain visas. Based on his upbringing in the border city of Dandong, 68-year-old Wang has already obtained his passport. The fact that Air China will be flying again to Pyongyang on Monday is just one more indicator that North Korea is reopening. However, at this time, entry is restricted to individuals in possession of valid work or study visas only. This week, AFP reporters in Dandong—the primary entry point for international trade and travel—saw a passenger train, which was surprisingly empty, rattle over a bridge into North Korea.
Tourists posed for photos and looked through binoculars toward the North Korean city of Sinuiju on the other bank as they stood on a nearby bridge that was partially devastated by US bombs during the Korean War. Tourists were taken by tour boats to observe North Koreans cleaning boats on the bank or riding bicycles along the Yalu River, which separates the two nations. Guards in uniform were stationed at regular intervals along the perimeter.
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