North Korea is about to welcome a group of Russians who will become the first tourists to visit the country since Pyongyang ordered its borders closed in 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic.
A report in Russian state media this week said sightseers will first fly to the North Korean capital before heading to a ski resort on the east coast. The trip is the latest signal of deepening ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met for a summit in September and appear to be finding increasingly common cause in their respective conflicts against the U.S. and its allies.
The trip was arranged between North Korean authorities and Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s Primorsky Krai region, the state media report said. Kozhemyako went to Pyongyang last month following the Putin-Kim meeting, telling the Russian press ahead of his trip that he expected to discuss tourism and other topics, the Associated Press reports.
The Russian sightseers’ four-day tour will depart on Feb. 9, according to Reuters.
On Wednesday, the U.S. and dozens of other countries issued a joint statement condemning ballistic missile transfers between North Korea and Russia, alleging that they were a breach of international sanctions. The condemnation came the week after the White House said it had evidence that Moscow had used the weapons to carry out attacks in Ukraine.
“The transfer of these weapons increases the suffering of the Ukrainian people, supports Russia’s war of aggression, and undermines the global non-proliferation regime,” the statement read.