North Korea bars Western influencers from trade fair tour

BEIJING - North Korea has barred Western influencers from joining a delegation of tourists to an international trade fair in October, a China-based tour operator told AFP on July 7.

Diplomatically isolated North Korea has

welcomed sporadic groups of international visitors

in recent months, including hundreds of foreign athletes in April for the first Pyongyang International Marathon in six years.

Travel agency Young Pioneer Tours (YPT) announced on July 5 that it would take a group of foreign tourists on a trip to the authoritarian state from Oct 24 to Nov 1.

But the tour would not be open to journalists, travel content creators or influencers, the company said on its website.

YPT co-founder Rowan Beard told AFP the curbs on creators were “a specific request from the North Korean side”.

“We anticipate that once the country officially reopens, there may be stricter scrutiny or limitations on influencers and YouTubers joining tours,” Mr Beard said.

The company had “no visibility” on when Pyongyang would restart official media delegations, he added.

Several online influencers have shared slickly produced videos from inside North Korea in recent months.

Mr Chad O’Carroll, founder of specialist website NK News, said many influencers tend to have larger audiences than professional journalists, but “they are normally working without editors and tend to gain extra views through sensationalist-style content”.

“North Korean authorities likely see few benefits and major risks with allowing social media influencers to visit the country, given what we saw earlier this year,” Mr O’Carroll told AFP.

“The result is a community of potential visitors who, in DPRK authorities’ minds, are not likely to produce content that is favourable to state interests,” he said, using North Korea’s official name.

Lavish gifts

Priced at €3,995 (S$6,000), the YPT tour will depart from the Chinese capital Beijing and take in the Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair, North Korea’s biggest international business exhibition.

Participants will have a “unique chance” to stroll through over 450 trade booths exhibiting machinery, IT, energy, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and household items, YPT said.

The company added that the Pyongyang Chamber of Commerce would “hold a VIP presentation for us for an in-depth overview and insights into the (North Korean) economy”.

The itinerary also includes major sights in Pyongyang, as well as the first Western visit in over five years to Mount Myohyang – a mystical peak boasting a museum of lavish gifts presented to former North Korean leaders.

China has historically been the biggest diplomatic, economic and political backer of North Korea, which remains under crippling international sanctions.

Chinese people used to make up the bulk of foreign tourists and business visitors to the isolated nuclear nation before it sealed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But numbers have not rebounded despite Pyongyang’s post-pandemic reopening, a trend that some analysts have attributed to Beijing’s anger at North Korea’s explicit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. AFP