In a possible first since the pandemic, North Korea welcomes Russian tourists

A group of Russian tourists arrived in Pyongyang on February 9, the first known foreign tour group to visit nuclear-armed North Korea since before pandemic-linked border closures.

A group of Russian tourists arrived in Pyongyang on February 9, the first known foreign tour group to visit nuclear-armed North Korea since before pandemic-linked border closures.

Their arrival comes as Moscow and Pyongyang bolster ties, with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un making a rare overseas trip to meet President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Far East last September.

Images shot by AFP reporters showed Russian tourists arriving at Pyongyang airport, many wearing puffer jackets and pushing suitcases or winter sports equipment including skis, smiling and waving as they moved through the airport and left for nearby coaches.

South Korea and Washington have claimed the North has subsequently shipped weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine, which would violate rafts of UN sanctions on both countries, the North for its banned weapons programmes and Russia for the war with Kyiv.

The tour group will be in North Korea for four days, Natalia Zinina, a manager at Vostok Intur tour agency which organised the trip, told Seoul-based specialist site NK News.

Around 100 visitors will first stop in "Pyongyang before traveling to the Masikryong Ski Resort near the city of Wonsan on the country's east coast," the report said.

It has become harder for Russians to travel to Europe and the United States since sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has also visited Pyongyang, said last year that the North could be recommended as a tourist destination, Tass reported.