North Korea bans Western influencers, journalists from participating in October’s International Trade Fair

North Korea will hold an international trade show in October, and a travel agency based in China will lead a group to participate. The operator said on the 7th that North Korean officials have banned Western influencers from joining the tour group.

According to AFP, North Korea has welcomed sporadic international tour groups in recent months, including hundreds of runners who participated in the Pyongyang International Marathon in April.

Young Pioneer Tours, a China-based travel agency specializing in North Korean tours, announced on the 5th that it will lead a foreign tour group to North Korea from October 24 to November 1.

According to the information released on the Young Pioneer Tours website, the tour group does not accept media reporters, travel content creators or influencers.

Rowan Beard, co-founder of Young Pioneer Tours, said that the restrictions on creators are “special requirements from the North Korean side.”

Beard said that once North Korea officially reopens, it is expected that influencers and YouTubers may be more strictly censored or restricted from participating in tourism activities.

He said the company did not know when Pyongyang would restart state media delegations.

The trip planned by Young Pioneer Tours costs 3,995 euros (about $4,688) and departs from Beijing, China, and takes in the Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair, the largest international business exhibition in North Korea.

The tour company said participants will have a unique opportunity to visit more than 450 booths including machinery, information technology (IT), energy, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and household goods, and the Pyongyang Chamber of Commerce will “host a VIP presentation for us to provide an in-depth introduction and analysis of the (North Korean) economic situation.”

The trip also includes visits to Pyongyang’s main attractions and Mount Myohyang, which is open to Western tourists for the first time in more than five years.

Nuclear-armed North Korea is isolated, and before it closed its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic, the main foreign tourists and business travelers came from China.

Despite Pyongyang’s post-pandemic reopening, tourist numbers have failed to rebound, a phenomenon analysts attribute to Beijing’s displeasure with North Korea’s explicit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.