Some Chinese tour
operators have halted travel to the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
over rising safety concerns, but the
cancellations were the travel agents'
and tourists' own decisions, the
Foreign Ministry said on
Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Hong
Lei said the ministry has noticed
the cancellations, but "at present, at
the China-DPRK border, business is as
usual".
"Recently, some Chinese
travel agents and tourists, on seeing
the tense situation on the Korean
Peninsula, cancelled or postponed their
travel plans to the DPRK," he
added.
Local travel agents in
Dandong, Liaoning province, said Chinese
authorities in the northeastern city
had told agencies to halt overland
tourism to the DPRK, but the
city's tourism bureau said it
has not received any such
order.
"We have not received
any notification from the higher
authorities to halt tours to the
DPRK, and we will not attempt
to suspend them, either", said a
source at the bureau.
"Some
travel agencies cancel tours due to
lack of tourists in April because
it is the slow season for
tourism ... The number of visitors to
the DPRK may increase in
May."
A travel agent named
Wang at Dandong China International
Travel Service said the agency has
not received notification to halt
tours, and it is still organizing
group tours to the
DPRK.
Because Pyongyang will
celebrate one of its most important
festivals on Monday - the Day of
the Sun, birthday of the
country's founder, Kim Il-sung, the
grandfather of current leader Kim
Jong-un - her agency stopped sending
tourists to the country this week,
and the tours will be back to
normal next week, she
said.
Chen Haiwei, a manager
at Tumenjiang International Travel Agency,
said the agency's tours to the
DPRK are still operating as normal,
and it will send a tour group
to the country at the end of
this month.
The agency usually
sends two groups a week during
the busy season for DPRK tours,
and every group has 30 to 40 tourists,
she said.
However, a travel
agent in Dandong told Reuters by
telephone: "All (tourist) travel to
North Korea has been stopped, and
I've no idea when it will
restart".
