NORTH Korea's "capitalist city" is set to open and welcome tourists next week - with a packed itinerary that visitors are to strictly follow.
The launch of the bizarre experimental city is to be the first organised tour open to international visitors since the country's borders shut off from the world in January 2020.
The five-day itinerary centres around the northerly city of Rason - chillingly sitting right on the Russian and Chinese borders.
The Special Economic Zone of Rason is the only part of North Korea where capitalism is promoted in the totalitarian state.
Residents can buy and sell houses and even open a private bank account - all of which are strictly prohibited elsewhere in North Korea.
Several activities are packed into each day on the tour, from watching seals to visiting a health facility that treats chronic gastritis.
Tourists will also get stuck in with a cookery class and, in the same day, visit a training centre dedicated to the massively popular Chinese-made game "Go".
But towards the end of the tour, visitors are set to have activities replaced with grandiose celebrations for the late General Kim Jong II's birthday.
While western tourists may be desperate to take a peek inside North Korea - warnings have been put out of high risk of arrest and detention in the country.
The strict Return of North Korea Tourism Tour bizarrely bizarrely in the Chinese city of Yanji.
Here, tourists are required to attend a "late evening pre-tour briefing" at the hotel where they'll receive etiquette lessons and a chilling warning on how to stay safe while travelling North Korea.
Even the briefing is under strict time limits and is to only last one hour.
The tour will commence by crossing the border from China into North Korea via Wonjong Bridge.
Upon arrival in Rajin, the bigger of the sister cities in Rason, tourists will have a look around Hae'an Park which, in typical North Korean style, has "manicured lawns" and a "giant television displaying news".
You'll also get to take a look around a greenhouse where flowers that are named after North Korean leaders are grown - dubbed Kimilsungia and Kimjongilia.
In a sudden twist of events, visitors will receive a Taekwondo demonstration before visiting the Pupils' and Schoolchildren's Palace.
Afterwards, guests will check into the Namsan Hotel in Rajin.
Koryo Group, the Beijing-based tour company that have organised the trip, describes the hotel as being "of modest size" - yet "a little past its prime".
Tourists will presumably have to wake up early for the second day of the tour as the itinerary is packed - from visits to a foreign language bookshop to exploring a fine art gallery that's said to be in a "small windowlesss two-storey building".
There will also be a boat trip to Pipha Island to catch a close-up glimpse of the seals that reside on its land.
In the afternoon, visitors will have a kimchi making class and also visit a training centre dedicated to the Chinese-made game "Go" which has been played worldwide since World War II.
A bank will also bizarrely be visited, where you can change your money into local currency - but keep in mind you can't take it out of the country.
To top off the day, tourists will have the riveting and random chance to visit the Rason School Uniform Factory which received a refurbishment in 2023.
A trip to Tumangang Town is on the itinerary for day three, which is chillingly right up on the Russian and Chinese borders.
Here, visitors can experience the Russia-DPRK Friendship House and the Three-Countries Border Viewpoint - where you can look directly into China and Russia.
Today is also the day a duck farm that breeds black swans and the sea cucumber breeding farm will be explored.
Following the string of weird activities, tourists will be taken to Sonbong - the smaller of the two cities of Rason.
And following a hike on Mount Shahyang, day three will conclude and visitors will be returned to Rajin.
Day four, which is set to be on February 16, is General Kim Jong II's birthday, meaning no activities are in place but instead tourists will be forced to partake in celebrations.
The itinerary reads: "We expect city-wide celebrations, including Mass Dance, a highlight of all national holiday tours to North Korea.
"The itinerary for today is not fixed as we will try to attend as many festive activities as possible."
The tour will conclude with a taste from home as visitors will explore the Ryongysong Beer Factory - a North Korean pale lager that was actually brewed at a former British brewery in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
The Paekhaksan Combined Foodstuff Processing Factory, where local brands of snacks and drinks are produced, is also on the itinerary to visit.
And saving the best til last, a visit will be paid to the Chonghak Sanatorium - a medical facility where chronic gastritis and rheumatoid arthritis are"cured" by using mineral water from Mountain Chonghak.
Then, visitors will return to Wonjong Bridge and on to Yanji before flying back home to normality.
Koryo Tours is selling the six-night trip from £586 per person between February 12 and February 18, 2025.
Air China flights from Heathrow to Yanji take around 15 to 17 hours witha stopover in Bejing and start at around £600.
Rason is dubbed the Special Economic Zone, and is the only place in socialist North Korea where capitalism is proudly promoted.
The country's first ever mobile phone network was trialled here, as well as the country's first card payment system.
A casino is situated in the city which is often a hotspot for Chinese businessmen.
A bazaar also happens where North Koreans can sell Chinese-made goods.
Ports here have also been leased to Chinese and Russian companies.
And despite home ownership technically being illegal in socialist North Korea, in Rason residents are allowed to purchase real estate as part of a localised experiment.
Rason doesn't have an airport and is on the opposite side North Korea to Pyongyang - meaning very few tourists have ventured this neck of the woods.
The Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to North Korea.
It states: "While daily life in the capital city, Pyongyang, may appear calm, the security situation in North Korea can change quickly with no advance warning about possible actions by the authorities.
"This poses significant risks to British visitors and residents."
It also warns that same-sex relationships and behaviours are considered unacceptable, and insults to the North Korean political system will be "taken very seriously".
So much so, foreign nationals could be arrested for now showing sufficient respect, the FCDO adds.
By Patrick Harrington, Foreign News Reporter
HUNDREDS of Brits have signed up to visit the "North Korean Benidorm" when it opens - despite dire warnings to would-be tourists.
Kim Jong-un has struggled for years to launch his massive new beach resort, with the grand opening delayed again and again.
But the Wonsan-Kalma resort will finally welcome guests later this year - and now 250 Brits have signed up to be there.
This is despite a terrifying warning that a trip to the dictatorship could cost holidaymakers their lives.
Kim reportedly sent a fact-finding mission to Spain's Costa Blanca in 2017 to inspire his vanity-project resort - built at a former missile base - hence the "Benidorm" nickname.
Work kept stalling and the site was even overrun by homeless wanderers - known as "kotjebi" in North Korea - who filled the empty hotels with faeces.
Now, after years of delay, the ribbon will be cut this summer, with the first trips in July up for sale through Vostok Intur, a Russian travel agency.
And it seems Brits are keen.
Holiday planners On The Beach made a page for people who were interested, and it racked up more than 250 sign-ups within a month.
But campaigners warn that nobody’s safety is assured in Kim's kingdom.
