A tour operator said yesterday it had opened bookings for trips to a North Korean border city to celebrate former leader Kim Jong Il's birthday, offering foreign tourists the first chance to visit since the pandemic.

Koryo Tours said the North would reopen Rason, a city on the border with China, to foreign tourists this month, five years after Pyongyang sealed its frontiers in response to Covid-19.

The Beijing-based travel agency added: "This tour will take you to the must-see sites in Rason - North Korea's Special Economic Zone. Plus, you will travel to North Korea to celebrate one of the biggest holidays - Kim Jong Il's Birthday."

The birthdays of members of the ruling Kim dynasty are typically feted in the North with large scale public celebrations, including military parades.

The birthday of former ruler Kim Jong Il - father of current leader Kim Jong Un - is marked as Day of the Shining Star on February 16.

Itineraries on offer also included visiting North Korean factories, schools and a bank at which tourists can open their very own North Korean bank account.

However, although the tour is open for bookings, it is "not yet confirmed," Koryo said, adding it was "awaiting information from the Chinese authorities on the opening of the Chinese side of the border."

The tours were slated to start in China, with guests to be driven to the border with the nuclear-armed North.

Rason became North Korea's first special economic zone in 1991 and has been a testing ground for new economic policies. It is home to the socialist country's first legal marketplace and has a separate visa regime from the rest of North Korea.

Tourism to North Korea was limited before the pandemic, with tour companies saying around 5,000 Western tourists visited each year. Americans were banned from travelling there after the imprisonment and subsequent death of student Otto Warmbier in 2017.

Agence France-Presse

People visit the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. AFP

Tour bookings to North Korea resume after five years