Chinese travel agencies suspend overland tours to DPRK

As Pyongyang continues with its war rhetoric and aggressive posturing, Chinese travel companies have suspended overland tours to the DPRK out of safety concerns. Han Peng reports from China's border city of Dandong, the place from where most visitors enter into the DPRK.

Is this another sign of how serious the situation has already become? Travel agencies in China's border city of Dandong have suspended overland tours to the DPRK with immediate effect. The suddenness of the decision is evident from the fact that posters advertising such trips are still hung outside the offices of these agencies. Travel agencies themselves declined to give any interview… but they explained to frustrated tourists that the decision was due to the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

A local resident said:"This is quite unusual. For all these years it never happened, no matter how serious the situation was. The DPRK has warned foreigners to evacuate from South Korea, so I believe the travel agencies are concerned about the safety."

A local resident said:"This is a reasonable response. Safety is always the most important. But I also think the DPRK is exaggerating in the possibility of war."

Local tourism authorities also declined to comment on the situation. But they did tell CCTV in private that neither had they received any order from higher-up nor had they themselves issued any order to travel agenices. As for them, it was a spontaneous decision taken by the private travel companies, perhaps out of considerations of risk and profit.

China and the DPRK are divided by the mighty Yalu River. Facing the mounting tensions and the threat of war on the Korean peninsular, Chinese businessmen are choosing to play safe. But ordinary people are still quite interested in what is happening on the other side. Some of them who can't go to the DPRK are now using telescopes to try and catch a glimpse of what they can. For them, curiosity is still much bigger than fear of what their neighbor across the river says or does.