North Korea will reopen to foreign tourism in December after nearly five years of Covid-triggered closure, two specialized tour operators said Wednesday.

"We have received confirmation from our local partner that tourism to Samjiyon and potentially the rest of the country will officially resume in December 2024," Beijing-based Koryo Tours said on its website.

Samjiyon, near North Korea's mountainous northern border with China, is a gateway city to Mount Paektu, where official narratives say the late supreme leader Kim Jong Il was born.

His son and successor, Kim Jong Un, has poured huge resources into developing the area, with the vast project including new apartments, hotels and a ski resort.

KTG Tours, also based in China, said on its Facebook page that it had been told "tourists will be able to go to Samjiyon (Mt. Paektu area) this winter."

"Exact dates to be confirmed. So far just Samjiyon has been officially confirmed but we think that Pyongyang and other places will open too!" it added.

North Korea sealed off its borders in early 2020 to protect itself from COVID-19, with even its own nationals prevented from entering for years.

But signs of reopening began in the second half of 2023, with the resumption of international flights allowing stranded nationals to finally return home.

A group of Russian tourists visited in February 2024, at a time when ties between Moscow and Pyongyang were growing closer.

Before the pandemic, tourism to the North was limited, with tour companies saying around 5,000 Western tourists visited each year.

US citizens made up about 20 percent of the market before Washington banned travel following the imprisonment and subsequent death of American student Otto Warmbier.

Koryo Tours warned that -- after almost a five-year hiatus -- the early days of the tourism restart may not go particularly smoothly.

"For those hoping to visit on one of the sooner tours, we would like to emphasize that things may be a little more chaotic than usual," it said. (AFP)