A Beijing-based North Korea tour operator hailed an unexpected announcement that the country would reopen to foreign tourists this winter as "very good news". Koryo Tours says they had received notice from isolated North Korea that tourism to the northeastern city of Samjiyon would resume in December after nearly five years of Covid-triggered closure. "I'm sure… it's just like the first step towards a broader reopening," says Greg Vaczi, the company's DPRK Tour Manager, told AFP in an interview in Hong Kong. "We do hope that it's going to be that tourism will be back to the same level and same extent as it used to be before Covid." SOUNDBITES