Representatives from Young Pioneer Tours and Koryo Tours crossed over the Chinese border to the Rason Special Economic Zone last week as part of preparatory efforts to resume full-fledged tours to the DPRK in the near future, marking a first since before the pandemic.

Rowan Beard and Greg Vaczi join the podcast shortly upon their return from North Korea to discuss how their trips came about, the highlights of their visits and the changes they observed in the country in the five years since its borders were shut to Western travelers.

Rowan Beard is the co-founder of Young Pioneers Tours.

Greg Vaczi is a tour manager at Koryo Tours.

About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

NK News subscribers can listen to this and other exclusive episodes from their preferred podcast player by accessing the private podcast feed. For more detailed instructions, please see the step-by-step guide at nknews.org/private-feed.