North Korea Reopens Tourism After Kim's Death

North Korea will reopen to tourists on January 10, less than a month after strongman Kim Jong-il who was the supreme leader of North Korea (DPRK) from 1994 to 2011 died, said a tour organiser.

Kim died on December 17 from a heart attack at the age of 69, prompting a 13-day mourning period in the communist country that culminated Thursday in a huge memorial service for the late leader.

"We have just been informed by our Korean partners that the DPRK (North Korea) will open to tourists from January 10th," Koryo Group, a Beijing-based travel agency that organises tours to the North, said in a statement.

North Korea closes to tourists during part of December and January every year, Simon Cockerell, Koryo's managing director, told AFP.

Though, tourism to North Korea was a very small industry, whereas the sector is significantly bigger now, said Koryo's managing director Simon Cockerell. Around 3,000 Western tourists visited North Korea in 2010, he said, and many more Chinese travellers tour the country every year.