Tourists allowed to visit North Korea for the first time in 5 years had to follow strict rules while there

North Korea has finally reopened its border to international tourists — but there are strict rules visitors must follow.

In January 2020, the notoriously private country closed all of its borders, and they remained closed until last week.

It's thought that North Korea may be gearing up for a full resumption of its international tourism to bring in much-needed foreign currency to revive its struggling economy, experts say.

One of the first groups of tourists to enter the country in over five years arrived in North Korea on February 20, and stayed there until February 24.

This group was made up of 13 travelers from the UK, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia, and Italy, who crossed by land from China, says Simon Cockerell, Koryo Tours general manager (the Beijing-based travel company who arranged the historic trip).

Another group to run trips to North Korea is Young Pioneer Tours — one of two Western companies which also resumed trips to the country last week.

Rowan Beard runs the company and shared some of the rules that guides like him have been given from North Korean officials to read out to tourists entering the country.

As per BBC, three key rules are: Don't insult the leaders, don't insult the ideology, and don't judge.

But there are even more guidelines people have to follow.

North Korea is now welcoming international tourists again (KIM WON JIN/AFP via Getty Images)

One tourist to have recently visited the infamously exclusive country is British YouTuber Mike O'Kennedy.

Speaking to the BBC about his experience, he told the news outlet: "You can't leave the hotel without the guides. A couple of times I even had to let them know when I wanted to use the bathroom. I've never had to do that anywhere in the world."

Further sharing what he saw, O'Kennedy said that he didn't see anyone 'just hanging out' and that everybody was working.

"It was kind of bleak to see," the 28-year-old said of this.

Tourists didn't have free roam of the country either, and were confined to Rason.

Greg Vaczi, from Koryo Tours, thinks this comes down the fact that this part of North Korea 'is relatively contained and easy to control' in comparison to the country's capital of Pyongyang.

Vaczi went on to share that North Koreans are still extremely wary of coronavirus.

"Our luggage was disinfected at the border, our temperatures were taken, and about 50% of people are still wearing masks," he revealed.

It's believed the pandemic badly affected North Korea, but it's unclear how many cases and fatalities it has experienced.

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