A tour agency reportedly licensed by Pyonyang to boost Russian tourism to North Korea has been outed as a Russian company.
Russian media including The Moscow Times on Thursday widely reported the launch of NKOREAN in Russia as the first officially licensed tour agency by the North Korean government.
But on Friday the Meduza news outlet said that NKOREAN was a Russian company which lacked the necessary license from Rosturism, Russia’s federal tourism agency, to offer such tours.
The information was confirmed to Meduza by NKOREAN’s sales director Yulia Mukhtakhipova.
Earlier on Friday, Russia’s Tourism Union spokeswoman Irina Tyurina told the Interfax news agency that NKOREAN was not registered in Russia as an official tour operator and trips to North Korea for Russian tourists were already available.