Border city Tumen launches bicycle tours to North Korea

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-04

The first batch of Chinese cyclists ride into North Korea, May 2. (Photo/Xinhua)

A border city in northeastern China has launched bicycle tours to neighboring North Korea.

Thirty-five Chinese tourists joined the first self-drive travel by bicycle from Tumen city in Jilin province to North Korea's Namyang city on Friday, said organizers. The tourists spent three hours across the border.

The bicycle tour, open to tourists from China, is inexpensive and only needs simple procedures, said an official of the Tumen Tourism Bureau. He said the route is expected to attract more tourists to the country.

Excursions by train from Tumen to North Korea's Chilbosan resumed on Wednesday. The tourist train was launched in April 2012, but was later suspended. Tumen also has highway and railway services to North Korea.