One day before the arrival of Donald Trump, the Chinese tour operators based in the border city of Dandong have been told by the higher Chinese authorities to halt trips to the North Korean capital Pyongyang.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will host US President Donald Trump in Beijing on Wednesday, with North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons expected to top their agenda.
The United States has been pressuring China to do more to rein in its neighbour and ally. Here tourism is one of the few remaining ways North Korea earns hard currency, as the United Nations has ramped up sanctions on the country over the past year, restricting the key export industries including coal, seafood and textiles.
A Chinese tour operator who runs trips to North Korea out of Dandong said that it was much unexpected, they had no idea this was going to happen until they received the notification today,which is devastating for them to survive. The Dandong Tourism Bureau was not immediately reachable for comment late on Tuesday.
The foreign ministry of China did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent after working hours on Tuesday night.
