North Korea tourists are restricted to approved itineraries and escorted at all times/ Youtube Drew Binsky, Getty
When North Korea reopened its borders in 2025 after five years of pandemic isolation, the world took notice. Few countries inspire as much curiosity or fear. The state keeps an iron grip on movement, information, and outsiders, and remains one of the strictest destinations on earth for tourists. Even now, Americans are still barred, and those allowed in must move under tightly controlled, government-approved itineraries.One person determined to see what had changed was YouTuber Drew Binsky, known for documenting hard-to-reach places. Having traveled to North Korea over ten years ago, he was eager to return. However, being American ruled him out. Instead of giving up, he sent a Latvian friend in his place, someone who could legally enter and film her experience in Pyongyang for his channel. She went, camera in hand, expecting changes after a decade. Instead, as Binsky noted in his voiceover, she was “shocked” to discover that “things are the same as they were in 2015”: foreign visitors are still assigned official guides, still forbidden from leaving their hotel alone, still restricted to a schedule approved by the Workers’ Party of Korea. Yet she also discovered one unusual exception, a loophole that allows a few minutes of movement without supervision.
The one legal way to step outside alone
Her guides explained that if you run in the Pyongyang Marathon, you’re allowed to go for an early-morning training run outside your hotel without an escort. No sneaking, no rule-breaking, just a sanctioned sliver of freedom. So she tried it. She stepped outside into a completely empty street. “There’s literally no one around me, just me,” she said. But the freedom comes with limits: if you miss breakfast, they will look for you. Once breakfast ended, the trip snapped back into the familiar structure. Tourists were driven to Pyongyang’s key monuments, beginning with the giant bronze statues on Mansudae Hill. As is required, visitors must bring flowers and bow. Gift shops sold propaganda posters. Lunch, dinner, and drinks followed, the tightly drawn arc of a standard DPRK tour. But that night, something unexpected happened.
A strange moment on a quiet street
After dinner on a Friday evening around 9 p.m., she and a few others took a walk. The streets were nearly deserted, then suddenly, loud Korean music blared from speakers overhead. “Is that a coincidence or was it just for us to impress? We’ll never know,” she says in the video.
Her footage, quiet hotel corridors, empty pavements, still city streets, is a rare glimpse inside one of the world’s most tightly controlled places.
Why the marathon exists, and why It matters
Her loophole exists because of one event: the Pyongyang International Marathon, previously the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon. First held in 1981 (with a women’s race added in 1984), it takes place each April in the DPRK capital. After being cancelled from 2020 to 2024 during border closures, the race returned in 2025, the first time non-Russian tourists had been allowed into North Korea since 2019. Around 230 foreigners took part, most of them amateurs. DPRK-focused travel agency Koryo Tours announced that the 2026 marathon will be held on 5 April, again open to elite and amateur runners in 42 km, 21 km, 10 km, and 5 km events. American, South Korean, Japanese and Malaysian citizens remain barred due to travel restrictions. Amateur runners receive “special delegation” visas, which grant limited freedom to train in the mornings without North Korean monitors, the very permission that allowed Binsky’s friend to jog alone through central Pyongyang. Demand is intense. All 500 slots for 2026 were booked within five hours, Koryo Tours guide Zoe Stephens told NK News, with another 500+ people on the waiting list. Tours cost between $2,550 and $2,780 per person and depart from Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenyang. The route itself is changing: in 2026, runners will start and finish outside Kim Il Sung Stadium rather than entering the arena. But, Stephens said, the atmosphere remains the same, enthusiastic crowds lining the streets, cheering foreigners they haven’t seen in years.
A rare glimpse in a system built on restrictions
For many participants, the marathon is the only lawful way to move through Pyongyang at their own pace, to see the capital in motion rather than from a bus window. While broader tourism remains closed to most nationalities, marathon runners are taken to major sites including the Juche Tower, Arch of Triumph, Kim Il Sung Square, the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, and more. Some travellers commented on how modern the city looked compared to its reputation. Others worried about influencer behaviour, though Koryo Tours and organizers dismissed suggestions that content creators had caused any issues. North Korea still reverses plans at short notice, still restricts most photography, still forbids unguided exploration. But once a year, for a few hours at least, foreigners run its streets freely. Go to Source
