North Korea ending Ebola
travel restrictions: tour firms
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[March 02, 2015]
By James Pearson
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea is ending a
ban on foreign tourists imposed more than four months ago because of
worries about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, two tour operators
and a source in regular contact with North Korean officials said on
Monday.
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North Korea is one of the world's most isolated countries and is
thousands of miles from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in West
Africa. It has reported no cases of the virus, which has killed more
than 9,000 people.
However, its borders have been closed to foreign tourists since last
October for fear the virus might spread and it imposes a strict
21-day quarantine for foreign aid workers and diplomats, who have
been told to stay in embassy compounds.
The source, who requested anonymity, said he had been told the Ebola
travel restrictions had been lifted.
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Koryo Tours, a Chinese-based travel agency that specializes in
taking Western tourists to the isolated country, said it had been
told to expect an announcement regarding the ban later on Monday.
"Our contacts in the country have informed us to expect that we
should hear news later today that North Korea will be reopening its
borders after a more than four-month closure due to Ebola," Koryo
Tours co-founder Nick Bonner told Reuters.
"The National Tourism Administration in Pyongyang contacted us this
morning to let us know that there is some movement in the border
policy," he said.
Chinese-based Young Pioneer Tours had similar information.
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"We have heard that Ebola has been dismissed as a concern by the
government this morning and today it is expected to be made official
and the border suspension to be lifted," the company's manager, Troy
Collings, told Reuters by email.
"The decision has been made but not yet passed down through official
channels," he added.
It was not immediately clear if the lifting of the measures applied
to foreign diplomats and businessmen, Bonner said.
(Editing by Tony Munroe and Alan Raybould)
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