The number of Chinese tourists who entered North Korea via Yanbian in northeastern China was found to have witnessed a sharp jump.

According to an online broadcaster in Yanbian on Monday, some three-thousand Chinese visited the North as of the end of last year since the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture resumed the issuance of travel passes last July.

In 2005, China had banned the issuance of travel passes to Chinese who are not residents of the Yanbian area and had only issued the passes to Yanbian residents after the growing number of Chinese tourists entering the North for gambling emerged as a serious social issue.

Tourists with the travel passes can enter the North for one or two days after undergoing simple identification procedures and without having been issued visas.

Chinese hoping to visit the North can get such passes by presenting identification cards and photographs at regions bordering the North, including Yanji, Hunchun and Longjing, which are all located in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin.