Anchor: North Korea has opened a travel agency in Russia for the first time to directly sell tours to the reclusive country. Until now, Russian travel companies dealt with North Korean tour programs. 
Our Kim In-kyung has more.
 
Report: North Korea has opened an official travel agency in Russia as it tries to find new channels to source foreign currency.
 
Russia's Interfax news agency reported that the North Korean embassy in Moscow held a news conference on Thursday to announce the launch of the travel firm “NKorean.” 
 
Located in southern Moscow, NKorean will sell flight tickets and offer North Korean visa application services to Russian tourists. 
 
A North Korean embassy councilor stressed in the news conference that the safety of Russian tourists will be guaranteed as long as they respect North Korea’s law and order, calling his country one of the safest countries in the world.
 
The embassy also said it will issue North Korean visas to Russians in three to five days after applications are accepted, a significant drop from the current two weeks.
 
The chairman of Russia's travel agency association said in the news conference that Russians are showing strong interest in trips to North Korea and his organization will support the North Korean travel company.
 
NKorean said it will sell tours of five to 15 days, such as hiking journeys and trips to attend official North Korean events.
 
Excluding airfare, a week-long trip will cost 70-thousand rubles, which is around one-thousand-180 dollars.
 
NKorean is promoting its tours as a chance to directly see the most reclusive country in the world on its Twitter and Facebook accounts.
 
Analysts say that Pyongyang is trying to attract Russian tourists as a new source of foreign currency amid continued UN sanctions aimed at cutting off the regime’s financial channels. 
Kim In-kyung, KBS World Radio News. 

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