North Korea held the International Marathon in Pyongyang for the first time in six years, welcoming about 200 foreign runners on the streets of the frank country.
The marathon, which started in 1981, is held annually in April to celebrate the birth of its founder Kim Il Sung.
Before the marathon on Sunday, the competition was last held in 2019, which included 950 foreigners. North Korea sealed next year when the Covid-19 pandemia is struck.
North Korea slowly opened again, allowing only Russian tourists in its capital last year.
The runners had to enter the country as part of an organized tourist group, as was the case for the pandemic.
The Koryo Tours, based in Beijing Travel Agency, named as an “exclusive partner” on the event website, offers six -day marathon tours of 2195 euros ($ 2.406), including flights to and from Beijing.
“The Pyongyang Marathon is an extremely unique experience as it provides an opportunity to interact with the locals,” the agency wrote on its website.
The Sunday Marathon route took the participants along the sights throughout the city, including the Kim Ir Sung Stadium, the triumph of the Arch of Triumph, built in honor of the role of Kim Il Sung in the Japanese Government Resistance, and the Mira Future Scientists and the Residential Area.
Photos online show the stadium – where runners start and end their race – filled with viewers, many of them cheer and wave paper flags of gold.
Again Kum Dong, the North Korean runner, told Reuters news agency: “The eyes of our people on me helped me to bear the difficulties when I feel tired.”
There is no publicly available information on the results of the race.
North Korea was placed only to scales Covid-19 limitations in the middle of 2023.
In February, this allowed some Western tourists in the remote, eastern city of Rason, but They stopped those tours Just weeks after that.