Representatives from two Western travel agencies crossed into North Korea Thursday for the first time since the isolated regime closed its borders five years ago, raising hopes for new tour offerings to a border city.

Western tour agencies entered North Korea for the first time on Thursday since the end of the pandemic, the companies said, voicing hopes the isolated country may soon reopen a border city to foreign visitors.

The first tour is set to take place Feb. 12 to 18, when major celebrations are planned for the birthday of the country's late leader Kim Jong Il, one of North Korea's biggest holidays.

North Korea has reopened its touristic border city of Rason near China after it was closed in 2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a tour operator. "There has been news that Rason, located in the northeast of North Korea, has officially opened for tourism," said Koryo Tourism Agency in a notice to its customers on Monday.

Rason, a city on the border with China, will open to foreign tourists, five years after Pyongyang sealed its frontiers over Covid-19.

Foreign tour agents have entered North Korea for the first time since it closed its borders to tourism in 2020 due to COVID-19, to inspect new tourism sites, a tour agency's website said Friday, amid signs of Pyongyang reopening to foreign tourists.