North Korea has once again closed its borders, suspending foreign tourism just weeks after the secretive state welcomed its first Western visitors in five years.

North Korea has halted international trips to a city near its border with China, travel agencies said on Wednesday, abruptly reversing Pyongyang's recent decision to reopen its frontier to tourism

North Korea has stopped tourists visiting weeks after reopening its borders to westerners for the first time in five years. Travellers from the West were allowed into the country in February after Pyongyang continued to lift restrictions introduced during the Covid pandemic.