Dalian: Starting last Friday a group of intrepid travellers left the northeast Chinese province of Jilin and headed to North Korea on a four-day voyage. Around 100 Chinese tourists headed for the famous Mount Kumgang (pictured) on the east coast of the peninsula near the border between the two Koreas.
After crossing the border to North Korea by land from the city of Hunchun in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, the tourists boarded a cruise ship in the North Korean city of Rason. The plan now is to make this route a once a month regular schedule. It is the first time that there has been a cruise for Chinese to visit the scenic 1,600 m high Mt Kumgang.
For nearly a decade South Korean firm Hyundai Asan ran a cruise from the south up to Mt Kumgang, something that came to an end in 2008. [02/07/12]
