North Korea reopens to foreigners for Pyongyang Marathon

North Korea has reopened its doors to foreigners hoping to run in the Pyongyang Marathon, according to Reuters.

The secluded country closed it borders to foreigners last October over fear of the Ebola virus, which has killed over 9,000 in West Africa. Though there is little tourism to the country, some have visited in recent years to race the marathon in the country’s capital.

It looked like runners who had signed up to race would not be able to compete because the country, thousands of kilometres from any Ebola-affected country, was, until this week, standing by a strict travel ban.

Most runners come through Chinese tourism companies. “I spoke to our North Korean partners this morning who said they were in discussions with the marathon committee about reopening the event to foreign runners,” Troy Collings, who manages one of those companies, told Reuters.