Chinese city launches bicycle tours to DPRK

A border city in northeast China launched Friday bicycle tours to the neighboring Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as tourism to the country booms. Thirty-five Chinese tourists joined the first self-drive travel by bicycle from Tumen City, Jilin Province, to DPRK's Namyang city, said organizers. The tourists spent three hours in the DPRK. The bicycle tour is inexpensive and only needs simple procedures, said an official of the Tumen Tourism Bureau. He said the route is expected to attract more tourists to the DPRK. Excursions by train from Tumen to the DPRK's Chilbosan resumed on Wednesday. The tourist train was launched in April 2012, but was later suspended. Tumen has highway and railway service to the DPRK.