Rason

Rason (라선시) (formally Rajin-Sŏnbong) is in the Donghae Coast region of North Korea.

Understand
Rason is a combined city of the former cities of Rajin (라진구역) and Sonbong (선봉군) with an approximate population of 195,000. It has a special 'free trade' designation at the corner of both China and Russia which allows for easier foreign investment. It usually receives only a small percentage of the nation's total Western tourism.

Get in
The Rason Special Economic area is in many ways a separate country from North Korea. There are check points between the rest of North Korea and the zone that act as a border, and North Koreans require special permission (which is not readily granted) to enter the zone.

Chinese citizens do not require a visa to enter, just a travel permit. Chinese cars may also be driven into the zone as well.

By train
The city's and  are on the Pyongra Line and connects all the way to Pyongyang as well as the nearby Russian border city of Khasan. The rail line has a service to Moscow.

Note that the train service (as in most of the rest of North Korea) is not generally available to tourists. Only around 10,000 passengers used this line in the whole of 2005. Of future interest is the city's potential use in a proposed rail link between South Korea and the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway, although this is still an extremely distant prospect as of 2019.

Buy
Rason has some reputation for having free markets as well as being able to exchange North Korean currency at 'real' rates rather than the highly disadvantageous 'official' rates. This is one of only two places in the country where foreigners are legally permitted to obtain and spend North Korean won.



Go next

 * There is a cruise ship that will take you to the Kumgangsan mountain resort in the south of the country.
 * Khasan in Russia is very close, assuming you can get the right visa to get to it.