Chinese tourists who want to visit North Korea via Dandong will not need a passport from now on — just their ID card and photos are enough.

Tourists only need to offer the ID card or a copy and their photos to qualified travel agencies for the exit-entry permits and wait for two or three days. The exit-entry permit is valid for three months. Individual applications for the exit-entry permit are not available yet, according to the exit-entry administration of Liaoning Province Public Security Bureau.

There are two routes for border tourism to North Korea, one is the one-day tour to Sinuiju, and the other is the three-day tour to Mount Myohyang.

Dandong is one of the four border cities that are allowed to launch this measure. The other three are Chongzuo in Guangxi, and Heihe and Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang.

(China Hospitality News May 26, 2009)