North Korea shut its borders in early 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and later beefed up defences along its northern frontier with China to deter its own nationals from re-entering illegally during the pandemic.

Pyongyang has since reopened the border to some trade and official delegations and last year allowed Russian tourists to enter the country for the first time since the pandemic.

China is a key ally and source of economic backing for North Korea's diplomatically isolated, UN-sanctioned government.

Several Western tour operators said last month they had been notified that foreign travellers would be allowed to visit the North Korean border city of Rason.

The Beijing-based Zhixing Heyi travel agency said on Tuesday it had received "special approval" from its North Korean interlocutors to conduct a trip for Chinese nationals to Rason on February 24.

Participants would be "the first Chinese private tour group to visit North Korea in five years", the company said in an online statement.

The northeastern city of Rason lies near the borders with China and Russia and became North Korea's first special economic zone in 1991.

With a separate visa regime, it has been a testing ground for new economic policies and is home to the socialist country's first legal marketplace.

Zhixing Heyi said it planned to take no more than 15 guests on the four-day, three-night tour priced between 3,600 and 4,600 yuan ($500 and $635).

Travellers would have the chance to visit a food processing factory, duck farm and deer ranch, and witness a taekwondo demonstration and a performance from local children, it said.

Chairman Du Mingrui said he expected "only a few" foreign tour companies would be allowed to enter North Korea as the country slowly reopens.

"I think they'll open up everywhere eventually, but for now there certainly won't be many tour operators (going there)," Du told AFP by phone.

North Korean intermediaries currently appeared to be maintaining "closer contact" with Western travel agencies, he said.

Western agencies Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours have begun taking bookings for trips to Rason starting in early March, according to company websites.

However, both operators said group tours to the capital Pyongyang were still unavailable.

Hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists visited North Korea each year before the pandemic, representing a key source of income for Pyongyang's largely moribund economy.

Beijing's foreign ministry declined to comment on Tuesday on specific tours but said it "maintained a proactive attitude on communication and cooperation between China and North Korea in all fields".