Chinese citizens going on tours from border cities in Jilin and Liaoning provinces can now get travel passes to North Korea within 24 hours, Yonhap reported on Monday.

It is not immediately clear when the rules, replacing the previous two-day waiting period, came into effect.

The development comes as last week 35 Chinese bicycle-tourists traveled from China’s northeastern city of Tumen to the North Korean border city of Onsong, marking the start of a program in which Chinese tourists can go on one-day bicycle tours to North Korea under simplified entrance procedures, Xinhua reported.

Pyongyang has recently been ramping