BEIJING, Sept 3, 2008 (AFP) - North Korea will become an approved destination for Chinese tour groups, giving them more freedom to travel in the reclusive country, authorities said Wednesday.

Chinese tourists currently have limited access in North Korea, a spokesman for China's national tourism bureau said, although those on business visas have fewer restrictions.

"Until now, Chinese tourists can only go to limited areas in the DPRK (North Korea), most places near the border," the spokesman surnamed Zhang told AFP.

"But in the future, the DPRK will become a tour destination, so they can go to all places in the country except areas banned by the DPRK."

The deputy head of China's national tourism bureau, Du Jiang, finalised the arrangements while on a visit to North Korea last month, but Zhang said both governments still had to officially sign off on the deal.

China's official Xinhua news agency said the tour groups could begin in 2009, which has been designated as the "year of friendship between China and North Korea" with the two nations marking 60 years of diplomatic ties.

North Korea remains one of the most isolated nations in the world and its tourism industry has long suffered as a result, with independent travel impossible as all tourists are shadowed by government minders.

Virtually all Western tourists, numbering just a few thousand a year, travel to North Korea with a few foreign tour groups that have permission to operate inside the country.