Update at 17:20 KST: This article has been updated to include further quotes from a travel industry insider.

North Korea is preparing for a large-scale gymnastics and propaganda event celebrating the ruling party’s founding anniversary this upcoming October, according to a report from DPRK state media this week.

It’s the first time North Korea has formally confirmed plans for mass games since the country put a stop to all cross-border tourism last January in a bid to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Pak Un Sun, associate professor, is now engrossed in the production of mass gymnastics for celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK),” the English-language Pyongyang Times reported on Monday.

Pak now lives in a modern apartment on Pyongyang’s Mirae Scientists Street, the outlet said — a reward from the state for her role in training gymnasts for the mass games.

The mass games — a large-scale propaganda show involving thousands of performers — will return for its third consecutive year.

The scale, theme, and name for this year’s performance remains unknown. Last year, the show was titled the “Land of the People.”

One company that manages North Korea tours told NK News on Thursday that there has been no further confirmation regarding the return of the games this year — nor any confirmation on whether the China-North Korea border will re-open anytime soon.

“My travel partners in Pyongyang and my North Korean contacts in China aren’t expecting DPRK borders to reopen until the end of this year or early next year,” said Rowan Beard, a DPRK tour manager at Young Pioneer Tours (YPT).

“I have heard confirmation earlier this year from my contacts (that the) Mass Games will be happening again next year, from August to October,” Beard added.

Another tour company, however, said in February that the mass games would return this year, despite the full ban on tourism and despite the North’s unprecedentedly-strong “national emergency” quarantine measures.

“The information we were given is that, over October 10, it is happening — and it may start as early as August 15 to cover both of the major events of the year,” Simon Cockerell, general manager of Koryo Tours, said at the time. He also explained that the presence of foreigners or tourists is not a necessary prerequisite for the mass games to be held.

Speaking to NK News on Thursday, Cockerell said he had heard nothing suggesting the upcoming games would be open to tourists.

“No news from us about this, as tourists can’t enter the country there isn’t much relevance until the border is open,” he said.

“Mass Games is not performed for the benefit of tourists though so it is perfectly possible that they may go ahead with it without any foreigners present,” he continued.

“They don’t need tourist money. Despite what many claim this isn’t an insignificant part of the economy. Why take the risk that foreigners might come in and spread a virus when you don’t really need them?”

The 2020 games will honor one of North Korea’s most important holidays: the 75th anniversary of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Preparations for the event — which typically has hundreds of thousands of attendees packed into Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium — come as the world continues to grapple with the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus.

North Korea has repeatedly claimed to be free of the virus, most recently reiterating such in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Tuesday.

Edited by Kelly Kasulis