Skiing… in North Korea

15 Feb 2014  2038 | World Travel News

SEOUL- North Korea invited diplomats of its allies to a recently completed lavish ski resort, according to the country’s media, Yonhap News Agency which reported about the visit on Jan. 16. The tour was part of North Korea promotion drive to lure foreign tourists.

According to the report by the North's official Radio Pyongyang, dozens of foreign diplomats, military attaches and officials from international organizations stationed in the socialist country, along with their family members, made a trip to the Masik Pass ski resort located on the country's east coast.

The lavish resort, opened earlier this month, is one of the pet projects of the North's leader Kim Jong-un who reportedly enjoyed skiing while attending school in Switzerland in the early 1990s. The resort officially opened on January 1st. According to Beijin- based travel agency Koryo Tours, specialized in travel to North Korea, they are some 200 visitors a day, mostly coming from the nearby East Coast city of Wonsan, far from early projections of 5,000 daily visitors. Foreign tourists are able to stay at the Masikrong hotel.

"The Masik Pass ski resort is huge in scale, and it provides people with spiritual and cultural values," Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Liu Hongcai was quoted by the report as saying.

While few North Koreans could afford a trip to the pass, the invitation of the foreign delegation to the resort, one of the key signature projects led by the North's young leader, is part of Pyongyang's drive to attract more foreign tourists to earn hard currency, according to experts.

"North Korea puts the focus of the management of the resort on earning dollars by attracting foreign tourists. Showing off the facilities to the diplomats appears to aim to promote not only the resort but the feats of its leader," said Cho Bong-hyun, a researcher at Seoul-based IBK Economic Research Institute.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews

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