North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cut the inaugural tape at a new coastal tourist site during an extravagant ceremony on Tuesday, though the resort won’t immediately be open to foreign tourists.
Kim toured the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, calling its construction "one of the greatest successes this year" and "the proud first step" toward a new era in the government’s tourism industry, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Hotels and other accommodations for nearly 20,000 guests were built on the Hermit Kingdom’s east coast, where visitors could engage in activities such as swimming, sports and recreation and dining at restaurants at the resort, state media said.
The resort, North Korea’s biggest tourist site, will open for domestic tourists next Tuesday, KCNA said, but the report didn't say when it will start receiving foreign tourists.
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Experts believe North Korea invested heavily in the construction of the resort and eventually will have to accept Chinese and other foreign tourists to recoup costs.
But North Korea has been slow to resume its international tourism because of lingering COVID-19 pandemic curbs, a flare-up of tensions with the U.S. and South Korea in recent years and worries about Western tourists spreading a negative image of its system.
Analysts say the resort will open to Russian tourists first, as evidenced by its booming military and other partnerships with Russia, before eventually opening to Chinese tours.
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The Russian ambassador to North Korea and his embassy staff appeared at Tuesday’s ceremony, according to KCNA, though the report didn’t say whether any Chinese diplomats were also invited.
South Korean and American tourists won’t be as fortunate, Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told The Associated Press.
Lim said those tours won't likely restart anytime soon, though both new liberal South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump have expressed hopes to revive dialogue with North Korea.
Kim has been pushing to make the country a tourism hub as part of efforts to revive the ailing economy, with KCNA reporting that North Korea will soon confirm plans to build large tourist sites in other parts of the country.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
