SEOUL, South Korea (PA) – A top North Korean official visited a mountain resort that was run with rival South Korea during the recent rapprochement and discussed efforts to unilaterally rebuild it in a ” cultural resort envied by the whole world “, the state reported on Sunday.
Some experts say that North Korea may put pressure on South Korea to benefit from an economic commitment, as the pandemic exacerbates North Korea’s economic troubles.
During a trip to Diamond Mountain Resort, Prime Minister Kim Tok Hun “stressed the need to build the tourist area in our way of combining national character and modernity, while in harmony with the natural landscape,” the Korean news agency reported. news.
Kim said North Korea aims to turn the mountainous area into “a place known for serving people and a cultural resort envied by the whole world.” He and other officials discussed the design and construction of “a global hotel, golf course, ski resort,” according to KCNA.
North Korea conducted a joint mountain tour program with South Korea for about 10 years before being suspended after the shooting death of a South Korean tourist there in 2008. About 2 million South Korean tourists visited the resort, a rare source of foreign currency for the impoverished north.
As relations have improved in recent years, the two Koreas have pressured to resume joint economic projects, including the Diamond Mountain tours. But Seoul was ultimately unable to do so without defying UN sanctions imposed on the North’s nuclear program.
Late last year, an angry North Korea pressed for the destruction of South Korean hotels and other facilities in the resort and called on South Korea to send workers to the site to clean the buildings. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called the South Korean facilities “shabby” and “unpleasant-looking.”
But in January, North Korea postponed demolition plans due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
North Korea said it had found no case of the virus, a claim disputed by many foreign experts. A major outbreak in North Korea could have devastating consequences as its health care system remains fragile. The pandemic has also dealt a massive blow to the northern economy, along with UN sanctions and a series of natural disasters this summer.
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said the timing of Sunday’s statement in North Korea was less about tourism and more about political pressure. “At the risk of Seoul’s hopes for commitment,” North Korea is pressuring South Korea “to find ways to resume financial benefits for the North,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, North Korea hosted Chinese tourists at the resort. But experts doubt it could redevelop and turn the area into a major tourist site without South Korean cooperation.
The resort is located just north of the inter-Korean border and hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from the northern border with China. North Korea’s poor transport connections make it difficult to bring a large number of Chinese tourists there.