Mick Hartley

Last week Kim Jong-un ordered the razing of “unpleasant-looking” South Korean facilities at the Mount Kumgang resort:

South Koreans began tours to Mount Kumgang in 1998 but suspended them in 2008 when a female tourist from the South was shot dead by a North Korean soldier for reportedly wandering into a military zone.

The resort, built with investment from South Korean firms, has since hosted occasional reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean war.

Not much tourism there today. The allure of the place seems to have worn off on South Koreans after that woman was shot while walking along the beach. 

The Supreme Leader's outburst over Mt Kumgang may have been intended as a calculated snub to South Korea. Anyway, Mt Kumgang is the other side of the country from the Chinese border – and that where the tourist action is now:

“The number of Chinese tourists traveling to North Korea has spiked recently,” a China-based source told Daily NK on Thursday. “With income levels rising in China, the number of people wanting to travel overseas has also increased. Because North Korea is close and inexpensive, it attracts a lot of Chinese tourists.”

Chinese tourists come into North Korea daily, taking trains and buses from Dandong in Liaoning Province, which is adjacent to Sinuiju in North Korea, the source added. 

According to the North Korean National Tourism Bureau, the number of overseas tourists who came to North Korea in 2018 was more than 200,000 people, 90% of whom were reportedly Chinese tourists.  […]

Not only has tourism increased, but North Korean authorities have actively tried to entice Chinese to invest in the country, even holding investment briefing sessions, the expert said.

“Chinese tourists who travel to North Korea are handpicked by the Chinese and North Korean authorities,” the expert explained. “North Korean authorities want to entice powerful and wealthy tourists to invest in North Korea.” 

UN Security Council sanctions ban North Korea from exporting minerals and seafood, which have been the main source of foreign currency for the country. The Kim Jong Un regime has instead turned to expanding its tourism businesses by developing its specialized tourist zones, including Samjiyon (in Ryanggang Province) and in Wonsan (in Kangwon Province). 

Experts who spoke to Daily NK agreed that North Korea has chosen tourism as a good alternative for earning foreign currency because tourism is not banned by international sanctions. 

“Because China has such a large population, even without tourism agreements with South Korea, such as the reopening of Mount Kumgang, by simply by targeting the Chinese with their tourism business, North Korea can earn a considerable amount of foreign currency,” one Daily NK source said.