SEOUL: North Korea has completed construction of a massive tourist zone on its east coast, state media reported on Thursday (Jun 26), a key project driven by leader Kim Jong Un for years to promote tourism.
With “great satisfaction”, Kim attended an inaugural ceremony for the Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area that could accommodate about 20,000 visitors and said the country would build more large-scale tourist zones swiftly, KCNA news agency said.
Kim has been rebuilding the seaside city of Wonsan, a vacation destination for locals, to turn it into a billion-dollar tourist hotspot. Development plans for Wonsan have mushroomed since they were first announced in 2014.
However, while tourism is one of a narrow range of cash sources for North Korea not targeted by United Nations sanctions, the reclusive state did not have a major foreign partner for the Wonsan project against the backdrop of sanctions over its weapons programmes.
The tourist zone will open for domestic guests from Jul 1, KCNA said, without mentioning foreign tourists.
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