Lim Eul-Chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said “large-scale group tourism could soon be accommodated via border regions with China”.
“The five newly completed hotels could serve as core accommodation facilities,” he said.
The North last year permitted Russian tourists to return for the first time since the pandemic and Western tour operators briefly returned in February this year. No Chinese tourists are known to have returned to the country.
Samjiyon carries potent symbolism in North Korean propaganda as it is a stone’s throw away from Mount Paektu, the peninsula’s highest mountain where official accounts say Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, was born.
Historians largely agree he was actually born in the Soviet Union.
Alongside the resort opening, Kim has in recent weeks toured a number of newly completed factories.
His ruling Korean Workers Party is expected hold its first congress in half a decade in early 2026, where policymakers will hash out economic plans for the next five years.
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