Kim strives for completion of tourism district to gain recognition

“Kim Jong Un might think that Wonsan Special Tourism District, including Masikryong (pass) Ski Resort, as a venue for him to gain people’s recognition on his capacity and capability.”

This is what Park Sang-kwon, president of Pyeonghwa Motors, an automobile joint venture in North Korea, remarked regarding his tour in person to Wonsan Special Tourism District, including Masikryong (pass) Ski Resort in North Korea. He recently visited the North to attend a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the North’s so-called “Day of War Victory (day when the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953).”

Park’s account apparently showcases the North’s strife to find new source of “foreign currency” amid isolation from the rest of the world due to constant international sanctions and difficulties in reopening of the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Park. As a U.S. citizen, Park has visited the North on 215 occasions thus far, being considered a figure who knows the North’s situation better than anyone else.

Park visited the construction site of Masikryong Ski Resort in person and met with officials in charge of the project. “Because Kim Jong Un ordered (the North Korean authorities) to complete a 10-year project by the end of this year without fail, tens of thousands of workers were engaged in work there,” Park said. “I heard that they disassembled lifts at a ski resort near Samjiyon on Mount Baekdu to install them at Masikryong, instead of using lifts that were to be imported from Switzerland.” While rumors had it that the site of the Masikryong project was severely damaged due to floods this year, Park said only a small portion at the lower section of the project site has been lost, and the upper section remains largely undamaged.

North Korea is striving to develop Wonsan Special Tourism District that links the ski resort and Myongsasipni Beach in Wonsan. Recently, the North decided to transform a military hotel that has been newly built at seashore and existing Saenal Hotel into tourist hotels. Park said, “I heard that people with deep pocket including those in Singapore, Hong Kong and China are visiting the area in person to make investment.”

On his feeling about his visit to Pyongyang, Park said, “Because a massive beautification project has been conducted, even empty lots of just 5 centimeters across can hardly be found in Pyongyang.” Diesel-powered busses have replaced electric trams in central Pyongyang, and power supply conditions improved better than before, he said.

A video footage presented by Park showed Haedanghwa-kwan (general shopping mall) in Pyongyang, which is seen equipped with a public sauna and a billiard shop. “Women were teaching billiards, and facilities at the mall were clean and elegant overall,” Park said. “A foot massage parlor that was unseen in Pyongyang before has been established as well.”

Experts in the South say that because Park visited the North on business and is given guided tours, he would not be able to gain full picture of the actual situation there. “Park saw and heard about things that are open to outsiders under restriction by the North Korean authority,” an expert on North Korea said. “The view of North Korea has dual aspects, including miserable livelihoods of ordinary North Koreans co-existing with such images.”

Meanwhile, Park also introduced his impression of Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “I did not have a chance to meet with her during this visit but I had seen her many times before.” Park said. “I thought to myself ‘she is the kind of person who does things well’ because she looked smart, acted fast and responded to solutes by every soldier.”

On Kim Kyong Hee, the aunt of the North Korean leader, Park said, “She looked physically weak, but seeing that she was standing upright, (her physical conditions) seemed to be okay now.”