According to US observers, North Korea is about to complete a huge beach resort on the east coast of the country. Satellite imagery showed the rapid progress of the construction project to which a waterslide and cinema have recently been added, North Korea-based 38 North reported today. The area was formerly used for artillery maneuvers and missile tests.
Opening in October
Ruler Kim Jong Un closely monitors the progress of the construction site. The grand opening will take place in October, the 74th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Labor Party. Kim, who reportedly spent the summers of his childhood in the region, visited the facility three times in the past year, according to state media, and provided detailed instructions, such as the construction of arcades, a stadium and the number of hotels.
According to information from the tourism industry, North Korea is visited by around 100,000 tourists every year, most of them from China. Pyongyang does not publish its own statistics on tourism.
South Koreans once visited hundreds of thousands of Kumgang mountain near the Inner Korean border. The voyages came to an abrupt end when a North Korean soldier shot down a South Korean tourist in late 2008 because he had strayed from the designated path. Seoul then suspended the trips.
