North Korea hopes surf tour leads to tourism boom
Thinking of a late summer holiday? Thousands want out of the gulag, but tourists want in. Here are some postcards from North Korea’s nascent tourism boom.
North Korea recently hosted its first official surfing tour, according to the country’s official newspaper, the Pyongyang Times.
The tour ran from 28 July to 6 August and it was reported that “both several-metre-high waves and low waves are available”.
North American surfers were said to be on the tour, and the only picture released does show western surfers.
According to the surf-spot experts, North Korea could be a surfing paradise, based on their analysis of satellite photography.
Beyond surfing, North Korea might be on a the verge of a tourism boom, with the surfing tour, and other tours, now allowing adventurous travellers to go to places in the country that were previously off limits, according to a travel agency that arrange tours to North Korea.
And an entire tourist hub in being built in the east of the country at the port city of Wonsan, according to NKnews.
The hub would benefit from access to Songdowon, Myongsasipri, a four-kilometre-long sand dune on the Kalma peninsula, as well as the Masikryong ski resort.
But it’s not just surfing that tourists can enjoy, as our postcards show:
Kim Jong-un inspects a water park at the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground, which is nearing completion.
A picture taken by Eric Reichbaum of North Korea’s east coast and mountains.
Children play in new village near Ryongnim dam, built in preparation for the construction of the Huichon power station. An official report says that the Ryongnim nridge across the Jangja and the dam there is a bathing area that’s popular with students.
As well as the surfing, which is likely to take off as surfers seek to conquer breaks never surfed before, a recent promotional newsletter for a North Korean tourism agency reported a new stop-off on their tour itinerary – North Korea’s football academy.
“We’ll tour this newly open school teaching local kids to excel at the Beautiful Game, we can even take part in a match against the future Messis and Rooneys of North Korea,” says the press release.
Meanwhile, the UN reported last year that systematic, widespread and grave human rights abuses are occuring in North Korea, with violations to be investigated including prison camps, torture and inhuman treatment, freedom of expression, the right to life, freedom of movement, and enforced disappearances.