Brits are shelling out £1,300 to visit Kim Jong Un’s £21m white elephant ski resort that North Koreans are too dirt poor to use
The despot wants to boost his hermit state's struggling economy by attracting large numbers of tourists to virtually deserted £21 million complex
BRITISH skiers are shelling out £1,300-a-pop to visit Kim Jong Un’s virtually deserted £21 million white elephant winter sports resort.
The despot wants to boost his hermit state’s struggling economy by attracting large numbers of tourists to North Korea.
He's demanded his leaders boost numbers from just 6,000-a-year to a million by 2017.
The giant hotel set up to cater for the rush of expected guests resembles a ghost-town – its indoor swimming pool, reception area and corridors deserted.
The eight-day tour also takes in the capital Pyongyang as well as three days' skiing at the resort.
North Korean watchers have been left scratching their heads over Kim’s decision to plough so much cash into the project.
“North Korea is trying to cover their revenue through those kinds of tours and events. In the past, they got a lot of money by running the tours,” said Shin Yong-seok, a researcher at the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.
“I think Masikryong is not an attractive ski resort because for Chinese visitors, skiing is not a familiar sport. And for the Americans and Europeans, they are more familiar with skiing, but have domestic ski resorts. So, it seems it has not paid for itself.”
Kim’s ski resort – built by the army – needs 5,000 skiers a DAY to pack its slopes to break-even but currently only a handful of well-off party officials and the odd tourist party grace the snow.
Dirt poor Koreans survive on just £1,000-a-year so don’t have the £30 needed for a day pass to the resort, never mind the cash for equipment or a £100-a-night hotel room.
The huge resort is 1,400 hectares in size and has 70 miles of slopes to explore. Giant screens dotted around the resort show propaganda films.
The hotel also has a sauna and karaoke facilities, and its chalet-style suites come complete with monogrammed dressing gowns.
A restaurant at the summit of Mount Taehwa offers panoramic views though the 40-minute ride on three sets of rickety chair-lifts bought second-hand from China may put some off.
The Masikryong resort has become emblematic of the large showcase construction projects undertaken by Kim, 33, during his leadership.
Its budget represented three quarters of the cost of the UN World Food Programme’s two-year DPRK operation.
And in a bid to attract even more tourists he’s also spending millions more building a showcase Disney-style waterpark with lazy river, plunge pools and kamikaze water slides in the west coast city of Nampo.
It is believed the country is almost bankrupt with most of its gold and foreign currency reserves sold to China and huge amounts of cash going on a nuclear weapons programme.