North Korea has attached importance to entry tour in order to publicize and earn foreign exchange since the Jin Richeng era.Before the crown disease epidemic, 200,000 tourists from China were received each year, and a tourist visa was also issued to those holding the United States and Japanese passports.Tourism does not belong to the economic sanctions target of the United Nations Security Council. For Kim Jong -un regime, it has always been a means of legally earning foreign exchange.
North Korean leader Kim Jong -un has the experience of studying in Switzerland, and may have fully understood the importance of entering the country.North Korea opened Pyongyang University of Tourism in 2014, and local universities also set up the Department of Tourism.
Although it has not fully resumed foreign tourists, in July this year, Kim Jong -un personally proposed that he must "activate entry tour".He inspected Sanchi Yuan at the foot of Changbai Mountain and made instructions. In addition to building hotels, it also required projects to rebuild airports, roads, and laid tourism railways.Moreover, he also did not be furiously expressed on the instructions made by the last inspection, and severely rebuked many actual responsible persons led by relevant ministers, saying that "should be delivered to the legal authority for treatment", which can see that his emphasis on tourism development has attached importance to the development of tourism development.degree.The project is also a part of the local rejuvenation policy proposed by Kim Jong -un in the beginning of the year.
A few days later, Kim Jong -un will once again inspect the coastal tourism area under the construction of Yuanshan, which is close to the Japanese Sea, and will be opened in May next year.Yuanshan was regarded as the birthplace of Kim Jong -un. In May 2018, August, November, and April 2019, he went to inspection, showing the degree of attention.The original goal was set to open the anniversary of the Workers' Party Creation Day in October 2019. However, due to the postponement of the construction period, Kim Jong -un re -instructed that it was "perfectly completed" before the birthday of Kim Richeng in April 2020, and it had to be postponed again due to the epidemic.It was a huge tourist attraction development project, including hotels, water parks and airports above 30 floors, but who is the target consumer group?
The era of King Kong and Kaicheng, which is open to Korean tourists, has already passed, and South Korea is already the "first hostile country."South Korean President Yin Xiyue's attitude towards North Korea is not allowed, and the hope of improvement in the North -South relationship is slim.
North Korea, which has long blocked the border for a long time, has gradually transitioned to the stage of coexisting with the epidemic. From February this year, it has received tourists from Russia, but has not yet received Chinese tourists with the largest gold master.Different from the honeymoon atmosphere in North Korea and Russia, this year's 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea, but the relationship between the two countries seemed to be sparse.Kim Jong -un has continued to meet with Russian President Putin, but he did not meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for five years. He could not see that it was a "blood alliance relationship".Moreover, the Chinese government is unhappy about the people's smashing money in the North Korean casino. Even if North Korea opens its door to the Chinese again, the Chinese government may restrict it.
If so, the target group of the North Korean tourist area should be Russian tourists, but whether they will shuttle in the ski resort and beach resort in North Korea, it is still unknown.In June, the Russian -DPRK summit meeting reached an agreement on the re -development of cross -border railways in the two countries, but it takes time to truly play a role in the artery.The North Korean Federation of Journey to North Korea will organize a group to Pyongyang this summer, but because the Japanese government has adopted strict economic sanctions, it will not make any money for North Korea.
Another target group may be domestic tourists in North Korea.In October 2018, the North Korean Federation Agency reported a report on the introduction of "Pyongyang's Day Tourism Great".It is reported that tourists from the local area traveling on Pyongyang are "sightseeing".
The vast majority of North Korean citizens have no surplus to go to "sightseeing".However, in addition to Pyongyang, there are also very few rich classes in local cities. The government may use sightseeing attractions to earn money in their pockets.After Kim Jong -un took power, in addition to high -end restaurants, Pyongyang also opened a warm water swimming pool, sauna, horse riding club, indoor shooting ground and other facilities.In these facilities, you can see that the whole family of North Korea is very happy, and you can feel the large gap between the rich and the poor in North Korea.
North Korea has increased its efforts to conduct centralized investment in the areas of the Supreme Leader and personally deployed.For neighboring countries, compared to continuously implementing missile launch experiments, it is still more popular with tourism development.
The author is a professor at Qingying Yiluo University in Japan
