◆ Chinese Tourist Recruitment Stalls Badly
Chinese tourists can fly from Pyongyang to Samjiyon, but the primary route is overland entry through Changbai County in Jilin Province, directly across the river from Hyesan. ASIAPRESS spoke with a Jilin Province trade official familiar with North Korea business about the state of tourist recruitment.
— How are Chinese people responding to the idea of North Korea tourism?
On April 10th, a notice arrived in Changbai County from North Korea saying it would begin accepting Mount Paektu tourists starting in May. Applications would be taken through travel agencies — but not a single agency has agreed to take on North Korea's recruitment request. The prevailing view is: "Why would anyone go all the way to North Korea to spend their money?" No one has stepped forward willing to recruit tourists.
— So no one from China is going to Samjiyon for tourism?
Well, people going to North Korea for trade purposes can apparently visit Samjiyon as tourists while they're there. But they have to arrange a separate guide and book in advance. Right now, Chinese companies' interest in North Korea is focused almost entirely not on tourism, but on mineral resources, imported seafood products, and the development investment that goes along with them.
Mount Paektu can be climbed from the Chinese side via three separate routes — the Chinese call it Changbaishan — and receives several million visitors a year. It is difficult to see why anyone would bother with the North Korean route.
What's more, Kim Jong-un's rigid Dankhan (断韓) policy — the complete exclusion of South Koreans — makes it impossible to attract tourists from the South. The future of the Samjiyon resort, into which enormous effort and money have been poured, does not look bright.
※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.
