Chinese travel agents promote N. Korea ski tour

Masikryong Ski Resort

By Yi Whan-woo

Chinese travel agents are pushing a sales campaign for Masikryong Ski Resort, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's luxury tourist project in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan.

A Chinese-language poster obtained by Daily NK, an online news website on Pyongyang, promotes a December-to-February tour package for the resort.

The three-night package costs 4,580 yuan ($665) for adults and 3,580 yuan for children. The four-night option is 5,580 yuan for adults and 4,180 yuan for children.

It leaves from Shenyang every Thursday and stops by Pyongyang.

Masikryong Ski Resort was less popular with Chinese tourists compared to other North Korean sites because of high costs and safety concerns, sources said.

But tour operators hope the thaw in Beijing-Pyongyang ties will turn things around, especially considering Kim wants to better promote the resort.

"The snow quality at Masikryong is supposed to be much better than at the ski resorts in China," sources said. "Of course the facilities and services at ski resorts in South Korea and Japan are terrific but North Korea is still a cheaper and closer option for Chinese skiers."

The Kim regime has been stepping up its publicity campaign for the resort.

The Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, reported in 2018 that the resort was "filled with numerous visitors" on Feb. 16, the birthday of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Built in December 2013, the multi-million-dollar resort is the brainchild of the Swiss-educated Kim. The 14-square-kilometer facility features 10 slopes, an Austrian-made cable car system, four snowmobiles from Canadian company Ski-Doo, an ice skating rink, a beauty salon, a swimming pool with waterfalls, a spa and restaurants.

South Korean journalists who visited the site in 2018 said the souvenir stores were filled with international luxury goods, including Bally handbags, Kenzo perfumes and colognes and Lancome cosmetics.

The stores also sell products from well-known sports and outdoor equipment brands, such as Nike gym clothes, Adidas hats and socks and The North Face backpacks.

The nightclub in the resort's hotel was equipped with Yamaha drums and sold a range of imported liquors and beverages, such as Ballantine's and Chivas Regal blended Scotch whiskies, Heineken beer and Perrier sparking mineral water. The hotel bar had an espresso coffee machine by La Cimbali, an Italian manufacturer of professional espresso and cappuccino equipment. The coffee machine sells for 14 million won ($12,800) in the South.

The resort is part of the planned Wonsan Kalma Shore Tourist Zone on the east coast.

Kim ordered the military to cooperate with civilians to complete construction at the earliest possible date.

A North Korean official said the zone will be "bigger and even greater in quality than Mirae Scientists Street," referring to a district in Pyongyang that opened in November 2015 and is dedicated to nuclear scientists and missile engineers.