North Korea airport includes runway for Kim Jong Un's exclusive use

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- North Korea's Kalma Airport completed an expansion in July to accommodate up to 12 planes, according to an analysis of recent satellite images of the reclusive country.

Curtis Melvin of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, who used the aerial images in his analysis, told Radio Free Asia on Friday the airport in North Korea's port city of Wonsan was rebuilt to extend runways by 3,500 meters, Yonhap reported.

The airport terminal can now accommodate up to 12 commercial airplanes, Melvin said, according to South Korean television network KBS. The area also is the site of three new buildings under development and a road.

The satellite images of the airport showed that a runway has been built for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's exclusive use, one of five such runways found at other locations including Pyongyang, Kangdong in South Pyongan Province and near Kim's summer villa in Wonsan.

The newly refurbished airport is proximal to a major tourist region that North Korea is keen to develop with foreign investors, and the recent images indicated advertising welcoming foreign tourists and domestic visitors had been placed on site. The image of a smiling yellow sun was seen placed above the words "KALMA" written in English and Korean.

In July, North Korea said international investors were showing strong interest in its Wonsan-Mount Kumgang International Tourist Zone, seven years after South Korea tours to the region were suspended.

The tours stopped when a South Korean tourist was fatally shot in July 2008, but North Korea has said it intends to develop the area in order to attract at least 1 million visitors annually.