North Korea is seeking investment at a mountain resort that was briefly popular with South Korean tourists before its abrupt shutdown in 2008. File Photo by Jeon Heon-kyun/EPA-EFE
Nov. 7 (UPI) -- North Korea is inviting outside investors with deep pockets to reconsider the Mount Kumgang Tourist Region, briefly popular with South Koreans before tours were abruptly suspended in 2008.
Pyongyang's call for investments comes at a time when state-sanctioned North Korea travel agencies are diversifying their tour packages in partnership with Japan-based firms.
North Korea tour operator Kumgangsan International Travel Agency stated online it is seeking investors for a new hotel with a 700-people capacity, South Korean news service Seoul Pyongyang News reported Wednesday.
The hotel would stand 15 stories high with a surface area of 15,000 square meters. It would take 10 years to build, according to North Korean estimates.
North Korea plans to build a massive water park at the resort that will include slides and other facilities. The park would occupy 200,000 square meters of land. The facilities are also open to outside investment.
Other buildings that will require capital includea hospital for tourists and employees, and a "special exhibition hall" to display local fruits, vegetables and livestock.
The hall will be built in Kosong County in Kangwon Province, according to the report.
Following the suspension of South Korean tourism to Mount Kumgang in 2008, North Korea said in 2010 it would unilaterally seize South Korean assets at the resort.
But tour operators are seizing the opportunity of improved inter-Korea relations to market new products.
JS Tours, a Japan-based agency with ties to North Korea's Choson International Travel Agency, has released itineraries that cover newly famous sites visited by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un at their summit, Radio Free Asia reported.
Tours include a stopover at various North Korean restaurants serving cold noodles, a highlight of the inter-Korea summit.
The travel agency is also advertising trips to Mount Paektu, where the Korean leaders posed for photographs, according to the report.