Donald Trump isn’t the only world leader with an interest in the resort business. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have been the driving force behind North Korea’s rush to get its second ski resort operating before the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, where North Korean athletes may be part of a unified Korean team.
That’s Kim on the chairlift.
The new ski area at Kanggye was rushed to completion in ten months, and has a beginner slope, an intermediate slope, restaurants and lodging, and snow-making equipment. It’s considerably smaller than the Maskryong resort, opened in 2013.
It’s not clear who the intended audience for the facilities is; Korea doesn’t have a significant skiing tradition, and visits by foreigners are limited both by international sanctions and by North Korean rules. Even the equipment is affected; sanctions banned North Korea’s attempt to buy new chairlifts. For Maskryong, they had to settle for a used lift from Austria.
