UPDATE 1 (2013-3-28):NK News reports that Kempinski has officially pulled out of the deal:
“Kempinski Hotels confirms that KEY International, its joint venture partner in China with Beijing Tourism Group (BTG), had initial discussions to operate a hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, however no agreement has been signed since market entry is not currently possible”, Regional PR Director Hilary Philpott told NK NEWS by email.
ORIGINAL POST (2012-11-1): According to Bloomberg:
The 105-story, pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel, whose foundations were poured almost three decades ago, will open partially in July or August, Kempinski AG Chief Executive Officer Reto Wittwer said today at a forum in Seoul. The German luxury-hotel manager will be the first western hospitality company to operate in North Korea, he said.
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“This pyramid monster hotel will monopolize all the business in the city,” Wittwer said. “I said to myself, we have to get this hotel if there is ever a chance, because this will become a money-printing machine if North Korea opens up.”
Kempinski, based in Munich, is handling management while Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Media & Technology Holding SAE (OTMT) funds the hotel as part of a $400 million mobile-phone license it won from the North Korean government in 2008, he said. Cairo-based Orascom has spent $180 million on completing the hotel’s facade.
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The top floors of the hotel will house guests in 150 of the originally planned 1,500 rooms, which “will be developed over time” to remodel the insufficiently designed spaces, Wittwer said. Shops, restaurants, a ballroom and Orascom’s offices on the ground and mezzanine floors will also open next year.
North Korea announced that it has instituted a new law to begin levying tax in the Mount Kumgang Tourist Zone which has been — until now — a tax-free zone. In addition, a personal protection regulation for tourists was also added to its tourism regulations. North Korea has been modifying laws pertaining to the Mt. Kumgang area in order to develop it as a special tourism zone.
Last week, Yonhap News reported that it had obtained from North Korea a book that was released last November on North Korea’s laws and regulations on international economic policy. According to the book, North Korea adopted in June 2012 a new tax regulation for the Special Zone for International Tour of Mount Kumgang. The law was passed by the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly.
The new tax regulation stipulated that any companies or individuals (foreigners and oversees Koreans) who conduct business transactions or make profit from the Special Zone for International Tour of Mount Kumgang are subjected to tax.
The business income tax applied in the Mount Kumgang zone are on average about 14 percent of one’s yearly profit (infrastructure projects including airport, railways, roads, and port construction only pay 10 percent) and individual income tax ranges from 5 to 30 percent when monthly income is 300 euros (approximately 430,000 KRW).
The tax regulation also covers property, inheritance, transaction, business, and local tax. This comes as a subordinate law under the Special Law for International Tourism in Mount Kumgang, which was enacted in May 2011 and subsequently revoked the monopoly rights of Hyundai Asan.
As such, this law likely will impact South Korean investment in the Mount Kumgang tourism industry.
In the past, working closely with Hyundai Asan, North Korea designated the tourist area as a tax-free zone. There were also no separate laws regarding the levying of taxes on foreigners except for South Korean tourists, who were required to pay 50 USD per person.
In the ‘Tourism Regulations of Mount Kumgang International Tourism Zone,’ a clause was added that specified the special travel bureau for international tourism was responsible for the protection of personal safety and property of tourists in Mount Kumgang. The special travel bureau for international tourism is under the jurisdiction of the Guidance Bureau of the Special Zone of Mount Kumgang International Tourism.
North Korea’s decision to insert a clause ensuring the safety of tourists is likely due to the fact that this issue has continually been raised as a main concern since the death of a South Korean tourist in the zone in July 2008 and subsequent halt of inter-Korean cooperation in the Mount Kumgang project.
In addition to the new tax and tourism regulations, North Korea also made new regulations pertaining to the foundation and management of enterprises; customs; access, visitation, and housing; insurance, and environmental protection, among others.
Today, Koryo Tours received confirmation of the mass games dates for this year. They are scheduled to run from JULY 22nd to SEPTEMBER 9th. These dates incorporate two of the biggest holidays in the DPRK this year – the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War on 27th July (Victory Day) and the 65th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK on September 9th (National Day) .
Despite claims last year that 2012 would be the last ever Arirang-themed performance, it seems that this is not the case and this year the theme will again be Arirang but we expect to see new scenes added in to make it bigger and better than ever before.
ORIGINAL POST (2012-7-11): I have relocated to the DC area and have begun clearing out the backlog of posts and emails. I should be caught up by the end of the week.
This morning, however, I wanted to point out a marketing email sent out by Koryo Tours:
Word from our sources in Pyongyang is that the Arirang Mass Games of 2012 will be the last – so we suggest you sign up now to ensure that you can see this remarkable event while it is still running。
While mass games have been performed since the 1940s in the DPRK the Arirang show is the largest and most impressive they have ever produced. Born in 2002, since 2007 it has been an annual event, but 2012 will be Arirang’s 10th anniversary, and it seems the powers that be have decided to close the curtain. As for the reason, our Korean partners suggest that the narrative needs to change with the times. Combining dance, gymnastics, propaganda, politics, music, and even unicycling, this spectacular performance chronicles the struggles of the Korean people suffering under Japanese occupation, moving into the independent era and building a modern country – basically the period linked to the first 100 years since the birth of North Korea’s Eternal President Kim Il Sung.
However, since 2013 marks the 65th anniversary of the foundation of the republic (Sept 9th) as well as the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War (July 27th), organisers are reportedly planning a whole new performance for next year – for more news on this, please stay on our mailing list!
So if you haven’t seen Arirang yet, or if you want to see it one last time, this is your chance.
Nicholas Bonner (co-director/co-producer of the film) will be at the Miami screenings and the San Francisco screening on 16th March – and would love to see you there.
The film will also be shown at various other festivals throughout the US later in the year – we will add the screenings to our website: www.comradekimgoesflying.com
For press please contact the film’s publicist:
David Magdael [email protected]
Phone (+1) 213 624 7827
Koryo Tours are proud to announce the very first charity Fun Run to be held in DPRK (North Korea) on May 1st 2013.
The Fun Run is open to any tourists in Pyongyang at the time so if you’re on the May Day Long Tour or the May Day Short Tour then you can join in! There will be a 5km route as well as a 10km one for those who are up for more of a challenge – we will be running (or jogging/ walking/ limping – delete as applicable) in the Manyongdae District in Sports Street. Tourists taking part in the fun run won’t miss out on any of the other activities – after the run we’ll return to the hotel to freshen up before starting the day’s sightseeing itinerary kicking things off with a visit to the Mansundae Grand Monument before heading to Taesongsan Park where the locals hold May Day celebrations.
The aim of the run is to raise money to buy milk powder for the children in the Nampo Orphanage on the west coast, a place we’ve worked with regularly. There will be a minimum donation of EUR 20 per runner but if you’d like to try and raise more we of course encourage you to do so – and please note that donations from non-participating tourists are also greatly received by us and the children!
The weather on the morning of May 1st should be pleasantly cool, we’ll provide water and a FUN RUN T-shirt so all you need is some suitable footwear/ clothing.
If you’d like to be part of the first ever Fun Run in North Korea or need any more information about our May Day Tours then please send an email to [email protected]
A departure ceremony of tour boat Royale Star for the first batch of Rason-Mt. Kumgang international tour makers took place at Rajin Port Saturday.
Present there were officials and other personages of the DPRK and Chinese institutions related to tourism, tourists and people in Rason City.
Jon Tong Chol, director of the Rason City Tourist Administration Bureau, and Zheng Yuanhui, owner of the boat, made speeches there.
The speakers congratulated the guests on having an opportunity to tour Mt. Kumgang, world famous mountain and a superb scenic beauty, as the first batch of makers of Rason-Mt. Kumgang international tour by the boat.
They wished the guests pleasant and happy days.
At the end of the ceremony the boat left the port.
UPDATE 1 (2013-3-6): Yonhap offers more details on the ship and its mission in the DPRK:
Beijing-based Young Pioneer Tours said Pyongyang has authorized seven, four-day tours to the port and resort on its east coast from late April though mid October.
The Royale Star, a small cruise ship owned by a Singaporean shipping company, will be used to ferry foreign tourists, with the company claiming passengers will get a chance to see unique marine vistas off Rajin and Mount Kumgang, one of the top natural tourist destinations in North Korea.
The vessel is 138-meters-long, has a beam of 28 meters and is able to carry a large number of passengers and crew. The ship has a duty-free shop, hair salon, bar, rest areas and a restaurant-theater.
North Korea is recently expanding its tourism industry, one of its major foreign currency earners.
North Korea is improving its tourism infrastructure to attract more foreign tourists, and recently introduced a new cruise ship to bring in tourists from China and other countries.
Workers’ Party of Korea’s mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun reported on February 21 that an opening ceremony for a Singapore cruise ship called the Royale Star was held at Rajin Port. The Rajin Port staff and government officials in the tourism sector from North Korea and China were in attendance. The new cruise ship is expected to revitalize the tourism in Rason and Mount Kumgang and the Rason Economic and Trade Zone.
Royale Star is expected to attract a large number of Chinese tourists.Although further details were not specified, Royale Star is also likely to travel between Rajin Port and Mount Kumgang in the Gangwon [Kangwon] Province, given the emphasis placed on Rajin-Mount Kumgang tours.
However, the pilot tour was rated poor due to the cruise ship’s old and substandard facilities. Passengers on the Mangyongbongfor the tour included foreign journalists from China, Russia, and the United States, and Chinese businessman. The ship set sail four times in 2011 from August to October. Four hundred Chinese tourists were said to have taken the tour. However, the cruise failed to attract tourists to operate on a regular basis.
North Korea explored the use of other luxury cruise ships from Hong Kong, as reported by Chinese media last year. North Korean authorities and Chinese travel agents seemingly came to the conclusion that cruise facilities and services must be drastically improved in order to attract more customers,and this has likely led to the recent introduction of the Singaporean cruise ship, Royale Star.
Royale Star is 138m in length and 28m in width, comprising a total of eight floors, and is supposedly equipped with a variety of facilities and services, including luxury rooms and bars, duty-free shops, a hair salon, lounge, and dining halls with live performances.A crew of more than 150 people was hired, including nationals from Singapore, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Russia, Ukraine, and North Korea.
At the opening ceremony, the captain of the Royale Star announced, “We will accommodate our guests from many countries as a marine hotel. We will operate three days a week to allow our guests to enjoy the beautiful and unique scenery that North Korea has to offer and also sail to Mount Kumgang the last week of every month.”
Authorities also plan to open a hotel in Rajin Port to address the current lodging shortages in the Rason Special Economic Zone, which is under joint North Korea-China development. Last year about 600 to 700 Chinese visited the area during the peak season for tourism and business purposes,but reported to have experienced great difficulty finding accommodations.
As tourism to North Korea is gaining popularity in China, additional tours to Pyongyang, Kaesong, Panmunjeom, and Mount Kumgang are being considered, and new tourism infrastructure is being constructed in the border cities of Dongrim [Tongrim] (North Phyongan Province) and Kyongsong (North Hamgyong Province).
ORIGINAL POST (2013-2-26): According to KCNA:
Singaporean Tourist Ship Opens Business at Rajin Port of DPRK
Pyongyang, February 20 (KCNA) — The Singaporean tourist ship “Royale Star” opened its business with due ceremony at Rajin Port in the northeastern DPRK on Feb. 20.
Present at the ceremony were officials and other people of DPRK and Chinese institutions related to tourism and people in Rason City.
Kim Chun Hwa, director of the Rason International Travel Company, the director of the Yanbian Tianyu International Travel Company of China, and Zheng Yuanhui, owner of the ship, made speeches at the ceremony.
They said the start of business by the ship is of great significance in developing tourism in the Rason Economic and Trade Zone, adding it will contribute to bringing about a turn in the services for tourists.
They expressed thanks to the DPRK for its cooperation in the preparations for the start of the ship’s business.
They stressed the need to improve the services and inject fresh energy into Rason-Mt. Kumgang tour and the businesses in the zone.
At the end of the ceremony its participants toured cabins and other facilities of the ship.
A reception and an art performance were given on the same day.
UPDATE 3 (2013-3-22): Koryo Tours employee, Hanna Barraclough, has been posing Instagram photos from her most recent trip to the the DPRK. You can see the photos here. She also wrote this blog post about her most recent trip. In the report, she dropped some notable information in the last paragraph:
In other news from the trip – the 3G access for foreigners has now been restricted to long term visitors/residents of Pyongyang only and tourists are not permitted to use this service. They can still buy simcards to make calls but no internet access available.
Hanna, Jean Lee, and David Guttenfelder are the only individuals of whom I am aware that have used Instagram/Twitter from inside the DPRK. Since they regularly enter and DPRK, they might get a pass as “long-term visitors”. It looks like the idea of thousands of tourists instantly uploading images to the web was a little more than Pyongyang could handle for the time being. Still, we know the capacity is there, we just have to wait for them so flip the switch again.
UPDATE 2 (2013-3-7): Here is CCTV (China) coverage (in English) of the new cell phone policy:
Last week, Jean Lee (Assiciated Press) reported that international visitors/expats will soon have access to the internet through their mobile phones with KoryoLink SIM cards:
North Korea will soon allow foreigners to tweet, Skype and surf the Internet from their cellphones, iPads and other mobile devices in its second relaxation of controls on communications in recent weeks. However, North Korean citizens will not have access to the mobile Internet service to be offered by provider Koryolink within the next week.
Koryolink, a joint venture between Korea Post & Telecommunications Corporation and Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE, informed foreign residents in Pyongyang on Friday that it will launch a third generation, or 3G, mobile Internet service no later than March 1.
The announcement comes just weeks after North Korea began allowing foreigners to bring their own cellphones into the country to use with Koryolink SIM cards, reversing a longstanding rule requiring most visitors to relinquish their phones at customs and leaving many without easy means of communication with the outside world.
The two changes in policy mean foreigners in North Korea will have unprecedented connectivity while living, working or traveling in a country long regarded as one of the most isolated nations in the world.
However, wireless Internet will not yet be offered to North Koreans, who are governed by a separate set of telecommunication rules from foreigners. North Koreans will be allowed to access certain 3G services, including SMS and MMS messaging, video calls and subscriptions to the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper — but not the global Internet.
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Chinese-made Huawei cellphones sold by Koryolink are not cheap, with the most basic model costing about $150, and the governments restricts North Koreans from phoning abroad or foreigners from their cellphones. Still, mobile phones have become a must-have accessory among not only the elite in Pyongyang but also the middle class in cities such as Kaesong and Wonsan.
Foreigners, meanwhile, can now purchase SIM cards at the airport or at Koryolink shops for 50 euros ($70). Calls abroad range from 0.38 euros a minute to Switzerland and France and more than 5 euros a minute to the U.S. Calls to South Korea remain prohibited.
Starting next week, foreigners will be allowed to purchase monthly mobile Internet data plans for use with a USB modem or on mobile devices using their SIM cards. Prices for the service haven’t been announced yet.
“We will provide both a USB modem and your current own SIM card to get access to Internet, respectively costs 75 euro and 150 euro upon registration, with different levels of charge standard, from 400euro/10G, 250euro/5G, to 150euro/2G for USB and 10 euro for SIM card per month,” he said.
According to the data compiled by the U.S. State Department, a total of 87 visas were issued for North Koreans in the 2012 fiscal year running from October 2011 to September 2012. This represents a 22 percent decrease from a year earlier.
The drop is mainly attributed to the soured relations between Washington and Pyongyang after the communist country launched a long-range rocket last April in breach of an earlier agreement to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches.
North Koreans were issued more than 200 visas per year during 2003-2005, but the figure has been on a downward trend since then, with 148 cases in 2006, 150 in 2007, 137 in 2008, 76 in 2009 and 53 in 2010, according to the official data.
The notable falls in 2006 and 2009 show a correlation with Pyongyang’s first and second rounds of nuclear tests, experts say.
By type of visa issued in fiscal 2012, short-term business and travel visas of B1 or B2 took up the largest share with 50 cases, followed by 32 G-type visas for representatives of international organizations and their immediate family members. There were also three F-type visas for students and two C-type visas issued for short-stay visitors, the data showed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government issued a total of 90,927 visas to South Koreans in fiscal 2012, down 15 percent, the data showed.
Read the full story here:
U.S. visa issuance to N. Koreans drops last year Yonhap
2013-2-20
The number of North Koreans visiting China legally reached a record high of 180,600 in 2012, an 18% increase over the 2011 figure of 152,300.
Radio Free Asia released the news today, citing Chinese statistics. According to the report, the most common reason for the visits was ‘employment’ (79,600, 44%) followed by ‘business’ (55,200, 31%).
The number visiting China for ‘business’ increased by roughly 10,900 over the 2011 figure, while the number of those visiting for ‘employment’ increased by 4,300.
According to RFA, “This is because of the greater number of exchanges and joint ventures going on between North Korea and China in the economic sector.”
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Elsewhere in the statistics, 4,500 (2.5%) North Koreans also visited China last year for purposes of tourism and leisure, and 200 (0.1%) went to visit friends and relatives.
Read the full story here:
Legal North Korean Visitor Numbers Rise Daily NK
Jeong Dae Sung
2013-1-18
ORIGINAL POST (2012-4-24): Number of visitors up in first quarter of 2012. According to Yonhap (via Korea Times):
The number of North Koreans visiting China in the first three months of the year surged more than 40 percent from a year ago, with the majority arriving for employment or business purposes, a report said Tuesday.
A total of 40,200 North Koreans visited the neighboring country in the first quarter, up 40.5 percent on-year, according to the Voice of America, which quoted data from the China National Tourism Administration.
About half, or 19,300 visitors, were seeking work in China’s manufacturing and dining industries, while another 10,800 visitors arrived for business purposes, the report said. Only 1,100 North Koreans toured China for sightseeing.
By age group, 19,100 visitors were aged between 45 and 64, followed by 17,200 people who were aged between 25 and 44.
Ferries transported the highest number of passengers at 17,400, while 9,300 people traveled by automobile.
The number of male visitors came to 33,200, or 83 percent of the total, far exceeding the number of females.
The data did not include defectors or other North Korean visitors who arrived by unofficial means, the report said.
ORIGINAL POST: In The Armed Forces of North Korea Joseph Bermudez gives a thorough accounting of most of the DPRK’s airfields, airports, highway strips, and air force bases. Since the book was published in 2001, however, it is slightly out of date. This week I found a new North Korean runway in Kumgang County which appears to have been built between 2007-5-21 and 2012-9-22 to replace a disused runway five miles to the south.
Pictured above (Google Earth): I have outlined Kumgang County and show the positions of the old and new runways.
The former runway strip (documented in The Armed Forces of North Korea) is located just a mile north of the town of Kumgang. It appears to have fallen into disuse:
The nearby Kumgang-chon River has eroded a southern portion of the runway. It also appears a small drainage canal has been dug across a central section of the unpaved runway.
The new Kumgang Airfield is more sophisticated:
To begin with, the runway (appx 1km x 70m) is paved.
I was curious as to whether this runway is intended to serve primarily for civilian or military purposes. Evidence in favor of civilian use: The runway is close to Inner-Kumgang. Tourists could conceivably fly to this airport and drive appx 20 km (by road) to the Inner Kumgang Rest House. Tourists could also drive 35km to the Kumgang resort. Additionally, there is already a large North Korean air force base just 20km due north of the new runway in Thongchon County. I am not sure if an Air Koryo IL-62M can take off/land on this new runway, but certainly any of the commuter prop planes that carry tourists on domestic flights should not find it too difficult.
Evidence for military use: As of September, there is yet to be built any infrastructure that would serve as a “civilian” airport terminal or air traffic control tower (I use the word “civilian”, but the KPA Air Force controls all of the DPRK’s airspace). These types of infrastructure can be seen at other North Korean “civilian” airports in Pyongyang, Hamhung, and Samjiyon. It could be that construction is still ongoing. Additionally, the airport is currently protected by a small number of hardened artillery positions (HARTs) located next to the runway. Artillery, however, can be seen at other “civilian” airports in the DPRK as well. Just south of the HARTs we can also see what appears to be some tunneling or excavation work being carried out in the hillside. The purpose of this work remains unclear:
North Korea is developing its tourism industry as a way to increase its foreign currency earnings. Recently, there appear an increasing number of tour packages targeted attracting Chinese visitors to the DPRK, with new tour packages actively being promoted.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on October 8 that there are new professional tour programs that are gaining international attention. In the article, new and creative tours were featured, including Mount Paektu tours with [Air] Koryo Airlines and bicycle tours. Mini-golf tours are also reportedly scheduled for next year.
Along with North Korea, Chinese tour companies are also taking interest in this effort and are developing various tour packages via air, land, and sea routes. In June, charted plane tours from Shenyang started, and now new tours from Dalian to Mount Kumgang are also being launched.
Across the border from the North Korean city of Sinuiju is the Chinese city of Dandong, where there are over ten travel agencies that operate daily train tours between the two cities. In fact, during holidays and weekends, more and more Chinese tourists are flocking to the China-North Korean Friendship Bridge that traverses the Yalu River, connecting the two cities.
The recent rise of Chinese tourists to North Korea is attributed to the aggressive marketing schemes of the North Korean government. The State Tourism Bureau teamed up with a Chinese travel company to run a tour to Mt. Paektu. North Korea, faced with international economic sanctions, has limited means to earn foreign currency. The new Kim Jong Un regime is actively seeking ways to earn foreign capital through the tourism industry. Chinese companies are responding positively and swiftly to this change and are coming up with new tourism programs.
North Korea is utilizing its image as ‘closed country’ and ‘hermit kingdom’ to stimulate curiosity among tourists. More and more Chinese are able to enter North Korea without a visa (requiring only their passports) and this is adding to the spike in Chinese tourists to the country. Most Chinese travel agencies are able to make all the necessary travel arrangements to North Korea in less than a week once the interested person submits his/her passport and photos.
However, there are comments from returning visitors that tours are limited to historic and famous sites and somewhat insular as contact with the locals is prohibited. North Korean national security agents accompany all tour groups. Despite this fact, many experts expect the number of Chinese visitors to the DPRK will continue to increase in the future.
