- North Korea’s Kumgang – Diamond Mountain – a tourist resort once symbolized hope for peace.
- Satellite photos show the resort’s buildings were demolished last weekend, according to The Times.
- Many of the destroyed buildings are owned by South Korea.
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North Korea is using explosives to destroy a golf resort built for South Koreans and once symbolized hope for peace and co-operation between the two countries, according to The Times.
Satellite images show that the buildings in Kumgang Mountain – the Diamond Mountain – a tourist resort built by South Korean companies, were partially destroyed last weekend, The Times reported.
This follows reports that the Haegumgang floating hotel in the Kumgang Mountains, owned by South Korea’s Hyundai Group, was dismantled last month, according to local media.
Visitors enjoy the maintained lawn of the South Korean golf course at Mount Kumgang, also known as Diamond Mountain, in North Korea on September 1, 2011. Ng Han Guan, AP Photo
South Korean government officials have tried to use an intergovernmental hotline to demand an explanation for the destruction of the tourism business in the mountainous region, according to The Times. They were unsuccessful in trying to get an answer.
“North Korea’s unilateral act of dismantling the hotel clearly runs counter to the goal of joint inter-Korean efforts based on mutual respect and consultation,” Cha Deook-cheol, a spokesman for South Korea’s unification ministry, told The Times.
In this photo from Saturday, October 8, 2011, a North Korean man recorded a video of the landscape as he and other tourists climbed to the top of Mount Kumgang, North Korea. David Gutenfelder / AP Photo
The Mount Kumgang tourist region, a special administrative region of North Korea, was established in 2002 to welcome South Korean holidaymakers.
This was a hallmark of South Korea’s “solar policy” of engagement with North Korea, a foreign policy framework that sought to boost co-operation between the two nations through economic cooperation.
Map of the tourist region of Mount Kumgang in North Korea. Insider / Google Maps
South Koreans have been visiting the resort for several years, contributing foreign currency to the North Korean economy. However, tourism stopped in 2008 when a tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.
A 53-year-old South Korean woman was killed after entering a restricted area, as a result of which the South Korean government stopped touring the resort. The suspension lasted until 2018. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected the tourist resort of Mount Kumgang, North Korea on October 23, 2019. REUTERS
In 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited and criticized the tourist region, describing it as “backward”, “tolerant” and “slow”, according to the Australian ABC News. The media reported that he called for the facilities to be rebuilt to meet North Korea’s “aesthetic taste”, the media reported.
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