Vacation in Beautiful North Korea!

I ran into this story in the Manila Bulletin:LINK
saying that Manila is making plans to evacuate the 50 000 OFW Pinoys from Korea if there is a war there...
All of them work in South Korea, except for 18 who live in North Korea.
"....(including nine who) are musicians and band members in two resort hotels at Mount Kumgang, a popular tourist destination in DPRK."

Resort hotels in the hermit Kingdom...who wudda thot?

LINK and THIS LINK describes how Hyundai's money built the money losing resort, which was originally part of the "sunshine" policy of the South trying to build bridges into the North... most of the money went into the pockets of NK politicians...about 400000 visited last year from South Korea.

the bomb test will of course cause problems with businesses from the south investing (aka subsidizing) the government in the North...such as a factories at the Kaesong Industrial complex...
link is an analysis of South Korea investments, and THIS LINK has pdf files with maps and data...link which doesn't include Chinese investment and tourism

LINK says:

The Kumgang and Kaesong projects launched by South Korea's Hyundai Group have been a symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement and a centerpiece of South Korean government's engagement policy with the North.

They also have been a major source of hard currency for the isolated and impoverished North. Hyundai has invested 1.5 trillion won ($1.6 billion) in them.

With tensions running high over the North's alleged nuclear test, more than 30 percent of South Korean tourists canceled their cross-border trips to Mount Kumgang on Tuesday. The North has earned more than $9 million so far this year.

Pyongyang is also collecting cash from the Kaesong complex, where some 8,300 North Korean laborers are working for 13 South Korean firms. The North has obtained $24.2 million since 2003.

So if you really want to visit, try Koryo Tours who sponsored tours there for the BBC films...

With all the South Koreans cancalling their plans, there probably will be lots of empty rooms.