North Korea began work on a large new ski resort near the Chinese border last month and a new train station at a nearby airport to bring travelers into town, satellite imagery shows, a sign that authorities are improving facilities for domestic tourists or preparing to reopen the country to foreign guests in the future. 

The new resort project is located at the entrance to a ski slope atop Pegae Hill (베개봉) overlooking Samjiyon City — what state media calls the “holy land of the revolution” — near Mount Paektu. 

Workers appeared to start building a new structure measuring 425 feet long (130 meters) and 50 feet wide (15 meters) in the first half of June, according to Planet Labs imagery. It reached at least a few floors high as of the latest image taken July 12, but its intended height is unknown and state media has not reported on the new project.

It follows the still ongoing construction at the foot of the ski hill of two 10-story hotel buildings of a similar size and footprint as the new one at the top, all part of a project pushed by Kim to completely rebuild Samjiyon as a “utopian” city befitting its revolutionary lore.

A few small buildings and arrays of solar panels appeared to be removed last winter in preparation for the new project atop the ski hill. It is unclear if a radio tower and large wind turbine in the same vicinity were removed as well, though higher-resolution imagery may shed light on this once it becomes available.

North Korea first installed ski lifts and other small ski facilities at Pegae Hill between 2002 and 2004 as part of the Sports Village in the Mt. Paektu Area (백두산지구체육촌) project.

AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION

Construction also started earlier this year on a large new train station at  Samjiyon Airport, according to satellite imagery, suggesting local authorities want to streamline travel options for tourists.

Workers built a small support road running parallel along the length of the airport runway from Aug. to Sept. 2021. Construction then appeared to begin in late February on the new railroad running around 5.5 miles (9 km) from Lake Samjiyon Shore Railway Station to an area between the airport and the Korean People’s Army (KPA) Air and Anti-Air Force Unit 991 complex to the south.

Temporary construction worker camps appeared on the grounds of the air force base and near the new road work in March. The project appeared ongoing as of July 12.

It is likely that the project will construct a large, modern and ornate railway station similar in appearance to those built elsewhere in Samjiyon in recent years. There are no signs yet of construction on a new airport terminal to replace the current collection of small standalone administrative buildings and waiting rooms. 

The airport was part of Unit 991 in the past, but some airforce buildings near the runway were demolished in late 2017 and fighter jets have not appeared on the runway in available Google Earth high-resolution imagery since 2014. It is possible that the airport has transitioned to exclusive civilian use after previously being used by both military and Air Koryo civilian craft.

An Air Koryo plane flying in from Pyongyang was last spotted at Samjiyon Airport on April 23 this year.

TOURISM REVIVAL?

It cannot be ruled out that the ski hill project is a hotel or resort intended primarily for domestic tourists, especially given yearly government-organized trips for thousands of workers to tour founding leader Kim Il Sung’s “revolutionary” sites near Pegae Hill and elsewhere in the Samjiyon area. 

Other ski resorts in the country have also shown signs of catering to domestic tourists during the pandemic and national lockdown.

However, state media has heavily hinted that new giant hotels and amenities built in Samjiyon in the last five years, including a “ski school,” are targeted toward foreign tourists as well and that North Korean entities are holding out hope for reopening borders sooner rather than later.

North Korea officially opened dozens of new facilities at Samjiyon City in Dec. 2019 shortly before the country closed to incoming travelers at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but no tour groups are believed to have visited since the opening.

In addition to the latest construction, North Korea also installed new funicular train cars at Mount Paektu in late 2020 in preparation for a future border reopening.

Chinese tourists are expected to be a primary target given Samjiyon’s location close to the border. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Wednesday that Chinese tour company KTG is “receiving multiple inquiries per day even now” about travel options to North Korea despite the closed borders. 

But Pyongyang has shown no signs of reopening borders anytime soon. DPRK state media continued to report Friday that authorities are strictly controlling border areas and testing water and dust for traces of COVID-19, indicating intense paranoia over new outbreaks.

Edited by Bryan Betts