THE ANANTI KUMGANG MOUNTAIN, A LUXURY RESORT YOU CAN'T STAY AT
It was the first and only luxury resort in North Korea and a symbol of co-operation between the two Koreas when it opened in 2008, the same year when Lee Myung-Bak, a hardliner who was against the Sunshine policies (engagement with N.Korea) of his predecessors, became S.Korea’s president. After a S.Korean tourist, one of about 200,000 South Koreans who annually spent holidays in the area, was shot dead by a N.Korean soldier after she had crossed into a military area near a beach according to Yonhap, South Korea stopped all tourism with the North.
The resort offered five star accommodation, a lavish spa, natural hot springs and championship golf, in a magnificent region until it was banned to visitors.
Today Felix Abt happened to drive behind a Hyundai bus in Vietnam which used to belong to the resort. It had a number plate from Tiền Giang, a Vietnamese province in the Mekong delta (see his picture).
Let’s hope that "Sunshine" (a policy S.Korea’s current president Moon is embracing) and "Moon-shine" will make it possible for the resort to buy new buses and reopen for South Koreans soon again.
WHEN ‘SUNSHINE’ RULED ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA
Remembering a period of unprecedented cooperation between the two Koreas, despite being technically still at war.
This piece was published by The Diplomat magazine in July 2016