Will Russians Flock to Kim Jong-Un’s Failing Ski Resort, Masikryong, North Korea?

Meet Masikryong Ski Resort, North Korea’s first and only ski resort. Kim Jong-un’s $300 million resort which was built in 2013 and features 120 rooms in a state-of-the-art hotel, four ski lifts, 11 ski runs, restaurants, cafes, karaoke rooms, billiard tables, steam rooms, dry saunas, and a heli-pad. At the time of construction, there was global resistance to the project, which made the construction of the resort challenging for the North Korean dictator. French, Austrian, and Swiss chairlift manufacturers declined to supply the resort with chairlift equipment, due to existing sanctions under the UN regulations. Western government officials dismissed it as a “propaganda project.” Therefore, the North Koreans turned to China to supply the resort’s important lift infrastructure. North Korea is notorious for engaging in massive projects while ignoring significant economic problems like ensuring its residents have access to reliable food and electricity.

Russia has been at war with Ukraine since February 2022, which has caused travel and vacation by Russian citizens to Ukraine and other countries to be quite limited due to sanctions by the West. As a result, Kim Jong-un has started marketing the resort to Russian travelers. They seem to have had at least some success, as an image of the Primorsky Krai delegation, which is delegation led by Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Russian far eastern region of Primorsky Krai that borders North Korea was recently leaked by KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) of the delegation enjoying a five-day trip at the resort. Authorities in Russia say that North Korea wants to build new travel routes, such as a new train system, and implement more sea and air routes. They have also said that they are working on projects to promote tours for both kids and adults. North Korea was pushing to build a new daily train service from Ussuriysk, a city in Russia’s Far East, to Tumangang and Rajin, two cities in North Korea that are close to their border with Russia.

Masikryong is yet another example of how Kim Jong-un’s dictatorship has been able to fund extravagant projects that attempt to paint a different picture of what North Korea and its dictatorship truly are. Although the influx of Russian citizens is a step in the right direction financially for the resort, it still has a long way to go before it can consistently reach 5,000 skiers a day, just to break even on the day-to-day operation costs.