
Overview
The Mt. Kumgang Tourist Region was a popular South Korean tourist destination until a security incident led to its closure in 2008. Despite optimism after the 2018 Panmunjom Summit that long-stalled inter-Korean economic projects would resume, no progress was made before the summit process fell apart. In late 2019, Kim Jong Un visited Mt. Kumgang, denouncing South Korean claims on the resort and instructing it be rebuilt according to North Korean standards and tastes.
Progress on renovating the site has been slow, and initial plans were likely impacted by the pandemic. Activity picked up in 2022 to finish razing the majority of South Korean-built facilities, but it is unclear when serious construction may begin, especially with renewed emphasis on finishing the Wonsan-Kalma Beach Resort. Given North Korea’s separation of ties with South Korea, it is also unclear who the target audience for the renovated resort will be.
Introduction
The Mt. Kumgang Tourist Region—a special administrative region carved out of North Korea’s Kangwon Province in 2002—was initially opened to foreign tourists, including those from South Korea, in 1998. It began under the umbrella of the Wonsan-Mt. Kumgang International Tourist Zone, which includes sites such as Wonsan, Masikryong Ski Resort, and Mt. Kumgang, among others. The project quickly became a beacon of hope in inter-Korean economic cooperation, with South Korea’s Hyundai Asan—the conglomerate also part of the Kaesong Industrial Complex joint venture—receiving a decades-long contract to build-out the area’s infrastructure.
However, not unlike other inter-Korean cooperative projects, the stability and longevity of the area ebbed and flowed with the political tides of North-South relations. In 2008, a South Korean tourist was shot by a North Korean guard, resulting in Seoul banning its citizens from visiting Mt. Kumgang until Pyongyang agreed to a joint investigation of the incident and safety guarantees for future tourists. North Korea never agreed to these terms—and the site has remained closed to South Korean tourists. It is unlikely tours of any form have taken place since.
Beginning of the End
Despite optimism that inter-Korean economic projects, including the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Area, would resume after the signing of the Panmunjom Declaration in 2018, no progress was made before both the inter-Korean and US-DPRK summit processes fell apart. As a result, Kim Jong Un visited the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Area in October 2019, asserting that the buildings around the site were a “hotchpotch” devoid of national character, and “built like makeshift tents in a disaster-stricken area.” He went on to dispel any notions that Mt. Kumgang was a common property of both North and South Korea, and that an improvement in inter-Korean ties would lead to a resumption of tourism in the area. He ordered the removal and/or remodel of existing facilities that were relics of the inter-Korean initiative that Mt. Kumgang once was.
In December 2020, Premier Kim Tok Hun, a member of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, visited Mt. Kumgang, calling for work to turn the site into a “modern and all-inclusive international tourist and cultural area” to push forward with a phased approach.
Significant activity was not observed until 2022, when several prominent sites were demolished. The cycle repeated again in 2023.
In July 2023, South Korean media reported the chairwoman of Hyundai Asan sent—and consequently withdrew after the North’s refusal to acknowledge it—an application to visit Mt. Kumgang. In response, the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement indicating Pyongyang had no intention to allow the visit to take place and reaffirmed that the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Area is solely a part of North Korea’s territory.
The 30th Plenary Meeting of the 14th SPA Standing Committee of DPRK—held in February 2024—adopted a decree abolishing any formal agreement on North-South economic cooperation, formally cementing the end of the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Area as a cooperative project.
North Korea has since severed additional ties to its southern neighbor—both in law and in practice—meaning the future of Mt. Kumgang International Tourist Zone is unlikely to bear resemblance to the inter-Korean project of the past. North Korea’s demolition of border links on both the west coast highway (Asian Highway-1, or AH-1) connecting South Korea with the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the east coast highway (Asian Highway-6, or AH-6) connecting to the Wonsan-Mt. Kumgang Tourist Zone in October 2024 now physically prohibits access to Mt. Kumgang from the South by road. Rail lines connecting the two countries have also been severed,
While North Korea’s vision for Mt. Kumgang as solely its own initiative has not been announced in state media, imagery around the complex reveals that much of the structures from the inter-Korean cooperative era has been demolished, and little has been done to revitalize and rebuild the area.
Floating Hotel and Pier
Without a doubt, the most recognizable location in the tourist zone was the floating Hotel Haegumgang. Originally built in Singapore, the 200 room-hotel was first a Four Seasons hotel near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It was later sold and moved to Vietnam before its purchase by Hyundai Asan in 1998 and consequent move to Kosong port.
Throughout its time in Kosong, the hotel was moored with large cables to a dock. A sea wall and two adjacent piers kept the structure relatively protected from the open water.
Close to the dock on land was an additional residential area. In 2005, the area had 34 chalets and sometime between then and 2010, a neighboring plot was developed that could house up to 20 caravans. Several support buildings were also added and ground work at the site hinted that more had been planned.
By 2010, satellite imagery showed the resort and the floating hotel, chalets and caravans sat unchanged until 2022.





In October 2019, the hotel served as a backdrop in state media images of Kim Jong Un during his visit, upon which he instructed South Korean-owned structures to be removed—including the Haegumgang Hotel. However, it was not until the spring of 2022 that work to dismantle the hotel and neighboring caravan park and chalets commenced. By the end of that year, they were gone.
Currently, the site remains clear of any new construction, but activity at the piers picked up during 2024. Several vessels visited during the year for short periods of time, including a cargo ship and at least one North Korean Navy vessel, likely from Kosong Naval Base located across the bay.
Ananti Golf Resort and Spa ( Mountain Golf Resort and Spa)
For a few weeks, one of the major attractions in the tourist zone was the Ananti Golf and Spa Resort, located near Diamond Mountain. The facility sat on hills overlooking Kosong port and was only about a kilometer from the water’s edge, but its opening was spectacularly poorly timed. It opened its doors in May 2008, less than two months before the site was shut down.
Like other structures at the site, it sat vacant for much of the followin years, although between April 9 and 10, 2022, about a month after workers began tearing down the floating Hotel Haegumgang, satellite imagery showed the lodging buildings were destroyed. State media reported their destruction as a result of a forest fire, though the validity of these claims is unclear based on commercial satellite imagery. However, imagery does show that the resort apartments or condos were razed between April 8 and April 10, 2022.
The main club and spa building remained in tact at the time, but satellite imagery from October 23, 2024 captured work to dismantle the structure underway.



Bay Area
In addition to the main facilities at the site, numerous smaller buildings have been removed or are being removed across the tourism zone to leave no reminders of the original project.
In late August 2022, the Kosong Bay Sushi Restaurant was demolished. The building sat alongside the bay and had once served as the inter-Korean transit office, but later became a restaurant.


The sushi restaurant was near a large, paved area that housed logistical offices and units and a South Korean-run gas station. The logistics area was largely cleared of structures in 2016. Additional demolition work was carried out in the summer of 2023.
The canopy of the gas station still stands, making it one of the last remaining structures in the area. However, it was shown in a state of decay in on-the-ground photos taken in 2017 so the integrity of it today is likely poor.
For several years, more than 40 buses that had been used to ferry tourists around the region were parked on the paved area, but they were eventually repurposed for domestic purposes and observed sporadically throughout other areas of the site.
Other Hotel & Resort Area
Sometime between September 2 and 7, 2022, the Kumgang Cultural Center was destroyed. The distinct domed building previously served as the meeting point during the 2018 North-South family reunion. The family reunions—held only once since 2015—occurred mere months after the inter-Korean Panmunjom Declaration was signed, representing a time of peace and hope in relations between Pyongyang and Seoul. The House of Culture was among the sites included in Kim’s 2019 declaration that Mt. Kumgang’s facilities lacked national identity and needed an overhaul.



This structure differed from the Kumgang Family Reunion Center, a 12-story hotel initially constructed in 2008 that hosted participants in family reunions in 2009, 2010, and 2014. Through May 2022, the complex surrounding the Family Reunion Center was left largely untouched. However, by October the same year, furnishings and materials from inside the hotel were removed and piled up in the parking lot. Debris remained in the area until early 2024. Possible cargo containers lining portions of the complex perimeter appeared around the time demolition began, and are still observed on imagery from October 2024. The hotel’s exterior appears to be unchanged.



In mid-2022, a tourist building opposite the Kumgang Cultural Center site was razed, and the logistics area was cleared. The logistics area had housed over 100 cargo containers but they were removed when the building was razed.
A year later, a South Korean-built fire station in front of the Kumgang Family Reunion Center was demolished.
Access and Future of the Sites
When Kim Jong Un visited the site in 2019, he spoke of the need to modernize the facility, removing South Korean buildings and replacing them with a number of new projects including a passenger port, an airport and a new train service to connect the airport with the resort. As the removal of South Korean buildings approaches its end, none of the new projects appear to have been started.
Given Kim’s instructions and the devolving state of North-South relations, this tourist zone, when rebuilt, will not depend on South Korean tourists or investments. North Korea’s push to eliminate any special relations with the South and the recent removal of road and rail links between the two Koreas means the only feasible way into the Mt. Kumgang region at present by way of South Korea is via road or rail from the north. It is possible that should South Korean tourists be allowed to visit again in the future, they could fly into Wonsan Kalma Airport, about 60 kilometers to the north, or come from other areas within the country by car or train. Based on Kim’s 2019 guidance, it appears that a direct air route is preferred.
With party resources focused on opening the Wonsan-Kalma Tourist Zone next year, some six years late, it seems unrealistic that serious work on revitalizing the Mt. Kumgang area will start anytime soon. It is also unclear who the target audience for such a resort might be.
Looking Forward
- When will North Korea begin serious renovation of the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Area?
- If so, will it keep the initial layout/features of the site? Or will it include vastly different attractions?
- Are other tourism areas throughout North Korea receiving priority attention/resources?
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