North Korea has begun providing English and Chinese-language services on a website promoting tours to Mount Kumgang.
The website, run by Kumgangsan International Travel Company, allows prospective visitors to choose the other language options for information.
The move apparently shows Pyongyang remains undeterred in its push to lure foreign tourists, despite growing concern over the outbreak of the new coronavirus that has led the country to tighten its border with China.
Most foreign visitors cross the border to enter the reclusive state.
The North Korean agency has been leading tours to the mountain region since South Korea suspended visits in 2008, after one its citizens was shot to death by a North Korean soldier.
The joint Mount Kumgang tourism project was regarded as a symbol for inter-Korean cooperation and a key source of hard currency for cash-strapped North Korea.
But with little prospect for the resumption of the tour project due to global sanctions, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in October ordered the removal of South Korean-built facilities there and the construction of an international tourist zone.■
<Photo: Yonhap News>
