Kumgang's Whores

The Asahi Shimbun
10/29/2005
MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea-Once known for its brazen propaganda and strict rules that tied tourists to their itineraries, the fortress that is Mount Kumgang is apparently letting its guard down. As in, it's "Guard of Oppression".

The resort area just north of the 38th Parallel, where the demilitarized zone cuts the Korean Peninsula in two, is the only region in North Korea permanently open to tourists.
It's certainly no Vegas," A little hard to compare Vegas, to whatever one would call the North Korean tourist "industry". but the commercial benefits seem to have generated a puzzling warmth unknown when tours to the mountain started in 1998. The "puzzling warmth" referred to, is the feeling North Korean citizens get when a PROFIT is earned...

Daily song and dance routines put on for the mostly South Korean guests are apparently now less about showcasing North Korea's "unique" beauties and more about extending a hand of solidarity. They should take a page out of the Vegas tourist playbook, and offer an "extended handjob of solidarity".