North Korea may have begun demolishing the Hotel Haegumgang and other South Korean facilities in the Mt. Kumgang tourist zone, but a Daily NK source says the authorities are slow-rolling the job.
The North Korea-based source said Monday there has been no change in North Korea’s position to remove all South Korean facilities from the Mt. Kumgang tourist zone. He said the demolition has been planned and approved, and while the authorities may not have executed the plan right away, they have ordered the demolition to commence in tandem with Pyongyang’s change in policy towards South Korea.
Even within North Korea, people have several theories as to why the authorities waited to put the demolition plan in action, even after all the preparation work was complete.
The source said people speculated that the authorities delayed the demolition to allow South Korean President Moon Jae-in — who had wanted to cooperate with the North — to save face.
He also said some North Koreans believed a new South Korean administration might want to restart peaceful and friendly ties with the North, but with this possibility growing remote, the authorities began to demolish the South Korean facilities in earnest.
However, North Korea has mobilized only about 30-40% of the personnel originally earmarked for the demolition. The more people you put on the demolition, the faster you can carry it out, so this suggests the authorities are intentionally slowing the demolition by putting fewer bodies on the job.
North Korea apparently aims to pressure the new South Korean government, leaving the door open for negotiations while watching Seoul’s response to Pyongyang’s move to demolish the South Korean facilities.
The North Korean army’s Seventh General Bureau, which handles construction projects nationwide, has been tasked with the demolition. The bureau designated which units and how many personnel to send long ago, but with the authorities issuing no orders, they have simply been waiting.
Citing material from satellite photo service Planet Labs, Voice of America previously reported that North Korea had begun demolishing the Hotel Haegumgang from Mar. 6, with the hotel’s interior now visible through the roof and walls.
During a visit to the Mt. Kumgang tourist zone in October 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the demolition of “shabby” South Korean facilities in cooperation with the relevant South Korea bodies, calling them “unpleasant to look at.”
The two Koreas subsequently exchanged several messages over the issue, but discussion has been suspended since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Now, North Korea has apparently begun dismantling South Korean facilities in the Mt. Kumgang tourist zone after practically no discussion with the South.
Meanwhile, North Korea has reportedly told cadres that it plans to develop Mt. Kumgang into a large-scale tourism complex by linking it with the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone.
However, the source said as North Korea plans to remain locked down for another year or two, ostensibly to stop COVID-19, the authorities plan to focus personnel on renovating the tourist zones until the border is completely open.
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