The entity managing development of the Mount Kumgang tourism zone has begun a major personnel reshuffle under the instructions of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Wednesday that the Kumgangsan Special Zone Development Corporation for International Tourism “has been carrying out a month-long comprehensive personnel change under a central committee order since July 19.” He said the comprehensive reshuffle was “a strategic measure to increase the efficiency of the development of the Mount Kumgang tourism zone.”
Strategic measures to boost foreign exchange earnings
According to the source, North Korea has been drawing up plans to accelerate the development of the Mount Kumgang tourism zone, a potential source of foreign exchange earnings, as the country’s need for hard currency grows.
Accordingly, the authorities have reshuffled personnel working for the company under the belief that the most important thing is to strengthen the company’s internal management system.
The central committee ordered the complete replacement of older officials and officials who were taking up space unnecessarily without producing results with young, fresh officials, mostly graduates of tourism colleges.
The committee said it needed officials who would abandon the existing approach of relying on non-tax burdens to solve all problems in the name of self-sufficiency and instead find solutions in new project directions.
“The recent personnel reshuffle has had an increasing impact on officials because it suddenly exploded after a long period of preparation,” the source said. “There’s an uneasy atmosphere because even officials who survived previous reshuffles may be transferred or forced to quit their jobs.”
Plans for international cooperation and modernization
Unveiling its plan to develop the Mount Kumgang tourism zone, the central committee said cooperation with China and Russia – and the resumption of tourism with those nations – is paramount, and that it will focus on establishing a more transparent and efficient management system to attract international investment, as well as modernizing the tourism zone and improving the service network.
Citing a source in Kangwon Province, Daily NK reported in April that North Korea’s cabinet had ordered the province’s people’s committee to speed up the development of the Mount Kumgang tourism zone. The cabinet said the tourism zone was a strategic district established with the aim of attracting international tourists from China, Russia and other countries, and that it hoped to attract foreign investment and activate tourism in the area.
However, officials of the provincial people’s committee and local residents were appalled at the hardships they would face in developing the Mount Kumgang tourism zone.
Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.
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