{"id":64664,"date":"2025-09-02T19:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T10:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=64664"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:07:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:07:54","slug":"n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/","title":{"rendered":"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div>\r\n<div class=\"grid-cols-1 grid gap-2.5 [&amp;_&gt;_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5\">\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Circular sightseeing boats recently launched on Pyongyang&#8217;s Taedong River represent a strategic blend of foreign currency generation and regime promotion, offering wealthy North Koreans and tourists an unusual entertainment experience that serves multiple political purposes.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The round boats \u2014 equipped with bulgogi grills so passengers can sightsee while enjoying Korean barbecued meat \u2014 began full-scale operations this summer, according to a Daily NK source in North Korea recently. Most notably, the boats accept only dollars every Thursday, a deliberate strategy by North Korean authorities to absorb foreign currency.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Pricing is set at $10 per hour for four people, $15 for six people and $30 for 12 people. Four servings of bulgogi come with the basic fare, though additional food or alcohol costs extra.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">At current exchange rates, $10 equals 430,000 North Korean won \u2014 enough to buy 20 kilograms of rice. &#8220;Given today&#8217;s prices, this sort of luxury would be a pipe dream for ordinary people,&#8221; the source explained.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The boats offer a premium $100 nighttime option featuring decorative lighting. However, this experience remains far beyond ordinary citizens&#8217; reach \u2014 only families of trading company employees, wealthy North Koreans and children of powerful officials can afford it.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">While ordinary people might grumble about the boats, the authorities&#8217; underlying strategy focuses on &#8220;absorbing foreign currency.&#8221; Initially, wealthy North Koreans invested their capital in the service, but state agencies now operate and manage the boats. &#8220;This is because the authorities believe the service could boost the party&#8217;s finances,&#8221; the source said.<\/p>\r\n<h4 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\"><strong>Luxury dining as political tool<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The service carries special significance given that relaxing over meat and liquor has traditionally been condemned in North Korea as decadent capitalist behavior. It also reveals calculated political aims designed to boost loyalty through regime promotion.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">&#8220;The government is dressing it up as evidence of its &#8216;love of the people&#8217; and &#8216;improvement of the people&#8217;s lives&#8217; based on the slogan of &#8216;civilized lives,'&#8221; the source said. &#8220;In particular, it intends to boost young people&#8217;s loyalty and reduce desires to abandon the regime by letting them experience a &#8216;paradisiacal life provided by the state.'&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Young North Koreans, particularly children of wealthy or powerful families, now consider the round cruise boats essential date venues or &#8220;must-have&#8221; experiences, similar to how they view car rental services widely available in Pyongyang&#8217;s Hwasong District.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">&#8220;Young people who have experienced the boats say it feels like they&#8217;re aristocrats, like they&#8217;ve seen in foreign movies,&#8221; the source noted. &#8220;People show off their cultural sophistication through such experiences, while the government promotes itself by letting people enjoy a bit of romance thanks to the Supreme Leader&#8217;s kindness.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">North Korean authorities, who have been working to attract foreign tourists, are reportedly considering expanding the round cruise boats with grills to other regions, including Wonsan, Nampo, and Chongjin. This suggests they aim to achieve three simultaneous goals \u2014 boosting domestic consumption, absorbing foreign currency, and promoting the regime.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">&#8220;The government wants to expand high-end consumer culture beyond Pyongyang to the provinces as a symbol of development,&#8221; the source said. &#8220;However, because only some people can enjoy the boats while the rest might feel relatively deprived, the authorities will carefully coordinate the timing of expansion.&#8221;<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20250826-6\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Circular sightseeing boats recently launched on Pyongyang&#8217;s Taedong River represent a strategic blend of foreign currency generation and regime promotion, offering wealthy North Koreans and tourists an unusual entertainment experience that serves multiple political purposes. The round boats \u2014 equipped with bulgogi grills so passengers can sightsee while enjoying Korean barbecued meat \u2014 began full-scale [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":63323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,645,1360],"tags":[930,1199,1300,1430,274,714,735,776,863],"class_list":["post-64664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-economy","category-society","tag-foreign-currency","tag-nampo","tag-hwasong","tag-youth","tag-pyongyang","tag-economy","tag-trade","tag-chongjin","tag-tourism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Circular sightseeing boats recently launched on Pyongyang&#8217;s Taedong River represent a strategic blend of foreign currency generation and regime promotion, offering wealthy North Koreans and tourists an unusual entertainment experience that serves multiple political purposes. The round boats \u2014 equipped with bulgogi grills so passengers can sightsee while enjoying Korean barbecued meat \u2014 began full-scale [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-02T10:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T05:07:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"741\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lee Sang-yong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lee Sang-yong\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lee Sang-yong\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af77e9df0c71b46d0e8583adf9222a8f\"},\"headline\":\"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-02T10:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T05:07:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"foreign currency\",\"nampo\",\"hwasong\",\"youth\",\"pyongyang\",\"economy\",\"trade\",\"chongjin\",\"tourism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Economy\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/\",\"name\":\"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-02T10:33:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T05:07:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg\",\"width\":741,\"height\":494,\"caption\":\"This photograph shows North Koreans on a pleasure boat on the Yalu River in Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, on May 1, which is Labor Day in North Korea. The merrymakers are seen waving toward Dandong, a city in China\u2019s Liaoning province, and taking photos with their mobile phones. (Daily NK)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af77e9df0c71b46d0e8583adf9222a8f\",\"name\":\"Lee Sang-yong\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/\uc0ac\uc9c4-150x150-1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/\uc0ac\uc9c4-150x150-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/\uc0ac\uc9c4-150x150-1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Lee Sang-yong\"},\"description\":\"Lee Sang-yong is the head of Daily NK's AND (Archiving North Korea Data) Center and previously spent a number of years working as one of the publication\u2019s foreign correspondents in China. He can be reached at sylee(at)uni-media.net.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/lee-sang-yong\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty","og_description":"Circular sightseeing boats recently launched on Pyongyang&#8217;s Taedong River represent a strategic blend of foreign currency generation and regime promotion, offering wealthy North Koreans and tourists an unusual entertainment experience that serves multiple political purposes. The round boats \u2014 equipped with bulgogi grills so passengers can sightsee while enjoying Korean barbecued meat \u2014 began full-scale [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2025-09-02T10:33:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-06T05:07:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":741,"height":494,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lee Sang-yong","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lee Sang-yong","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/"},"author":{"name":"Lee Sang-yong","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/af77e9df0c71b46d0e8583adf9222a8f"},"headline":"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty","datePublished":"2025-09-02T10:33:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T05:07:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/"},"wordCount":539,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg","keywords":["foreign currency","nampo","hwasong","youth","pyongyang","economy","trade","chongjin","tourism"],"articleSection":["News","Economy","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/","name":"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-02T10:33:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-06T05:07:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/20250508_hya_\uc2e0\uc758\uc8fc-\uc720\ub78c\uc120.jpg","width":741,"height":494,"caption":"This photograph shows North Koreans on a pleasure boat on the Yalu River in Sinuiju, North Pyongan province, on May 1, which is Labor Day in North Korea. The merrymakers are seen waving toward Dandong, a city in China\u2019s Liaoning province, and taking photos with their mobile phones. (Daily NK)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korea-launches-luxury-river-cruises-to-earn-dollars-and-boost-loyalty\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"N. Korea launches luxury river cruises to earn dollars and boost loyalty"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/af77e9df0c71b46d0e8583adf9222a8f","name":"Lee Sang-yong","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/\uc0ac\uc9c4-150x150-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/\uc0ac\uc9c4-150x150-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/02\/\uc0ac\uc9c4-150x150-1.jpg","caption":"Lee Sang-yong"},"description":"Lee Sang-yong is the head of Daily NK's AND (Archiving North Korea Data) Center and previously spent a number of years working as one of the publication\u2019s foreign correspondents in China. He can be reached at sylee(at)uni-media.net.","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/lee-sang-yong\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64685,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64664\/revisions\/64685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}