Kim Jong-un has hit on a pretty good idea to boost North Korea’s tourism revenue.
He wants North Korea to become one of the hotspots for surfers, and aims to make beaches up and down the coast line the number one place for them to visit in the world.
A team has even been put together to look into this, including Italian champion surfer Nicola Zanella.
They will assess potential surfing spots along the east coast, and explore the beaches.
The expedition will last for eight days, with the hope that eventually, they will be able to educate young North Koreans on water safety and build up a local surf culture.
The tour has official permission from the government, and will begin in Pyongyang, with Andrea Lee, who leads the US-based Uri Tours claiming that the response so far has been ‘overwhelming and encouraging’, and that they have been contacted by surfers all over the world.
She added:
Most of the people I met at the public beaches were factory workers or farmers who were visiting for the day. There are fisherman working along the coast too, but they don’t live at the beach.
Korea may be a peninsula but watersports isn’t part of tradition. But if North Korea wants surfers, they’ll certainly assign that challenge to their young athletes so that they’re catching waves by September.
