Composed of ten hotels, ten restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, a hot springs spa, and even its own hospital, Mount Kumgang Resort once represented a positive shift in inter-Korean relations and significant income for North Korea. Even now, massive chandeliers drip from the ceiling, and the buildings’ walls are covered with scenic mountain visions that resemble the region. Yet amid this now-dated extravagance, its deserted rooms and unstaffed amenities make it obvious that something isn’t quite right. From 1998 to 2008, about two million South Korean tourists visited Mount Kumgang, many for North Korean-controlled inter-Korean family reunions, which allowed people on either side of the border to reconnect with family. In 2008, a North Korean guard shot and killed Park Wang-ja, a 53-year-old South Korean tourist who had strayed into a military zone, according to the North Korean government. As one might expect, the act kind of put a damper on future tourism, and Mount Kumgang Resort has been in a state of demolition in the years that followed >
