Yes, climate change is an existential threat to the planet, so you can’t really belabor the point. Yet, there are other things going on in the world. Since we’ve mentioned climate a number of times in the past month (including our last post), it’s probably time to move on. But we aren’t done just yet, because how often do we find a reason to mention climate change and skiing in the despotic hellhole overseen by Kim Jong Un?
Before we start, it’s worth underlining that Kim is arguably the planet’s most hallucinatory nightmare of a political and military leader. He is murderous, pathological and unbridled. And he’s equipped with nuclear weapons and a fanatically dedicated (read: brainwashed) populace. Just because much of what he does is weird and several bubbles off center, he and his country shouldn’t be considered amusing. North Korea is not amusing; it is a very, very dark reflection of the worst of the human species.
Among Kim’s weirder visions: turn a nation that is overtly hostile to foreigners…a country justifiably known as the Hermit Kingdom…and turn it into a world-class destination for skiers. The impetus is easy to grasp: skiers are a free-spending lot who leave a glittering trail of hard currency. This is an attractive proposition for a desperately poor country suffering under international sanctions. With the growth of a moneyed middle class in China, the reasoning goes, why not open up the mountainous northern region, which borders the PRC, to a new generation of skiers?
Unfortunately, the building of Kim’s first project, the Masikryong Ski Resort near Wonsan, was somewhat hampered by those same international sanctions. Despite setbacks with the acquisition of lifts, as documented by the Washington Post back in 2013, the resort was completed in just 10 months and now claims 5,000 daily visitors, almost none of which are visible in pictures. Since then, work has been completed on another resort at Yangdok (the press release, which Google translates as “Come to the Land of Sheep” should not be missed). And Kim has cut the ribbon for a third.
These bold dreams have been seriously undercut by the coronavirus, which has caused Kim to shut the border with China, which is supposed to supply the bulk of skiers. And an even bigger threat is climate change. The resort is at a low-ish altitude (top elevation is 1,363 meters) and, like the rest of the world, will not be spared a future with warmer temperatures. According to Bloomberg, “South Korea’s weather office says average temperatures in its northern neighbor will probably rise 15% by 2040 from 1981-2010 levels.” Given that the last two winters have been plagued by bad cover, this doesn’t bode well for the future.
Under other circumstances, that bleak prognosis might encourage you to hasten to the DPRK to sample whatever they might have to offer. Don’t do it. They think they want you there, but they don’t. And you don’t want to support Kim with your ski dollars. A lot of other destinations are friendlier, have better snow, are easier and cheaper to get to and represent a more modest addition to your carbon footprint. And most of the other places aren’t as torture-adjacent as anyplace in North Korea.
Image: Masikryong Ski Resort, by Uri Tours, via Flickr.
