An invitation that leaves you speechless. In North Korea, foreign golfers are invited to compete in an amateur golf tournament in Pyongyang to “develop friendships” with their North Korean counterparts.
Pyongyang Golf will host “a competition for amateur golfers in the spring and autumn and foreign amateurs can also participate”, can be read on the website of the club, which depends on the administration of tourism of Pyongyang. Tournament dates have yet to be announced.
An underwater golf course, an archery field…
Over the past few months, signs have been multiplying recently pointing to an upcoming relaxation of border controls. Beijing had confirmed in July that North Korea had registered for the Asian Games, which will be held in China in September.
In a separate message, Pyongyang said its agency, the Ryomyong Golf Travel Company, had set up attractions including “an underwater golf course, an archery range and a boating basin. “.
For An Chan-Il, a defector turned researcher who heads the World Institute for North Korea Studies, Pyongyang “has made golf an important means of earning foreign currency” and has even created a “golf department at a renowned sports university in the capital.
However, according to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, it would seem that North Korea has also started using the course for its prohibited missile tests. According to a military expert quoted by the newspaper, the multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched by Pyongyang on March 9 were likely fired from Lake Thaesong at the golf course to make it difficult for Seoul to “locate the origin of the launch “.