The historic 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea put forward revitalization of tourism as an important undertaking for making our people lead a more civilized life and for demonstrating the daily changing appearance of our country to the world and set forth the important tasks for developing the country's tourist industry.
The respected Comrade
"A favourable climate and good conditions for investment should be created in our economic development zones in order to revitalize their operation, and wide-scale tourism should be encouraged."
Development of tourist resources plays a very important role in revitalizing the tourism of the country and promoting economic development.
Our country is rich in various forms of tourist resources. First of all, natural tourist resources are abundant. There are world-famous mountains in our country such as Mt. Paektu, Mt. Kumgang, Mt. Myohyang, Mt. Kuwol and Mt. Chilbo, and other mountain tourist attractions such as Mt. Jangsu, Sobaek, Rangnim and Kwanmo peak are found everywhere in the country.
There are many tourist attractions in the underground, too, and a wide variety of offshore tourist attractions along the long coastline. With many big and small rivers including the Amnok, Tuman and Taedong rivers, our country has many riverside tourist resources, and there are also many small and medium-sized streams in the well-known mountains which are excellent tourist resources for their highly aesthetic value. There are also famous waterfalls, including Pagyon Falls in Kaesong and Kuryong Falls in Mt. Kumgang. There are various types of lake tourist resources, hot springs, mineral springs and mud resources. The natural tourist resources of our country are excellent ones which are very unique and attractive because of their beautiful and bizarre scenery, unique natural beauty and climate conditions suitable for health care, and thus can give great pleasure and satisfaction to tourists.
The country also has abundant social and cultural tourist resources. Our country is one of the birthplaces of mankind and ancient civilization and thus has many historical sites and relics showing the excellence of the nation. In the areas in and around Pyongyang and Kaesong, there are architectural remains and various relics showing the level of cultural development of the Korean people. The famous mountains including Mt. Kumgang, Myohyang, Kuwol and Chilbo have Buddhist relics from the period of Koguryo, Koryo and feudal Joson dynasties. Together with the historical sites and relics, the folklore and arts such as the unique Korean customs, lifestyle, folkcraft, folk songs and dances, which have been formed in the long historical period of 5 000 years, are also tourist resources.
Today, the tower of the Juche idea, the Arch of Triumph, Ryomyong Street and Mirae Street and other great monumental edifices of the Juche era have become excellent tourist attractions of great interest to tourists.
The tourist resources of our country are very rare resources which are difficult to find in other parts of the world. They have a wide appeal for their unique scenery and peculiarity, and great tourist value because they are widely known to the world.
The tourist resources of our country are not only of great tourist value but also advantageous for development. Mt. Kumgang, Myohyang and Chilbo are already equipped with tourist facilities, and tourist areas and tourism development zones are developed in the Wonsan-Mt.Kumgang area and other areas with rich tourist resources.
The respected Comrade
The principle in developing tourism resources of our country is, first of all, to fully display the spirit of self-reliance and carry it out by its own efforts. Development of tourism resources, including the construction of tourist areas, is usually accompanied by construction of infrastructure and requires a lot of investment and technology. The problems arising in the development of tourism resources should be solved by relying on our own efforts and technology, and by relying on our own methods and techniques in keeping with the specific situation in our country. The construction of the tourist areas including the construction of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area clearly shows that self-reliance is the best in the development of tourist resources.
The next principle in developing tourism resources of our country is to find out tourist resources with great attraction and potential for development, turn them into real tourism resources and create new ones. There are many places of tourist value in our country. Among such places, we must find those with great tourist attraction and potential for development.
In addition to finding tourist resources of tourist value, the tourist sites and their surroundings should be well-kept and furnished in such a way that they are attractive and convenient for tourism. And sightseeing roads, sightseeing platforms, the rest areas and service facilities should be made available.
Creating new tourism resources has an important place in developing tourism resources. In order to meet the needs of tourists more fully and develop tourism, it is necessary to create new tourist resources. Building a new folk street or park is part of tourism development creating new tourist resources.
The next principle in developing tourism resources in our country is to preserve national and regional characteristics in developing tourism resources. In order to preserve the national character and regional characteristics in developing tourism resources, it is necessary to discover and restore the sites with unique natural sights and cultural heritage, and other tourist attractions in the development area without fail and maintain the tourist resources as they are.
It is also necessary to construct all the facilities around the tourist resources in such a way as to fully sustain their unique nature. And also, the excellent traditions and customs of the nation practiced by the local residents, such as national dress, national food and folk festivals, folk games and national art in the tourist areas enhance the tourist effect. It is also important to ensure that everything in the tourist area including tourist resources, service facilities, service contents and methods, and tourist souvenirs clearly reflects the local and regional characteristics. It is also necessary to ensure rich diversity while ensuring the unique nature of tourism resources.
The next principle in developing tourism resources of our country is to attach importance to the protection of the ecological environment in developing tourism resources. Tourist resources should be developed on condition that there are thorough measures in place to prevent pollution and destruction of ecological environment and its development should contribute to the environmental protection of the area. To attach importance to protecting the ecological environment in the development of tourism resources is a principled requirement for sustainable development of tourism. In order to protect the ecological environment in development of tourism resources, we should first ensure that the ecological environment is not harmed in the course of discovering tourism resources and constructing various tourist facilities.
In addition, the capacity of the tourism environment should be well estimated in setting the scale of development of tourism resources. When developing tourist resources, natural reserves, tourist areas and facilities areas in the surrounding areas should be located separately. In addition, when developing tourism resources, environmental protection facilities (various precautions and notices) should be designed and developed in order to avoid environmental degradation in their future use. Ecotourism resources conducive to environmental protection should also be actively developed.
In the future, our country will actively promote development of tourism resources and briskly organize tourism in the areas of Mt. Kumgang and other areas so that our people enjoy a more civilized life and demonstrate to the world the changing appearance of the country and accelerate the development of the national economy.
