North Korea is considering new casino license in Pyongyang

Pyongyang is not the hottest tourist venue in the world. It’s shunned by wealthy Westerners and hardly popular with its neighbors. There is the government’s authoritative streak and capital punishment to add to the mix. Yet, North Korea is supposedly changing tact and looking to issue its third casino license according to Radio Free Asia.

North Korea looking to expand its casino licenses with a third one

The government could be handing down an operating license to the Ryugyong Hotel development, a project that has proceeded in fits and starts over the years. North Korea is trying to find a company that will be willing to finish the building’s interior, with the exterior largely completed and receive as a bonus the rights to run and operate what would be the country’s newest casino.

Began in 1987, Ryugyong Hotel is the country’s tallest building and a tribute to its engineering ingenuity. The project’s exterior was eventually finished in 2011, but the interior has remained largely unfinished. Now, the communist regime is looking to tap into private initiatives in the hopes of resuscitating interest and revitalizing one of the capital’s biggest landmarks.

Running a casino though would not be easy. North Korea has a rather limited list of customers to pick from. Well-heeled Chinese and Russians may be tempted on the face of it, but Beijing takes a dim view of people who gamble money away in foreign countries instead of ploughing them back into the local economy.

The report, however, is purely speculative, with Radio Free Asia citing an anonymous source. Ideally, the investment will be carried out by a foreign entity, which poses another hardship on the selection process as few established developers would risk facing Western-led sections for doing business in Pyongyang and North Korea over uncertain and thin margins.

Pyongyang to try and defy the odds in setting up a new casino

However, none of this is news for North Korea, which already hosts two casinos with relative success. The country runs the casinos at the Bipa Hotel located in the Rason Special Economic Zone, close to the border with China and Russia, focusing firmly on cross-border traffic. These casinos were established back in the 1990s.

The hope goes that by building a casino closer to home, Pyongyang could draw further investment from overseas, but also boost its tourist attractions at home.

North Korea is generally a tepid destination that does not immediately pique international traveller’s interest with some 100,000 – 120,000 people said to visit the country, mostly Chinese nationals.

Much of this is attributed to North Korea’s nuclear posture and sabre-rattling, along with a lack of sighting opportunities. A casino in the capital is hoping to change that.

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