The city of Samjiyon, which has turned into a standard of modern mountainous city under the guidance of the Workers’ Party of Korea, is now undergoing another facelift to become a more advanced and innovative city.

The city standing against the magnificent backdrop of Mt Paektu, the sacred mountain of revolution, which rises high above all mountains of the DPRK, is a laudable paradise for the people and the first product of the regional transformation in the new era.

It is the noble intention of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un to make the cheers for socialism and the Workers’ Party resound far and wide from the “first village” at the foot of Mt Paektu.

In November 2021, he visited the city and looked round several structures built in the third-stage project. He learned in a comprehensive way about the construction and city management. He highly appreciated that the natural environment and features peculiar to the region are well preserved and practicality, variety and formative art are fully ensured in all construction projects in conformity with the Juche-oriented idea on architectural beauty of the WPK and as required by the policy on regional construction.

He reviewed with pride the successful construction of the city of Samjiyon which was carried out as planned and intended by the Party, and set forth tasks and ways for further sprucing up Samjiyon as a destination for study tours of revolutionary battle sites as well as a tourist attraction, including the issues of actively pushing ahead with the road and railway construction, taking measures for the protection of ecological environment and forests and building hotels and hostels additionally, in keeping with the changing living conditions of the city.

He visited Samjiyon again in July last year again and acquainted himself in detail with the construction work in the city and expressed the Party’s plan to develop it into a typical mountainous city in the northern part of the country, a characteristic combined four-season mountainous tourist resort, to meet the cultural and emotional demands of the people on the highest level and revitalize international tourism. He said that the grand nature of the Mt Paektu area consisting of primeval forests and mountains is a valuable and admirable resource of the DPRK. He gave important instructions for building a tourist resort in the world-famous Mt Paektu tourist area to be a favourite haunt of the DPRK people and the world people and making tourism a major driving force of regional development.

That day, a bright prospect was opened for effectively exploiting and utilizing tourist resources in Samjiyon including the Phothae area, a suitable place for mountain tourism for sports and experience for its large amount of snowfall and natural, geographical, meteorological and climatic conditions.

At present, projects are underway to upgrade the newly built hostels in Samjiyon into hotels and develop more tourist attractions to turn Samjiyon into a world-class mountain tourist destination.