Inside North Korea's luxury ski resort where South Korean athletes will train before the Olympics

NK News

Children getting ready for ski class near the resort's main hotel building

South Korean athletes will soon head to North Korea's Masikryong Ski Resort in an effort to warm ties before the Pyeongchang Olympics next month.

Located just outside Wonsan City in Kangwon Province, the resort was thought to have a number of problems like outdated equipment and malfunctioning chair lifts.

But photos obtained by NK News show quite a different picture. The resort seems more like a luxury ski resort in Europe or the US.

Odd Stensrud, a manager of one of the biggest alpine resorts in Norway, told NK News that he wouldn't have believed it was in North Korea unless he was told beforehand.

What stands out is the volume of imported goods that North Korea is not supposed to be able to purchase - suggesting that they were obtained through sanction dodging.

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