North Korea plans to open an underwater hotel

North Korean authorities are planning a surprising development project: an underwater hotel.

The Pyongyang Times reports that authorities have confirmed the construction of an underwater hotel in the city of Wonsan, on the country's east coast. The goal is to make Wonsan a "tourist city." Other plans for the area include a flower park as well as "towers and other modern-style buildings."

However, not all North Koreans are happy with the expansion project, which was reportedly greenlit in November 2013. The World Food Program recently announced that North Korea's aid programs have a "critical" lack of funding.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"The last thing the hungry people of North Korea need is an underwater hotel that is, at best, years from seeing its first guest," Joshua Stanton, author of the One Free Korea blog, told NK News. "North Korea is not a poor country, and hunger there is the direct consequence of Kim Jong-un's choices." Others joked that underwater hotels were perfect for the country, since escape would be difficult.

Meanwhile, the Korean International Travel Company declined to provide NK News with details about the hotel construction's scale or funding.