Twenty of the world's best surfers began an eight-day surfing tour of North Korea's east coast on Sunday to assess conditions, courtesy of the rogue state's leader Kim Jong Un, who is reportedly attempting to rebrand as an international surfing hotspot, according to the BBC.
Guided by Italian surfing champion Nicola Zanella, the group will study the quality of North Korea's remote sandy beaches, seabeds and waves, and analyze access, weather patterns and evacuation routes, reports the Telegraph. The tour was organized by the U.S travel operator Uri Travel in conjunction with North Korea's tourist board and includes surfers from the United States, China and Germany.
It kicked off in the capital city, Pyongyang, where surfers were expected to be taken to see several prominent monuments before going to inspect surfing conditions.
The country first opened its 1,550-mile long coast to smaller surf tours in Aug. 2014, but this is the first time it's being officially evaluated for large-scale surfing competitions, according to the International Business Times.
North Korea also opened its first luxury ski resort last year. Masikryong Ski Resort in the Kangwon Province opened after only ten months of construction, boasting a hotel, ice rink, heliport, swimming pool and restaurants, the Guardian reported.
Some 100,000 tourists visited North Korea last year, most from China, and the regime is hoping to increase that number to more than a million in the next two years.
"Many people in foreign countries think in a wrong way about our country," Kim said in an Associated Press interview earlier this year. "Though the economic sanctions of the U.S. imperialists are increasing, we are developing our economy. So I think many people are curious about our country."
