North Korea apparently trying to attract foreign investment, tourists
North Korea, which many analysts say has been suffering from the impact of international economic sanctions, appears to be seeing this occasion as a window of opportunity to attract foreign investment and tourists to earn hard currency, KYODO NEWS reports.
Slogans and signs emphasizing the nation's "state nuclear force" have disappeared from major sites in Pyongyang, suggesting North Korea is eager to continue denuclearization talks with the United States.
At the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory on Saturday, many reporters, who are visiting Pyongyang to cover North Korea's 70th founding anniversary on Sunday, were excited to learn about the country's beauty and health businesses.
The factory, established in the 1960s, has been renovated in recent years, bolstering its productivity. It has generated various goods, including soap, shampoo and perfume, as well as makeup, skincare, men's cosmetics and anti-aging projects.
These products, bearing the brand name "Unhasu," have become popular abroad, being exported to five countries including Russia, China and Iran, a female worker at the factory said.
"We are ready to complete with overseas cosmetic companies," she said, voicing confidence in the quality of the factory's goods.
On Friday, foreign reporters and photographers were permitted to visit the Pyongyang Teacher Training College, which uses state-of-the-art technologies for the training of future schoolteachers in a possible world first.
The mostly female students were studying how to educate kindergartners and primary school children with the aid of virtual reality and 3D display devices.
The college students were utilizing projection mapping, in which images are mapped onto 3D objects, and augmented reality, a technology that overlays digital images onto the real world.