SEOUL: North Korea, one of the world's most reclusive states, plans to branch out into medical tourism next year, offering foreign visitors, most likely from China, treatments including cataract surgery, dental implants and therapy for tumours.
Private tourism is one of the few remaining areas of business not blocked by sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programmes. Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a hot spring resort nearing completion in the central alpine town of Yangdok, one of major construction projects at the heart of his drive to build a"self-reliant" economy.Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul, described the medical tourism campaign as propaganda designed at showing progress, while adding that it could appeal to some Chinese tourists.
A recent report by a government-affiliated health institute in neighbouring South Korea said North Korea was struggling to provide basic health care.