The North Korean government has lifted a ban on horse race betting, a move experts see as an economic response to tough global sanctions imposed as punishment for the country’s aggressive nuclear weapons program.
According to North Korean news agency KCNA, a number of races have taken place at the Mirim Riding Club sponsored by the Korean Equestrian Association and featuring betting by spectators 12 or older through a lottery-style system.
Dictator Kim Jong-un “has been pushing for vanity projects,” said Na Jeong-won, head of the North Korea Industry-Economy Research Institute in Seoul. Speaking to Reuters, he mentioned a theme park, a sky resort and the horse racing, saying “their real purpose was to earn foreign currency”.
“You may have ridiculed Kim for constructing lavish facilities while struggling to feed the people, but those things are to make foreign currency, not from foreigners but from the well-offs inside North Korea, because you have to pay in U.S. dollars or Chinese renminbi there,” said Lee Sang-keun, a researcher at the Institute of Unification Studies of Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
Earlier this year, it was reported the country was seeking foreign investors for a cruise ship program, which it says will be permitted to operate a casino, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The report said the government was looking for a company or a consortium to operate at least one vessel for an investment of US$10 million-$20 million.
