How one determined activist is spoiling Kim Jong-un's plans for a top-notch ski resort
Kim Jong-un's winter pleasure zone must overcome dogged determination of Ken Kato to get countries to enforce ban on luxury goods
Kim Jong-un's plans for a top-notch ski resort face an uphill battle in the face of a vigorous campaign by a Japanese human rights advocate.
For months, Ken Kato, director of Tokyo-based Human Rights in Asia, has been contacting the Japanese embassies of countries that manufacture the equipment essential for making the Masik resort a reality, reminding them to adhere to United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang prohibiting trade in luxury goods.
Switzerland is the latest country to confirm that it will not permit its domestic firms to sell ski lifts to North Korea. Swiss newspaper Le Temps on Monday reported that the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs had blocked a deal valued at 7 million Swiss Francs (HK$58 million) for Bartholet Maschinenbau to provide mechanical chair lifts and cable cars to the Masik resort.
Kato has also written directly to companies in the ski sector around the world and, when he has not been satisfied with the responses, he has gone to the top.
"I first wrote to the minister at the Austrian embassy in Tokyo, but then I contacted the economic minister in Vienna through their website," Kato said. "I got a reply pretty quickly after that and I'm grateful for the Austrian government making its position clear on this issue."