KIM WON-JIN | AFP | Getty Images
Amateur horse riders compete during the ‘Autumn Race-Goers Games’ at the Mirim Riding Club in Pyongyang on October 15, 2017.
North Korean race-goers who once risked three years hard labor for gambling are now able to bet on local horse races, as the one-party state searches for new ways to generate hard currency in the wake of tough international sanctions.
In recent weeks, North Korea’s access to foreign money has been significantly limited by a flurry of international sanctions over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons programs.
The North’s state-run KCNA news agency said Friday that a series of races were due to take place at the Mirim Horse Racing Club near Pyongyang on Saturday. The venue is reportedly one of Kim Jong Un‘s most prominent leisure developments.
“Kim has been pushing for vanity projects for a theme park, sky resort and the horse riding club for the sake of propping up the people’s wellbeing, but their real purpose was to earn foreign currency,” Na Jeong-won, head of the North Korea Industry-Economy Research Institute in Seoul, told Reuters on Monday.
