“ON A DIFFERENT SCALE”
James Seymour, an Irish tourist, told AFP the scene from the lookout point was one of “polar opposites.”
“We’re from Belfast and we’re kind of used to war … the Troubles and all that if you know what I mean,” he said, referring to the sectarian conflict that gripped Northern Ireland in the late 20th century.
But standing near the border, sipping coffee from a global chain while looking at the North’s nondescript low-rise buildings, was “on a different scale completely”, he said.
“You couldn’t get any more American than Starbucks and you couldn’t get any further than America than, you know … North Korea.”
The number of visitors to Aegibong Peace Ecopark has more than doubled since the Starbucks opened, according to figures provided by park management.
The number of foreign visitors last year rose 275 per cent to 56,829 from a year earlier, with Chinese tourists accounting for the largest share, nearly a third.
Lee Chun-woo of the Gimpo Cultural Foundation, which oversees the park, told AFP the increase was “totally attributable to the Starbucks store”.