Pro snowboarders cancel trip to North Korean resort

A trio of the world's leading snowboarders, set to be the first western professionals to visit North Korea's Masikryong ski resort, have cancelled their trip after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, the trip's organiser said Friday.

Tom Monterosso, the editor of California-based Snowboarder Magazine, which had organised the trip, said the group had decided to err on the side of caution after North Korea announced it had tested its first hydrogen bomb just two days before they were supposed to leave.

"We talked about it. Some people still thought we could go, but we decided if there was any doubt whatsoever then we should just cancel," Monterosso told AFP by telephone.

Like Monterosso, two of the snowboarders, Dan "Danimals" Liedahl and Mike Ravelson are American, and there were concerns that anti-US sentiment in North Korea might escalate as the international community responds to the test.

It was the second time Monterosso had been forced to cancel a trip to Masik. He had been set to go a year ago but cancelled amid North Korean fury over the portrayal of leader Kim Jong-Un in the Hollywood comedy "The Interview."

The Masikryong resort was a pet project of Kim's, aimed at boosting tourism and raising North Korea's profile for top-class sporting venues.
Monterosso said he and the snowboarders, who also included Norwegian Terje Haakonsen, had "come in for some flak" when media reports suggested they had been personally invited by Kim.

"That was totally untrue," he said. "It was strictly a trip to write a feature for the magazine on snowboarding in North Korea.

"Our job is to find new, weird places to ski. There was nothing political about it at all," he added.

Haakonsen said he was disappointed the trip had been cancelled.

"I don't know anybody who agrees with the regime and politics over there," the Norwegian told AFP.

"But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be contact. It would have been interesting to go.

"It might be a gnarly regime, but I'm sure there's millions of cool people there too," he said.
Source: AFP