By Sebin Choi and Hyunsu Yim
GIMPO, South Korea (Reuters) – The world’s final Chilly Struggle frontier now has a Starbucks cafe in South Korea the place prospects can get a glimpse via the closely militarised border into the North, all whereas sipping a latte.
Lots of confirmed up on Friday for the opening of the U.S. coffeehouse chain’s latest retailer in an observatory close to town of Gimpo, round 50 km (31 miles) northwest of Seoul and near the Demilitarized Zone separating the 2 Koreas.
The DMZ has turn into an unlikely draw for international and native vacationers, regardless of a spike in tensions on the Korean peninsula lately.
Guests should move via a navy checkpoint on the best way to the Starbucks outlet, though it’s in a lesser identified and fewer militarised than extra widespread vacationer spots alongside the border such because the Panmunjom truce village.
A river designated as “neutral waters” runs between the observatory and the border city of Kaepung within the North simply 1.4 km away. On a transparent day, North Korean villagers could be seen from the observatory via its telescopes.
The 2 Koreas are nonetheless technically at struggle after a three-year battle led to a 1953 armistice. A peace treaty has by no means been signed.
In current months, tensions have additionally grown over balloons of trash floated from North Korea, which Pyongyang says are a response to balloons carrying anti-regime leaflets despatched by activists within the South.
North Korea blew up inter-Korean roads and rail strains on its aspect of the border final month, whereas Seoul warned Pyongyang that any use of its nuclear weapons would spell the tip of the North Korean regime.
Baek Hea-soon, a 48-year-old Gimpo resident, arrived early on Friday to check out the brand new Starbucks outlet.
“I wish I could share this tasty coffee with the people in North Korea,” she stated.
North Korea has over current a long time suffered critical meals shortages, together with a famine within the Nineties, usually exacerbated by pure disasters comparable to floods that injury harvests.
Starbucks, with its world recognition, may change the border space’s “dark and depressing” picture, Gimpo Mayor Kim Byung-soo stated.
“This place could now become an important tourist destination for security (and) peace that can be seen as young, bright and warm, as well as garnering global attention,” Kim advised reporters.
Starbucks is ubiquitous throughout South Korea, with 1,980 shops as of the third quarter of 2024, in response to SCK Firm, which operates Starbucks within the nation via a licensing deal.
In 2021, Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:) bought its stake in Starbucks Korea to Starbucks Espresso Korea Co, now often called SCK Firm, and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.
