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Starbucks has opened a brand new espresso store in South Korea, the place clients can sip their lattes and consider a quiet North Korean mountain village within the distance.
On Friday (November 28), the American chain opened its latest location in an observatory at Aegibong Peace Ecopark close to town of Gimpo — about 31 miles northwest of Seoul, South Korea, and fewer than a mile from North Korean territory.
Nevertheless, clients should cross a navy checkpoint earlier than getting into the observatory, which overlooks North Korea’s Songaksan mountain, in response to The Related Press.
Officers from the South Korean metropolis of Gimpo defined that opening the Starbucks was a part of efforts to develop its border services as a vacationer vacation spot, saying the espresso store symbolizes “sturdy safety on the Korean Peninsula by means of the presence of this iconic capitalist model.”
The observatory is likely one of the essential points of interest at Aegibong park, which was constructed on a hill that was a fierce battle website through the Korean Warfare. The web site describes the park as a “symbolic place representing peace and concord.”
Guests on the Starbucks cannot solely catch a glimpse of North Korea, but additionally the Jogang River that runs between the observatory and the border city of Kaepung within the North.
“I want I may share this tasty espresso with the folks in North Korea,” Baek Hea-soon, a 48-year-old Gimpo resident, advised Reuters on the Starbucks opening.
As of 2024, there are practically 2,000 Starbucks espresso outlets throughout South Korea, in response to SCK Firm, which operates Starbucks within the nation by means of a licensing deal.
Gimpo and different South Korean border cities like Paju have been making an attempt to develop their border websites as vacationer property, at the same time as tensions develop between the war-divided Koreas.
North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has been making an attempt to boost stress on South Korea and threatening to assault his rival with nuclear weapons if provoked. North Korea has additionally engaged in psychological and digital warfare in opposition to South Korea, corresponding to flying trash-laden balloons into the South and disrupting GPS alerts from border areas close to the South’s greatest airport.
Kaephung county is believed to be one of many attainable websites from the place North Korea has launched the hundreds of balloons over a number of months.
South Korea’s navy stated Friday that the North flew dozens extra balloons in a single day and that some trash and leaflets landed across the capital Seoul and close by Gyeonggi province.
Extra reporting from AP
