Amid heightened public interest in North Korea‘s two-day visit to Korea to scour for possible arts performance venues during the Olympics, Hyon Song-wol and the North Korean delegation appeared satisfied with their one-night stay at the Golden Tulip Sky Bay Gyeongpo Hotel, according to General Manager Lee Hun-min.
Located on the sands of Gyeongpodae in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Sky Bay surely lived up to its 4-star hotel name value, offering the finest amenities, facilities and breathtaking views of the sunset.
Hyon Song-wol, head of a North Korean Olympics advance team, arriving in Sky Bay Gyeongpo Hotel in Gangneung, South Korea, on Sunday. (Yonhap)
Lee Hun-min, 50, unveiled that “North Korea’s delegation did not express any direct comments of gratitude, but neither did they complain. I am very much satisfied with our hotel staff and their efforts.”
It is said that Hyon and her accompanying delegation stayed at Sky Bay‘s VIP room -- located on the 19th floor -- from Sunday 6:15 p.m. to Monday 8:55 a.m. The VIP room had not been used by any prior guests and usually costs 500,000 won ($470) for regular hotel guests.
Despite the many luxury accommodations the hotel has to offer, Lee confirmed that Hyon and the rest of the North Korean delegation did not order any room service or make use of any other hotel facilities except the VIP room and the restaurant.
Golden Tulip Sky Bay Gyeongpo Hotel (Yonhap)
Upon checking into the hotel Sunday, Hyon Song-wol and 10 others reportedly enjoyed a Western-style dinner course -- comprised of an appetizer, salad, soup, tenderloin steak and coffee -- for an hour and thirty minutes starting at 7:30 p.m at the hotel’s restaurant located on the 20th floor.
Sky Bay also provided the North Korean delegation with two complimentary bottles of wine from France and Italy. The dinner course that they had normally costs 130,000 won per person. For Monday's breakfast, Hyon and her seven-member team had dried pollack hangover soup, which costs 30,000 won.
Reporters crowd the KTX train (Yonhap)
Reporters flocked to the hotel Monday morning to get her insight into possible arts performance venues in South Korea. However, Hyon remained silent and gave reporters a slight wave of the hand and a smile as she left for Seoul by KTX bullet train from Gangneung.
By Catherine Chung (cec82@heraldcorp.com)
