Foooooore: North Korea’s latest propaganda project turns out to be a golf tournament — at Pyongyang. 

The game of golf has a place in North Korean propaganda lore for one special reason: North Korea’s leader for 16 years before his death in 2011, Kim Jong-il, was reported in the North Korean state media to have made 11 holes-in-one at the opening of the Pyongyang Golf Course in 1994.

That’s no small accomplishment, far eclipsing the seven holes-in-one that President Trump claims to have carded in a life-time of golf. It’s not certain if Mr. Kim’s portly son, North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong-un, is swinging the clubs, but North Korea is maintaining the golfing tradition by inviting foreign golfers to a tournament

No, don’t rush to sign up. NK News, a website at Seoul, reports the North’s National Tourism Administration is “promoting golf competitions and facilities in the country,” but the date of the tournament isn’t mentioned anywhere.

There’s no doubt, though, that the highlight of the incipient golf frenzy in North Korea should be the Ryomyong Golf Tournament at Pyongyang. The president of the tournament was quoted in one article on the North’s tourism website as “warmly” welcoming “golf enthusiasts from all over the world who wish to attend Pyongyang golf tours.”

The opening of the North to foreign golf lovers would appear to be one major step toward reopening the country to tourism in general since the borders were closed in early 2020 as  the Covid pandemic began spreading from China. 

North Korea has slowly, tentatively been reopening, but the doors are still closed to all but a few visitors, including Russians potentially negotiating to buy North Korean military equipment.

The general manager of Koryo Tours, Simon Cockerell, told NK News the happy talk about a golf tournament was basically “aspirational.” Mr. Cockerell, who ran tours to North Korea before tourism stopped in 2020, was quoted as saying the invitation “looks characteristically detail-light and aimed generally at the future rather than specifically soon.”

Mr. Cockerell interpreted the North Korean tourism agency website’s flurry of golf-centered articles last week as a routine content refresh with a golf theme, rather than an indication of a big push to promote golf tourism.

He said the apparent invitation to outsiders could be a sign that some organizations are “envisaging an opening” of the borders, but added they may not anticipate this happening any time soon.

Still, the North’s tourism organization did appear enthusiastic about the prospect. According to one post,“The Pyongyang Golf Course hosts an amateur golfers competition in spring and autumn every year.”

Although no dates were given, the post said “foreign amateurs” could “take part in this competition held in spring and autumn in our country and develop friendship with Korean amateur golfers.” The post even listed the phone number and email address of an official “golf travel company.”

The passion of North Koreans for golf became personally clear to me during the first of my nine visits to the country in 1995. Just a year after Mr. Kim’s extraordinary success in scoring all those holes in one, we were taken to a driving range where we could bang away at golf balls to our heart’s consent.

And golf isn’t the only attraction up there. The Ryomyong Golf Travel Company also advertises facilities for archery and boating — and what’s said to be “an underwater golf course.” There’s no word, though, on whether any member of the ruling Kim dynasty has ever dived in, much less scored a watery hole in one.