Visit to new Starbucks cafe near N. Korea leaves bittersweet taste

Visitors excited to see N. Korean village but feel sad over counterparts' plight

- Wendy Teo

GIMPO - People curious about North Korea can now get a peek at life inside the famously reclusive country while lingering over a cup of coffee.

A 40-seater Starbucks cafe opened last week at South Korea's Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo city, which is along the divide between the two Koreas and just a river apart from the North.

The cafe's location allows visitors to have an unfettered view of a small village in North Korea's Gaepung county just 1.4km away, so near that the number of buildings in the village can be counted.

The North Korean village houses some 20 three-storey high buildings that look like residences, with a single-storey building that looks like a school, a plaza and rice fields near the riverbank.

Telescopes on the observatory terrace outside the cafe, which offer 100x zoom capabilities, allow for an even closer peek.

A Gimpo official jokes that "you can almost make eye contact with the villagers".

Visitors who wish to enter the ecopark, where the Starbucks cafe is located, are required to show their identification and register at the guard post at the entrance of the park, a civilian control area.

Before it was turned into a park in 1978, the Aegibong mountain was the site of one of the fiercest battles fought by the two Korean armies during the 1950-53 Korean War.

For the 200 or so visitors who thronged the Starbucks cafe on the morning of its opening on Nov 29, excitement over being able to view North Korean territory at such proximity was mixed with feelings of regret and sadness.

Gimpo resident Baek Hye-soon, 49, a housewife, was the first to arrive at the cafe when it opened at 10am.

She told The Straits Times: "I wanted to experience this unique moment, so I came early with my friends and became the first visitor. It's a very special feeling."