US proposed helping North Korea build tourist area amid nuclear talks: report

The U.S. reportedly offered a long-term plan to help North Korea build a tourist area in its country as part of denuclearization talks in Stockholm earlier this month.

South Korean newspaper Hankook Ilbo reported Saturday that the U.S. proposed plans for developing the Kalma area, though it didn’t say how the North Korean delegation responded to the proposal, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg noted that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been trying to get a resort project completed in the Wonsan-Kalma coastal area for some time.{mosads}

North Korean politician Pak Pong Ju reportedly visited the area in August to encourage workers to make the area “a scenic spot” on the east coast.

Talks between the U.S. and North Korea in Sweden ended this month with little progress. They were the first high-level talks between the two countries in roughly eight months.

Kim Myong Gil, North Korea’s nuclear envoy, said at the time that the U.S. refused to “give up their old viewpoint and attitude,” which the State Department refuted.