audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - For North Korean skiers, Sochi was a distant dream. The country didn't send a single athlete to the Winter Olympics and has never won a downhill medal. Tour operators are billing North Korea's luxury new Masik Pass as ''the most exotic ski resort on Earth.'' North Koreans are hitting the slopes of a lavish new ski resort all their own, and many have a gold medal in mind four years from now, when the winter Olympic games will be held in South Korea. Of course, that's a tall order. Even by official estimates, only about 0.02 per cent of North Korea's 24 million people have ever strapped on ski boots. But with the blessing of leader Kim Jong Un, who has made building recreational and sporting facilities a priority, in part to boost tourism as a source of hard cash for the economically strapped nation, skiing is now almost a national duty for those who have the time, money or opportunity to hit the slopes.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A skier at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A skier swooshes down the slope at the Masikryong ski resort. The resort says it wants to attract around 5,000 people daily, however only a few hundred skiers ski its slopes each day.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - The hotel bar at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - Chairlifts in communist color red at the Masikryong ski resort. Switzerland stopped a multimillion sale of lifts, saying that Masikryong is a ''propaganda project'' for the regime.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - Skiers can rent gear at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A snow canon from the Swedish company Areco sits at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A skier at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - Ski holders sit empty and wait for skis at the Masikryong ski resort. Only a few thousand North Koreans know how to ski, and are usually members of Pyongyang's elite.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - Skiers in brightly dressed colors wave from the chairlifts at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - The hotel at Masikryong ski resort. The Masikryong Hotel has a swimming pool, sauna and karaoke facilities, and its suites come with monogrammed dressing gowns. The resort reportedly cost the regime 35 million dollars.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - Skiiers make their way down the slopes at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A trail guide sign directs skiers at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A small skier makes their way down to the bottom at the Masikryong ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - Skiers enjoy a Korean BBQ after skiing at the ski resort.
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March 12, 2014 - Wonsan, North Korea - A man wears a furry white hat at the Masikryong ski resort. Soldiers from the Korean People's Army were used to build the resort.
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