STORY: :: Gimpo, South Korea

:: November 29, 2024

:: A Starbucks opens on South Korea's border with the North, offering a view into the hermit kingdom

"As I sip this delicious coffee, I wish I could share this tasty coffee with the people living in North Korea right in front of us."

:: Lim Jong-Chul, Vietnam War veteran

"Having a cup of coffee here, I feel like I can look at North Korea, a nation divided from us, with a bit more calm and peace of mind. Before, the concept of security felt rigid and tense, but now, with this cafe here, it feels more peaceful and reassuring."

::Kim Byung-Soo, Mayor of Gimpo City

"People used to think of this area near the North Korean border as a dark and gloomy place. But now that Starbucks, with its global marketing power, has opened here, this place could now become an important tourist destination for security and peace that can be seen as young, bright, and warm as well as garnering global attention."

"I wish I could share this tasty coffee with the people living in North Korea right in front of us," said Baek Hea-soon, one of hundreds of customers who queued up on Friday to visit the U.S. coffeehouse chain that has opened at the observatory near the city of Gimpo, about 31 miles northwest of Seoul and just outside the fortified Demilitarized Zone separating the Koreas.

Lim Jong-Chul, an 80-year-old Vietnam War veteran, said he felt he could look at North Korea "with a bit more calm and peace of mind."

Mayor of Gimpo City Kim Byung-Soo said he hopes the opening of the Starbucks could lead to more tourists visiting the area.

Many customers took pictures of the Starbucks logo on their mugs against a backdrop of the territory in the north, while Gimpo mayor Kim Byung-soo said the new riverbank cafe would revamp the location into an important tourist destination.

The world's last Cold War frontier has become an unlikely draw for foreign and local tourists, despite a spike in tensions on the Korean peninsula in recent years. The two Koreas are still technically at war after their 1950-53 war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.