Rare view of N. Korean artillery draws 13,000 visitors to border park

Over a span of ten days, more than 13,000 visitors flocked to Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, to catch a rare glimpse of a North Korean self-propelled howitzer. Despite the tense relations between the two Koreas, the park saw a 7.5% increase in visitors from October 26 to November 4, 2021, compared to the same period last year, according to Gimpo city officials.

The surge in visitors was primarily due to viral images of the North Korean self-propelled howitzer stationed along the North Korean coast, approximately 1.5 kilometers from the observatory.

Weekday visits to the park surged sharply, with daily visitor numbers reaching between 1,000 and 1,200, a jump of up to 35% compared to the previous year. Unfortunately, weekend attendance fell nearly 10% to 4,200, as the park currently limits the number of visitors to 500 at a time for safety reasons. The North Korean artillery is close enough to be observed through binoculars and telescopes from the observatory. However, recent images show that North Korean troops have since covered the weapon with camouflage.