Story here. North Korea has signed an agreement with Cambodia to build a North Korean cultural center near the entrance to Angkor Wat. Or maybe they have. Or maybe it’s still a suggestion under review. You never can tell in Cambodia.
I love Angkor Wat. This might justify a return trip all by itself just to take a gander. It sounds like it would be outside the complex area if realized, not smack dab in the middle of the grounds.
Are cultural centers common to that area or something? Why build one there?
I was at Angkor Wat in September and there were no signs of it then.
Here’s hoping it’s not built in a really distracting place. Angkor Wat is so spectacular, a site like that would only take away from the beauty.
Cultural centers do seem to be big over here. Japan has one just about everywhere. Off the top of my head for Bangkok, I know we have a Japanese, a German, a French and a Portuguese cultural center on top of a Thai cultural center.
Siem Reap – the town right by Angkor Wat – has a French cultural center. As for North Korea, I found another report here that indicates it will be inside the town. 124 meters high. That’s 407 feet or about … what? 40 stories? WTF? Is this a “cultural center” or an obelisk?
“Part of government efforts to attract more tourists,” the story says. Hmmm. “Well, honey, I didn’t want to go see that boring old Angkor Wat, but hey, there’s a giant new North Korean cultural center there. Let’s go!” Well, I did say it might be worth a return visit to see it, but Angkor Wat would still be my primary purpose.
Okay, so the first story also said 124 meters. I didn’t pick up on the height at first. Hope for their sake they have more than those three guys in the photo in the second link working on it.