A visitor holding a Starbucks cup takes a selfie as he looks at the North Korean side from a South Korean observation deck at Aegibong Peace Ecopark in Gimpo on Jul 1, 2026. (Photo: AFP/Jung Yeon-je)
02 Jul 2026 07:13PM
(Updated: 02 Jul 2026 07:16PM)
GIMPO, South Korea: The contrast cannot be starker: selfie-taking tourists sipping coffee at Starbucks - an icon of globalisation and capitalism - while looking out over reclusive, communist North Korea.Welcome to Aegibong Starbucks in Gimpo - less than an hour's drive from South Korea's capital Seoul, but a world away from its closed-off northern neighbour, less than 2km across the Han river.Perched on a hilltop beneath the Aegibong Peace Ecopark observatory where telescopes peek into the secluded state, the shop has drawn tens of thousands from South Korea and abroad since opening in November 2024.Kim Jong-hyun, who lives in San Diego and was visiting South Korea with his family, said it was the irony of the contrast that drew him to the hilltop.
"When I heard there was a Starbucks here, I naturally thought I had to come and see it for myself. It's quite unusual," he told AFP.Customers need to book ahead to enter the park that houses the coffee house.They then travel from a parking lot in a shuttle operated by park authorities and cross a military checkpoint guarded by armed South Korean marines.The journey is part of the experience - walking the last stretch inside South Korea while looking out on agricultural and mountain landscapes in a country whose outside image the government under Kim Jong Un seeks to manage entirely.
