North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has cut the ribbon on the Yangdok Hot Spring Cultural Recreation Center, a mountain spa and ski resort intended to entice tourists into enjoying "high civilization under socialism," North Korean state-run television has said.

"(Kim) hardly repressed his happiness, saying that it has become possible to provide people with new culture, and one more plan of the Party to make our people enjoy high civilization under socialism as early as possible has come true," the Korean Central News Agency reported.

The North Korean government has also recently completed a mountain resort in the city of Samjiyon and a summer resort in Wonsan, on the country's eastern coast. North Korea's tourism sector could be a way to boost the country's frail economy, as it is exempted from international sanctions.

North Korea is particularly targeting medical tourists from China, offering health clinics near hot springs that could help treat arthritis along with heart and skin ailments.

"North Korea primarily offers natural tourist attractions and appears to believe they can be a money-maker if combined with elements of oriental medicine, which many Chinese people like," Yang Moo-Jin, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul said about the tourism campaign.

For western tourists, they will likely need a specialized tour company, such as Koryo Tours, in order to visit the country. American citizens, as of September 2017, are no longer allowed to visit North Korea as tourists, after the death of American college student Otto Warmbier in June 2017. Warmbier had visited North Korea as a tourist and was detained for 17 months.

North Korea and the U.S. are stalled in their nuclear negotiations, with a deal allowing some sanctions to be lifted from North Korea's economy. Pyongyang has recently indicated that denuclearization could be off the table.

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