Today we bring you a views of Hamhung in 1980 and 2016, both taken from the Kuchon Pavilion on Mt. Tonghung. The most notable difference is the construction of the Hamhung Grand Theatre (1984), the largest theatre in the country, at centre in the background. We also see the addition of a number of high-rise apartments interspersed throughout the city's older five-story apartments. Many of the Hamhung's older buildings were designed with the help of East German planners following the city's large-scale destruction during the Korean War.

In 2010, Koryo Tours was the first travel company to bring foreign tourists to Hamhung since the end of the Cold War. Hamhung had previously hosted tourists from the Soviet Union and socialist states in Eastern Europe as well as western delegations, including those of French filmmaker Chris Marker in the 1957 and American negotiators in the 1990's.

Our next tour to visit Hamhung open for bookings is the Summer Holiday Tour (July 1-8), followed by the National Day Mega Tour (September 2-23).

'Turn Back the Clock Thursday' brings you 'then and now' views of Korea from more than two decades of Koryo Tours' trips to the DPRK and images in the public domain.