Off the wire
• SCO members meet on security cooperation  • Bank of Japan's monetary easing effects declining, says policymaker  • Spotlight: China's pledge to Africa refutes "neocolonialism" rhetoric  • Urgent: Militants attack paramilitary convoy in radio-controlled Kashmir  • Afghan military kills 16 insurgents: government  • Australian market runs out of fuel  • Warriors throttle Nets, move to 22-0  • Constitution amendment to be finalized during Lao parliamentary meeting  • China's Five-Year Plan to boost domestic, global economies: experts  • Taliban bastion dismantled in Afghan northern Kunduz province: Official  
You are here: 　 Home

DPRK-invested museum opens in Cambodia's Siem Reap city

Xinhua, December 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

After five years of building, the 24-million-U.S.-dollar Angkor Panorama Museum, invested by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), opened in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap city, a local English newspaper reported on Monday.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Sok An presided over the inauguration ceremony, the Khmer Times reported.

Sok An said the 6,000 square-meter building reinforced both cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

The project was signed in 2011, under which DPRK's Mansudea Overseas Project Group will run the museum with the Cambodian government under a build-operate-and-transfer operation for 10 years until it is handed over to the Cambodia's Apsara Authority.

"We need more tourist products such as this to attract visitors to Cambodia. The museum...is another tourism attraction that features, through the paintings (murals) inside the museum, how our Khmer ancestors went about their daily activities during Angkorian time," Sok An was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The new museum includes works from 63 DPRK artists.

DPRK Ambassador to Cambodia Hong Ki Chol said: "It was well built in a picturesque place, surrounded by Angkor temples - the pride of Khmers. We are proud that this museum was built to show Cambodian culture in the prestigious era of Angkor."

"I am confident the museum will make a positive contribution to giving a comprehensive understanding of ideas about all the Angkor temples and promote tourism," he said.

Siem Reap city is home to the famed Angkor Wat Temple, which attracted some 1.67 million foreign visitors in the first ten months of 2015. Enditem