This past July, when a North Korean soldier shot and killed a South Korean tourist who had wandered into a restricted zone, it kind of put a damper on the September opening of the Ananti, North Korea’s first modern luxury hotel. “It’s a lousy PR blow for a country that’s trying to recover from this kind of image,” admits Bruce Lazarus, director of marketing for Remote Lands, an American tour company that’s been offering a special package to the Stalinist country that includes four days at the hotel. Still, Lazarus reassures guests that the Ananti is fenced and patrolled and will be taking “extra-special precaution” after the incident. For $20,000 per couple (which also includes three days in Seoul, visas and a limo ride across the demilitarized zone), brave guests of the Ananti can enjoy spa treatments, unlimited rounds of golf and guarded—er, guided—treks up Mt. Kumgang.
Jetsetters are replacing tax evaders in this storied North African city. (November 2007)
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Champion
One good classic deserves another. Christy Turlington Burns works the warrior-goddess side of Greco-Roman influence. Photographed by Michael Thompson.
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Domestic Bliss
The Steven Klein shoot that started it all: Mr. and Mrs. Smith costars Brad
Pitt and Angelina Jolie play house in Palm Springs. (July 2005)
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