ASIA Pacific Hotels Inc. Vice President Kwang Joong “Tommy” Kim and South Korean professional golf instructor Lim Jin Han met with Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and lawmakers on Monday to seek support for the expansion of golf tourism in the Marianas.
In 1983 and 1984, Han won the Korean Professional Golfers’ Association Championship, and was the 1993 winner of the Japan Kanto Kokusai Open. In recent years, he has been working as a professional golf instructor.
He is in the CNMI through his connections to Kim and their shared interest in leveraging on-island golf facilities to bring more tourists to Saipan.
Kim informed CNMI officials that Han’s clients include high-profile business people and celebrities in South Korea.
“His human network is huge,” Kim said.
Gov. Palacios said he supports expanded golf tourism opportunities in the Marianas, but he also expressed concern about the quality of local tourist amenities.
“This kind of tourism is phenomenal,” Palacios said. “We try to sell the destination [by promoting its] beauty, diving, marine sports, and even golfing, but we need to improve the product. We just need to improve this product all around whether it’s diving, whether it’s Managaha, whether it’s the Grotto, whether it’s the golf courses,” the governor said.
“I will do my due diligence to knock on the door of [the Department of Public Lands] and say I want to see what we can do, through DPL, to incentivize, or even just tell the golf courses to up their game. And [the Marianas Visitors Authority] needs to up their game also….”
Speaking through a translator, Han said the CNMI can be a popular destination among Korean golfers who want to play the game away from home. He wants the CNMI to be a “golf paradise.”
“So when Koreans think of golf overseas they immediately think of the CNMI,” he added.
South Korean professional golf player instructor Lim Jin Han, center, receives a token of appreciation from Gov. Arnold I. Palacios as they pose for a photo with House members in the House chamber on Monday.
