The trouble is that a lot of the area is inaccessible. You can't get through the mountain terrain. Proof: There is still a large population of Siberian tigers in those mountains.

It is the most remote area on the planet outside of Antartica, IMO.

It will take a lot of funding just to make a road to the new mines, but the article claims there are rare earth minerals, that kind of profit will entice investors. But that will only happen if there really is a unified Korea, and not before.

In the end those rare earth minerals may be the last supply on the planet when the rest of the world's deposits go dry.