North Korea is planning to hold its first golf tournament, inviting amateur players from around the world.

The proposed tournament will be held in April at a golf course west of the capital Pyongyang, where the dictator Kim Jong-il supposedly sank 11 holes-in-one during a single round.

The cash-strapped communist state is inviting foreign amateur players to take part, charging them $1,000 for the five-day tour.

The golf course has not seen a round played since South Korea suspended cross-border tours nearly two years ago, after a North Korean soldier shot dead a Seoul housewife who had strayed into a restricted zone.