Seoul
CNN
—
Kim Jong Un personally cut the ribbon of a new resort hailed by state media as a “national treasure-level tourism city” — a lavish seaside development set against what human rights observers describe as stark realities of hunger and hardship across North Korea.
According to the country’s official KCNA news service, Kim opened the sprawling Kalma beachside resort with waterparks, high-rise hotels, and accommodations for nearly 20,000 guests — a sweeping display of extravagance in one of the world’s most reclusive nations.
The Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, unveiled in a ceremony on June 24, is found on North Korea’s eastern coast. KCNA reported “service for domestic guests will begin July 1,” but gave no details on eligibility or transportation.
Earlier this month, North Korea announced the opening of Kalma train station, reporting it was built to “ensure a high level of convenience for travelers to the coastal tourist area.” The Kalma beach resort is next to an international airport, another indication the project is aimed at attracting foreign currency.
International attendance at the ribbon-cutting was limited to the Russian ambassador and staff, a nod to Pyongyang’s growing alignment with Moscow amid deepening isolation from the West under Kim’s authoritarian regime.
In 2024 UN human rights chief Volker Turk described North Korea under Kim’s rule as “a stifling, claustrophobic environment, where life is a daily struggle devoid of hope.”
Last year, small groups of Russian tourists visited North Korea for three-day ski holidays at Maskiryong resort, which has been a long-standing tourist attraction since its opening in December 2013. These, like all tourist experiences in North Korea, were heavily monitored and controlled by the government.
Returning tourists told CNN that they were subject to strict rules about what they could and could not photograph and were required to watch a choreographed dance performance by North Korean children in addition to the outdoor activities.
“Wonsan-Kalma is open to just North Koreans for now, but we should not be surprised to see Russians at the resort in the not-too-distant future,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a non-resident fellow with the 38 North program at the Stimson Center.
“More broadly, the opening of a major beach resort like Wonsan-Kalma helps to reinforce the state media narrative of Kim’s people-first policy and helps to balance out his greater focus on building up national defense,” Lee added.
In a country where international tourism has been open mostly to Russian nationals since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and where domestic travel is heavily restricted, the new development raises familiar questions about access, audience, and economic feasibility.
“The initial target for this resort is going to be the privileged domestic elite of Pyongyang, such as party officials and other high-ranking figures,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean Studies at South Korea’s Kyungnam University.
“The ceremony of the Wonsan-Kalma resort reflects Kim Jong Un’s vision of ‘socialist civilization’ and is part of his strategic effort to seek economic breakthroughs through the tourism industry.”
North Korea’s most notable experiment with international tourism came in the late 1990s, when it opened the scenic Mount Kumgang area on its southeastern coast to visitors from South Korea.
The project was hailed as a rare symbol of inter-Korean engagement during a period of cautious rapprochement.
Nearly two million South Koreans traveled to the site over the next decade, providing Pyongyang with a critical stream of hard currency.
But the initiative came to an abrupt halt in 2008, after a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist who had reportedly wandered into a restricted military zone – an incident that underscored the fragility of cross-border cooperation and led Seoul to suspend the tours indefinitely.
Many of the sites were demolished in 2022, including the Onjonggak Rest House hotel which had hosted the cross-border family reunions. Kim Jong Un had previously called the area “shabby” and “backward” during a visit.
Indeed, a central question surrounding the new resort is if one of the world’s most secretive and repressive countries is prepared to make a greater foray into international tourism, potentially adding to its foreign cash reserves and prestige.
So far, Russians appear to be the only foreign tour groups granted access to the beach resort. Vostok Intur, a Vladivostok-based travel agency, is promoting three tour packages – one in July and two in August – priced at around $1,840.
According to its website, the first tour is scheduled to begin on July 7 and will last eight days. Travelers will fly from Pyongyang to Wonsan, spend four nights at the resort, and visit the nearby Masikryong Ski Resort.
Kim said an expansion of North Korea’s tourism zones would be formalized during the ruling party’s next congress, likely in the next few months. The lessons learned at Kalma would also be used to develop “promising large-scale tourist and cultural zones” in other parts of the country, Kim noted.
The personal investment of North Korea’s leader was underscored by at least seven visits to the Kalma construction site, where Kim offered what state media called “on-the-spot guidance” and pushed for “world-class” standards.
For Kim’s regime, the resort’s completion is perceived at home as a significant win and opportunity to showcase development amid stiff international sanctions. In another dimension of symbolism, the nation’s leader was joined by his wife, Ri Sol Ju, and daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, who is widely seen as his likely successor.
“The apparent full attendance of Kim Jong Un’s family at the event implies that the project is intended to carry forward the legacy of his predecessors and be sustained for future generations,” explained Lim of South Korea’s Kyungnam University.
Plans for the resort were first announced in 2013 as part of Kim’s broader vision to transform Wonsan, a historically significant port city, into a hub of economic and leisure activity.
The project was delayed several times, most recently because of the pandemic and international sanctions targeting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Despite the projections of glamour across the new resort and images of an enigmatic leader touring wave pools and waterslides, experts expressed skepticism about the destination’s prospects.
“Whether this resort will provide Kim Jong Un with his much-needed economic gain in the long-term, however, remains to be seen: Wonsan-Kalma is hardly a tourist hotspot in the first place,” said Dr. Edward Howell, a North Korea expert at the University of Oxford.
“Of note, since 2020, Kim Jong Un has adopted an increasingly severe approach towards social control; quashing any signs of the virus of outside information and ideologies entering the DPRK,” Howell emphasized.
“If any Western tourists do come to the resort, the ruling regime will no doubt want to ensure that their actions and movements remain regulated and controlled.”
