I can’t help but be fascinated by unusual tourism projects. Along those lines, North Korea is reportedly making final preparations to open its previously abandoned seaside resort town. The big question is who will actually visit…
In this post:
North Korea’s Wonsan-Kalma resort town to open in May 2025
North Korea is planning on opening its Wonsan-Kalma beach resort development in May 2025, as was revealed during a recent visit to the area by leader Kim Jong Un. For background, this development covers 605 acres, and is along a 3.5-mile beach. The development is expected to feature all kinds of leisure facilities, including thousands of hotel rooms.
The development is roughly 100 miles from Pyongyang, and can be reached by road in about two hours. On top of that, there’s even an airport in the region with a 10,000+ foot runway. It’s a dual use civil and military airport, but up until now, hasn’t regularly been used for commercial service.
This seaside project has been a long time coming, and has otherwise been abandoned in recent years. Specifically, construction began on this back in 2018, with plans to open in 2019. Yes, that’s of course a very fast pace, but when it’s the North Korean military behind the development, it’s easier to stick to a schedule, in theory. 😉
However, that deadline ended up being missed, and then the development was abandoned at the start of the pandemic. Construction once again picked up within the past year, with Kim visiting for the first time in five years, and announcing an official opening date for less than a year from now.
Kim emphasized the need for high service standards, plus additional attractions, like an amusement park and other leisure areas. He wants this to be “world class,” which seems… optimistic. I guess North Korea wants its own Saint-Tropez or Porto Cervo.
Who will visit this North Korean resort town, though?
North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world… perhaps the most isolated country. Before the pandemic, the country allowed a very limited amount of tourism, where you had to travel as part of a group, and needed to have a guide with you at all times, so that you’d only see the North Korea that the government wanted you to see.
Then tourism shut down at the start of the pandemic, though it has very slowly picked up again in the past year. The obvious question now is exactly who this resort town is intended for, especially with thousands of hotel rooms. The average North Korean of course doesn’t have much disposable income, let alone freedom. So I suppose this could be intended in part for the North Korean elite who are connected to Kim.
But what about foreign tourists? Kim’s plan is reportedly to target tourists from “friendly” nations, like Russia and China. Russian tourists have even been given an exclusive preview of the resort town in recent months. It remains to be seen if these visitors would need to have a guide with them all the time, or if they’d be allowed to roam around freely. Regardless, presumably they wouldn’t be allowed to leave the tourist zone without being escorted.
Obviously this would set an interesting precedent for North Korea. Up until now, North Korea’s tourism has mostly been foreigners taking carefully curated tours out of fascination. Can North Korea actually just attract leisure tourists who are looking to relax?
It’s interesting to note how in the past, some of North Korea’s most ambitious projects have been outright abandoned, despite being nearly complete. For example, there’s the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, which is by far the tallest building in the city, and was supposed to have thousands of hotel rooms, and symbolize the future of North Korea.
However, it never ended up being completed, and is now just an eyesore. Given that North Korea is all about appearances, you’d think that this would have been completed out of pride, if nothing else, even if only a few rooms were operational.
Will the Wonsan-Kalma development have the same fate, or will it turn out to be a semi-success?
Bottom line
North Korea reportedly plans to open its Wonsan-Kalma seaside development in May 2025. While construction started back in 2018, the project was abandoned for several years, so it’s interesting to see North Korea again planning on opening this.
I can’t help but be curious to see how this development evolves. Will it actually open as planned? And if so, who will visit? Can North Korea attract tourists from Russia and China who are just looking to relax?
How do you see this North Korean seaside resort town playing out?
I've been to Wonson and I consider it to be one of North Korea's prettiest cities. I've also been to the beach there and while I found the water too cold, most of our group swam.
Russians and Chinese tourists had fewer restrictions and if the price were right I could see Russians flocking there. One of the coastal Chinese cities in the north gets so many Russian tourists that the street signs are...
I've been to Wonson and I consider it to be one of North Korea's prettiest cities. I've also been to the beach there and while I found the water too cold, most of our group swam.
Russians and Chinese tourists had fewer restrictions and if the price were right I could see Russians flocking there. One of the coastal Chinese cities in the north gets so many Russian tourists that the street signs are in Russian and Chinese.
Many Chinese visit North Korea to reminisce about how China was decades ago. In addition you have quite a few Chinese businessmen.
Looking at this from an American perspective simply gives one a biased view which is not based on reality. Many of those outside the West view the US as a pariah, not North Korea
"Many of those outside the West view the US as a pariah, not North Korea"
That's a bit of a stretch.
While the first part is definitely true, it's not to the exclusion of the latter.
Tourists on their best behavior. No touts or pickpockets. Bad service punishable by death. Cheaper than Disney World. What's not to like?
Too many Russians.
@UncleRonnie: Exactly this. I could swallow the idea of a holiday in North Korea but being around large number of Russians is a pure hell anywhere in the world. I mean, it's a reason why many avoid even Malta or Cyprus.
Just booked the Presidential Suite, gonna honeymoon there, seems perfect
Why did they stop development work during Covid? I heard there was none in N Korea….
Or anywhere else in the world for that matter... ;-)
Same master!
They probably stopped all trade and imports too. Meaning no building materials could come in during covid.
I think the comparison to Saint-Tropez or Porto Cervo is misleading. Kim is big fan of waterparks. He already constructed and personally inaugurated one near Pyongyang. This is his kind of high class attraction
can't wait to see how many points per night it costs to stay at the Fairfield Inn Wonsan-Kalma
Who will visit? Maybe Americans, after Trump wins, if.
Probably already signed a deal for a new Trump hotel for said tourists!
I think a more important question will be who is going to be staffing all these facilities. Will it be citizens working there on their own free will? Prisoners? Slave labor? How are interactions between housekeepers and waiters and other employees going to be closely monitored to control communications and people trying to get information or themselves out of the country by way of the foreign visitors.
@caskey - I would not be surprised if some of the staff, especially housekeeping, worked for their intelligence services. They could search rooms, laptops,etc. The wi-fi would probably be monitored and recorded. The rooms, bars, and social areas of the resort, could having listening devices installed. People relax, drink, and talk. It could be a gold mine for information about people, products, etc.
Was just speaking to someone who went.
In terms of rooms they have cameras everywhere including in the bathrooms from what he told me
In terms of Wifi, the network is limited to well North Korea, very interesting.
Who is this for please, this is hilarious. What is the point of opening a resort in the one of the most unrelaxing places you can stay in the world right know?
Money laundering, and...
...these resorts primarily exist so Westerners who are doing illegal and shady deals with the North Koreans have a cloistered environment in which to conduct them. The regime wants them happy, but they also want them locked down.
Well hopefully this will be a new destination for Russian tourists, following Putins recent visit and potential funding agreements I imagine it will be very popular.
North Korea is desperately looking for foraing money they can use to import tech etc. the thing they have en-mass is labour which isn't costing the state much. It makes sense to determine that having top-notch service hotels might be a great way to earn foreign curencies, especially from China and Russia. I also doubt they will spy too much on the toursits, I would assume they will mainly spy on the workers there to...
North Korea is desperately looking for foraing money they can use to import tech etc. the thing they have en-mass is labour which isn't costing the state much. It makes sense to determine that having top-notch service hotels might be a great way to earn foreign curencies, especially from China and Russia. I also doubt they will spy too much on the toursits, I would assume they will mainly spy on the workers there to ensure nobody is giving away "secrets" or is subverted by enemy countries or whatever.