Ever fancied a relaxing stay on the sunny Korean Peninsula? Well, now’s your chance: Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has just unveiled a luxury tourist destination for the ultimate tranquil getaway.
The enticingly titled Wonsan Kalma beach resort can comfortably accommodate nearly 20,000 visitors who can frolic in the ocean, enjoy various sporting activities, and dine out at one of the many cafeterias and restaurants on site.
Kim cut the ribbon on the new tourist zone on Thursday, describing it as “one of the greatest successes this year.” North Korean state media hailed it as a “national treasure-level tourism city.”
There’s only one problem: hardly anyone visits North Korea. Entry and exit from the isolated country has been tightly controlled by the North Korean government since the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 1948. Some estimates suggest roughly 5,000 Westerners—including 800 Americans—visit the nation every year, although figures for Chinese tourists, which make up about 90 to 95 percent of all visitors, have reached as much as 350,000 annually.
In recent years, however, North Korea has been under strict lockdown following the COVID-19 pandemic. Until February of this year, no Western tourists had visited the country since 2020.
Tourism to the DPRK is dangerous and not recommended. “I think you’d almost have to be a lunatic to be an American and to roll out there,” one American tourist said in 2017. His visit to the country came just prior to the death of Otto Warmbier, an American who died from a brain injury after being detained in North Korea for attempting to smuggle a propaganda poster out.
North Korea has, however, been looking to boost its tourism offerings in an effort to revitalize its ailing economy. After decades of sustained embargo, Kim said the opening of Wonsan Kalma would be a “proud first step” in bringing to life the government’s vision of a thriving tourism market.
The government has yet to say when the country will start opening up for foreign tourists, but domestic guests can begin their holidays at the resort on July 1.
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