In a rare display of ambition and optimism, North Korea has unveiled its most important tourism project of decades: the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, a vast beach resort designed to accommodate up to 20,000 guests. The vast development, located on the country’s eastern coast, provides the most clear signal that Pyongyang is serious about building a post-pandemic tourism industry. The restrictions for most international travelers are firmly fixed.
On June 24th, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Eun, his wife Ri Sol-Ju and daughter Kim Jue attended a highly publicized ribbon cutting ceremony. Kim described the project as “one of the greatest successes of the year” and a “prideful first step” to building an independent tourism economy.
Wonsan Kalma Resort features a newly built high-rise hotel with slides and swimming pools, sports courts, performance theaters and a kilometre beachfront of water parks. Images of the satellite and official photographs suggest that the construction is almost complete, and leisure facilities are ready to receive an influx of visitors from the country.
However, despite the size of the project, access to the resort remains very limited (embarrassingly, I was looking forward to this experience). Starting July 1, the beach zone will open exclusively to North Korean citizens, and is expected to be followed soon by carefully selected Russian tour groups. Traditionally, a key market in North Korea, Chinese tourists have not yet been given access. Western travelers, especially from South Korea and the US, remain banned.
Analysts say the development reflects Kim’s strategic pivot as a source of income with little international sanctions. Unlike sectors such as mining and arms manufacturing, tourism is one of the few industries that North Korea can technically operate without violating UN measures. The presence of a Russian ambassador at the opening ceremony and the arrival of Russian tourists planned in early July suggest an evolving relationship between the two countries. As Western tourism is off-table for now, Pyongyang may turn more and more into Moscow.
Still, observers remain skeptical about the project’s long-term outlook. The infrastructure remains basic outside the resort, with large-scale foreign tourism. Even Russia and China will need large-scale logistical and diplomatic changes.
Until then, Wonsan Kalma’s Sun, Sand and Water slides showcase what North Korea wants to see in the world, but still remains a showpiece that shows they are not fully prepared to share. Well, Kim, you know what they say: “Comment is shared.”
