Kim Jong Un aims to draw foreign visitors with new Wonsan-Kalma resort featuring hotels, restaurants, and a water park, set to open July 1 on the country’s east coast.
A new luxury resort is set to open in North Korea on July 1, as the regime hopes to attract tourists to the isolated and authoritarian country.
The resort, named Wonsan-Kalma, will open on the country’s eastern coast, in the region where Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un grew up. Many members of North Korea’s elite own vacation homes in the area, which has also previously served as a testing site for the regime’s new missiles.
According to the state-run KCNA news agency, the luxury resort—scheduled to open early next week—can accommodate up to 20,000 tourists and spans a 4-kilometer beachfront.
The complex will feature luxury hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, entertainment and tourism venues, a water park, and attractions for both adults and children.
North Korea remains a highly closed country, with most of its tourists arriving from Russia and China, with whom it maintains friendly relations.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, North Korea completely sealed its borders to tourism. It only reopened partially in 2023, allowing Russian tourists to enter.
Kim Jong Un hopes the new resort will attract more visitors from other countries and help the local economy recover.
North Korea remains under heavy sanctions due to its nuclear program and is considered one of the poorest countries in the world.
