‘North Korean Benidorm’ opens with beach-side mega resort however Brits issued warning
The secretive state’s Wonsan Kalma resort is a beachfront paradise with waterslides, inflatables and a sandy beach – you can even buy tiny rockets there with the country’s flag on
Kim Jong Un’s smiling – so it must be a great place to holiday (Image: KCNA/EPA/Shutterstock)
Wonsan Kalma resort looks like it could be in any holiday hotspot adored by Brits. Despite it’s glitzy appearance in these curated images, the hotel is in one of the world’s most repressed nations – North Korea.
The coastal tourism project on the east of the East Asian country has been state-constructed and championed by Kim Jong-un as a method to transform the country into a tourist magnet. Seemingly carefree holidaymakers queue for vibrant waterslides, drift on inflatables and play on golden beaches like it’s some kind of paradise.
Yet it’s unlikely to be welcoming Benidorm-loving Brits anytime soon. For starters, the Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel to the country.
The resort has predominantly been accessible to domestic visitors, with a handful of international guests from Russia permitted to enjoy its amenities. Almost 10,000 trips to North Korea were made by Russians last year, with a total of 5,075 being tourists.
This is the highest number since records began in 2010, and more than double the figure from a decade ago. The boom came after Pyongyang reopened its borders to Russians in 2024 following years of pandemic isolation. Before then, visits had slumped to just 73 in 2022 before rocketing to 6,469 two years later.
Reservations at Wonsan Kalma are strictly controlled, with pre-arranged itineraries and official guides compulsory, making it a far from a spontaneous travel experience, reports the Mirror.
Visitors are unlikely to fancy leaving the guard-patrolled zone independently anyway, as it’s reportedly situated near military and missile testing facilities. The resort is found in the coastal city of Wonsan along an extensive stretch of sandy shoreline.
It has long served as a destination on tours of North Korea for the limited number of overseas visitors permitted entry into the country. In 2018, Jong-un unveiled an ambitious scheme to establish the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, originally planned to feature numerous luxury hotels and amenities to compete with the world’s premier holiday destinations.
Construction faced delays following a typhoon in 2020, before the resort, which state media claims can accommodate 20,000 holidaymakers, finally launched last summer. Images from the opening ceremony, provided by local media, appear to show Jong Un greeting an excited crowd against the backdrop of a spectacular fireworks show.
Russian holidaymaker Anastasia Samsonova described her stay at the resort to the BBC during an interview last July. She explained the trip was strictly supervised, with any departure from the scheduled programme requiring approval from North Korean authorities.
Anastasia also disclosed that she was required to dress conservatively, and photography of building sites was forbidden. Nevertheless, she appreciated the tranquil resort, where the shoreline was meticulously cleaned and flattened each morning for visitors.
She also revealed that the cuisine featured “lots of meat”, including sweet and sour options, while a beer was priced at merely 60 US cents (approximately 44p). Mementos on sale included Olympic apparel bearing the North Korean team’s emblems, and miniature rockets adorned with the nation’s flags.
Precise information about the resort remains limited, with only polished photographs issued by the government providing insight into what it offers. Images of a water park and people enjoying swimming pools have been shared, alongside shots of locals heading to the shore with inflatable toys.
A Russian travel website, promoting excursions to the destination from June to September, describes its programme as: “Sea and experience: morning beaches of Wonsan, comfortable hotels, delicious dinners, and then vibrant Pyongyang with its panoramas, arches, fountains, and metro.
“Easy logistics, a Russian-speaking guide, all inclusive. The perfect mix of relaxation and exciting discoveries – book now!” An eight-day journey will cost Russian tourists 45,000 Rubles (roughly £430).
However, the resort faced condemnation during its development stage from human rights organisations worried about the treatment of workers. There were claims of forced “shock brigades” of teens threatened with labour camps – plus inadequate wages and working conditions and anxieties regarding the secrecy surrounding its construction.
Workers were allegedly forced to toil almost around the clock in bitter freezing conditions, grabbing just three hours’ sleep a night and surviving on what was described as “foul-smelling seaweed soup, salted radishes and yellow corn rice”. While one woman claimed female labourers were routinely “harassed” by supervisors and said “many women were sexually abused”.
Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings
