All About North Korea’s New Coastal Resort And Who Can Visit

By News18

North Korea has unveiled a massive new resort on its east coast with leader Kim Jong Un hailing it as one of the country’s “greatest feats” of the year. Located in the port city of Wonsan, the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area is being positioned as a centrepiece of Pyongyang’s efforts to grow its tourism industry. It is being dubbed as “North Korea’s Waikiki” by South Korean media.
At the inauguration ceremony, Kim appeared alongside his wife Ri Sol-ju and daughter Kim Ju-ae, dressed in a dark suit instead of his usual Mao-style attire. He praised the project as a “brilliant reality,” completed after more than a decade of development and rising costs.

Today, Ri Sol Ju made her first public appearance in nearly half a year pic.twitter.com/4gTdwOYHw8
— North Korean Archives and Library (NKAAL) (@NorthNKAAL) June 25, 2025

Inside The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area
Stretching across a 2.5-mile beachfront on the Kalma Peninsula, the resort houses over 400 buildings, designed to line the white sand shore in symmetrical harmony. The site features high-rise hotels, seaside villas and a range of entertainment and service facilities such as a water park, gym, concert hall, department store, beer hall, restaurants and even car-related amenities like an auto shop and car wash.

The Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area is a precious fruition of the grand plan and wise leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un who regards the people’s laughter and happiness as a symbol of the socialist system and the standard of national power assessment pic.twitter.com/x8SBGelHQP
— KFA-UK (@Korea_Friend_UK) July 4, 2025

North Korean state media described the site as a “world-class cultural resort.” It could accommodate up to 20,000 people. Construction began in 2016 with an initial target of completion by 2018. But the timeline was pushed back repeatedly due to international sanctions and pandemic lockdowns.
Kim, who has shown a strong personal interest in tourism-related development, said the site would “play a leading role in shaping North Korea’s tourist culture.”
Who Is Allowed?
As of now, the resort is open only to domestic tourists. According to KCNA, the site began receiving visitors from across the country on Tuesday, July 1. State media shared images of locals in colourful swimsuits enjoying the beach.

The new Wonsan Kalma Coast Tourist Area receives its first guests who are all DPRK citizens pic.twitter.com/mTHL409tJj
— KFA-UK (@Korea_Friend_UK) July 2, 2025

KCNA reported that North Koreans of all ages visited the site and were “astonished by the grandeur and splendour of the tourist city.” It added that the area had “more than 400 … artistically designed buildings lined the white sandy beach in ideal harmony.”
However, Seoul’s unification ministry said international tourism to the site is “likely to remain small in scale” due to limited flight options. “It is estimated that tourists will travel via Pyongyang, and that the number of visitors may be limited to around 170 people per day,” the ministry said.
No Foreign Tourists Allowed, But Russians?
Though North Korea has not opened the resort to international tourists in general, Russian visitors appear to be an early exception. Russian news agency Tass reported that the first group of Russian tourists will arrive this week. According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, the group will begin an 8-day tour on July 7.
Their plan includes a domestic flight from Pyongyang to Wonsan on July 8, four nights at the Kalma resort, a night at the nearby Masikryong ski resort and a final day of sightseeing in the capital, Firstpost reported.
This comes as North Korea and Russia deepen bilateral cooperation following the signing of a mutual defence treaty in 2024. Reports have suggested Pyongyang may have received Russian assistance in developing the site as part of growing ties between the two countries.
Limited Scope Of Foreign Tourism
Even though the resort is large, North Korea’s overall tourism remains limited. The country still restricts foreign entry, and there is no official confirmation of a general reopening for international tourists.
Earlier this year, Pyongyang briefly allowed a group of Western visitors, the first since the COVID-19 border closure in 2020, but halted the visits within three weeks without explanation.
Before the pandemic, an estimated 5,000 Western tourists visited North Korea annually, while Chinese tourists made up the vast majority of arrivals. But there have been no confirmed Chinese tour groups returning since 2020.
Are Russians Willing To Visit North Korea?
While North Korea may be welcoming Russian tourists (for now), experts remain unsure about how appealing the destination is for them really is.
According to a report in NPR citing Russian customs data, fewer than 900 Russians travelled to North Korea in 2024 for leisure compared to the hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists who once visited annually.
In the same report, Lee Sangkeun of the Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy said that travellers from major Russian cities may not see North Korea as an attractive option because of tight surveillance and strict restrictions on foreign visitors.
He also pointed to the country’s poor infrastructure and its vulnerability to global political shifts as factors that could limit the growth of foreign tourism.

Read More…