Wonsan Kalma: My trip to North Korea’s ‘Benidorm’

It was the safety guards accompanying Anastasia Samsonova’s group that instructed this wasn’t a typical seaside vacation.

In July, the 33-year-old human sources employee was one of many first vacationers to remain at a brand new vacation resort in North Korea, a rustic largely closed to the skin world.

Set in an unique space on the east coast the place chief Kim Jong Un spent a lot of his youth, the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Vacationer Zone opened on 1 July.

Constructed close to a missile testing website, the resort options motels, eating places, procuring malls and a water park, in keeping with state media.

However whereas it was initially billed as being open to worldwide vacationers, up to now solely Russians, getting into in teams and organised by accredited journey companies, have been allowed in.

Anastasia travelled there final month with 14 different folks. The go to was tightly managed, with guides and guards accompanying them and a hard and fast itinerary that might not be diverged from with out permission from North Korean authorities.

She says the guides advised her the guards had been wanted to “stop conditions the place we interacted with locals and startled them”.

“Once we walked down the road, they [North Koreans] checked out us with nice shock as a result of the nation has been closed for a really very long time,” says Anastasia.

BBC Information Russian acquired in touch along with her after looking the geotags of individuals on social media who had travelled to the resort, independently of any journey company or media outlet.

Anastasia says her group was additionally advised to not {photograph} building websites and was anticipated to not put on revealing garments.

But regardless of the restrictions, she says she “loved a trip with out folks” on almost-empty seashores with white sand.

“Daily the [beach] was cleaned and levelled completely. Every thing was immaculate,” she says.

“The loungers had been completely new, every little thing spotless. The doorway to the ocean was very light, so sure, it actually was an excellent seaside.”

Because the Covid pandemic, worldwide tourism into North Korea had been on pause to forestall the unfold of the virus.

However final yr, the republic started permitting Russian vacationers to go to once more.

In February, it additionally began receiving vacationers from the West, together with Australia, France, Germany and the UK, although it abruptly halted this weeks later, with out saying why.

Wonsan Kalma has been touted as a key a part of Kim’s ambitions to spice up tourism within the nation.

It’s mentioned to have drawn inspiration from Spain’s tourism hotspot Benidorm, the place a North Korean delegation was despatched on a fact-finding mission in 2017.

However particulars of the way it was constructed have been shrouded in secrecy, and human rights teams have criticised the alleged harsh therapy of staff, together with claims of pressured labour, harsh circumstances, lengthy hours and locals being pushed out of their houses.

Weeks after it opened, North Korea introduced that foreigners had been “quickly” not allowed to go to – besides vacationers from Russia, an ally of the republic.

Thus far, two Russian tour teams have visited the resort, with one other at the moment there.

Every week-long journey from Russia to North Korea, together with three days on the Wonsan Kalma resort, prices $1,800 (£1,300) – 60% greater than the typical month-to-month wage in Russia.

Some adverts for the journey even reference the close by missile testing website, describing it as a “distinctive” trip spot.

Anastasia says no missiles had been launched whereas she was there, however toy rockets had been being offered close by for $40 (£30).

Describing a typical day whereas on her journey, Anastasia says the group would have breakfast at 08:00 when a number of actions had been deliberate and 09:30 on a extra relaxed day.

By way of the meals they got, there was “a number of meat”, usually in candy and bitter sauce, and a dish involving finely-chopped cabbage and carrots in sauce.

She says a 500ml bottle of beer was very low-cost, costing about 60 cents on the seaside, whereas the memento of alternative for vacationers was North Korean Olympic clothes.

One other vacationer, Daria, writing on Instagram, described the resort as “very uncooked” and “not the type of trip Russian vacationers are used to”.

“However for those who’re bored with Asia, Turkey, and so forth., and need one thing unique — that is it,” she added.

Nevertheless, there’s uncertainty over when the following Russian vacationers can be allowed into Wonsan Kalma.

The journey company which organised the primary three journeys to the resort, Vostok Intur, mentioned there was excessive curiosity in potential excursions in September, however North Korean authorities had but to comply with them.

Initially, excursions had been marketed on-line by Russian journey companies for mid-September, however these had been later eliminated.

It isn’t simply Russians who face difficulties attending to Wonsan Kalma.

Even residents of China, which borders North Korea and is its foremost ally and financial companion, are having difficulties accessing the resort, in keeping with Andrei Lankov, an skilled in North Korea-Russia relations and a professor at Kookmin College in Seoul.

He says Pyongyang intentionally limits the variety of vacationers and intently controls their actions, partially so North Koreans will not evaluate themselves unfavourably to richer foreigners.

“Extraordinary folks may start to surprise, ‘How is it that even with out our nice chief, or his son or daughter, they appear to stay so effectively?'”, Lankov says.

For that cause, North Korea has concluded it is largely higher to not have too many foreigners getting into the nation, he provides.

With journey restrictions into North Korea easing, tourism from Russia has been rising, although it stays modest in contrast with different locations.

In 2024, about 1,500 Russians travelled to North Korea for tourism, in keeping with Russia’s Federal Safety Service border guards.

In distinction, greater than 6.7 million visited Turkey and nearly 1.9 million went to China.

Nevertheless, within the second quarter of 2025, 1,673 Russians entered North Korea as vacationers – a degree final seen in 2010, earlier than vacationer restrictions had been launched.

Wonsan Kalma is seen as key to reviving North Korea’s ailing financial fortunes, nevertheless it’s not been with out controversy.

Because the resort started building in 2018, human rights teams have protested the alleged mistreatment of its staff. They level to stories of individuals being pressured to work lengthy hours to complete the huge mission in a speedy timeframe underneath harsh circumstances and insufficient compensation.

As BBC Confirm reported final month, the UN has highlighted a system of pressured labour utilized in North Korea, specifically “shock brigades” the place staff usually face harsh circumstances, lengthy hours, and insufficient compensation.

James Heenan of the UN Human Rights Workplace in Seoul has mentioned “there are stories that the resort was constructed utilizing what they name shock brigades”.

“We have additionally seen stories that folks had been working 24 hours on the finish to get this factor completed, which appears like a shock brigade to me.”

The BBC has approached the North Korean embassy in London for remark.

Regardless of the challenges of attending to Wonsan Kalma, and the restrictions on what Russian vacationers can do once they arrive in North Korea, Anastasia says she hopes to return again subsequent yr.

“We’re truly eager about gathering the entire group subsequent yr to go to the identical place.

“I am undecided if it is going to work out, however I’ve heard there’s additionally a ski resort close to Wonsan Kalma. So, possibly in the future I will go to that resort too.”