North Korea is set to launch its biggest tourism venture yet next week, with the opening of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal resort zone, a sprawling site designed to host nearly 20,000 guests.
However, despite the fanfare, the country has yet to announce when it will fully reopen its borders to most foreign tourists.
The new resort, located along the eastern coast, offers beachfront access, sports facilities, recreational spaces, and a variety of dining options. According to North Korean state media, the launch marks a significant push by the regime to position tourism as a major pillar of economic recovery.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led the official opening on Tuesday, personally cutting the ribbon during a grand ceremony covered by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim hailed the project as “one of the greatest successes this year,” calling it “the proud first step” in expanding the country’s tourism sector.
KCNA confirmed the resort will begin welcoming domestic tourists from next Tuesday. While the announcement did not mention a full-scale foreign tourist rollout, Russian authorities stated that a group of Russian tourists would visit the site in early July. The Primorsky region government said the group will depart on July 7 for an eight-day tour, including stops at key sites in Pyongyang.
Experts say North Korea likely poured significant resources into the development, signalling an eventual need to attract paying foreign visitors, particularly from China and Russia, to recover costs. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists accounted for over 90 per cent of foreign visitors to North Korea, but Beijing-led group tours have not resumed.
While some Russian tourists have been allowed in since early 2024, full international tourism has not bounced back. In February, a small group of foreigners visited North Korea for the first time in five years, but travel agencies said in March that tours were once again suspended.
Analysts say a mix of lingering COVID-19 restrictions, diplomatic tensions with the U.S. and South Korea, and Pyongyang’s sensitivity to foreign influence have slowed the return of global tourism.
Tuesday’s ceremony drew attendance from the Russian ambassador and his embassy team, but Chinese diplomats were noticeably absent. Observers suggest this reflects current strains in the China–North Korea relationship, even as trade between the two slowly picks up.
“There seems to be issues that North Korea hasn’t yet resolved in its relations with China,” said Lee Sangkeun, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy. “But North Korea has put in too much money on tourism and plans to spend more. Subsequently, to get its money’s worth, it can’t help but receive Chinese tourists.”
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, noted that while Russians would likely be the first foreign guests at Wonsan-Kalma, Chinese tourist flows could resume soon under “civilian exchange” programs.
However, tours from the U.S. and South Korea remain highly unlikely. Despite recent outreach by both U.S. President Trump and newly elected South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Pyongyang has stayed silent and focused on its weapons development.
Earlier this year, Trump, referencing Kim’s real estate ambitions, said, “I think he has tremendous condo capabilities. He’s got a lot of shoreline,” in an apparent nod to the Wonsan-Kalma resort. But the North has yet to respond to any dialogue offers from Washington or Seoul, maintaining its stance since nuclear talks collapsed in 2019.
For now, North Korea appears to be betting on tourism as a soft-power tool and a financial lifeline, but how and when it fully reopens to the world remains uncertain.
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