North Korea announced Wednesday that it would open a new beach resort on July 1, part of Kim Jong Un’s effort to revive the country’s suffering economy with tourism.
The Korean Central News Agency claims the resort spans four kilometers of coastline in the city of Wosan, and can accommodate 20,000 people. Amenities include “sea-bathing service facilities and various sports, amusement, commercial and public catering facilities.”
“Kim Jong Un, the great artist of creation and construction and the dear father … is ushering in a new era of prosperity and development,” KCNA said.
The state-run news service reports Kim Jong Un took an active role in the construction of the resort, stating that it was “what he most wanted to do for the people,” and that it was “a prelude to a new era of our country’s tourism.” He reportedly expressed his desire that the resort be “without an equal in the world.”
Attendees of the inaugural ceremony included top North Korean officials, as well as the Russian ambassador Alexander Matsegora and his staff, BBC reported.
It’s unlikely that the resort will actually live up to Pyongyang’s description. The state media consistently praises Kim’s new pet building projects in the highest terms, when in reality, they lack basic functions or are unable to perform basic operations.
In April, Kim announced the completion of a 10,000-unit apartment complex in Pyongyang, calling it a “beautiful and modern urban quarter” heralding “a new era of prosperity.” However, CNN noted during a visit that the elevators were inoperable due to electricity shortages.
In 2014, a new Pyongyang apartment building collapsed due to structural defects.
In May, Kim’s new 5,000-ton naval destroyer, which was supposed to be “North Korea’s most ambitious naval modernization effort in decades,” capsized during its launch.
It is unclear whether the resort will be open to Westerners. North Korea shut down its borders in 2020, reopening them to Russians in 2023 and Westerners in February 2025 for a short period before closing them again in March.
Currently, the United States prohibits citizens from travelling to North Korea due to the lack of diplomatic relations and “the continuing serious risk of arrest, long-term detention, and the threat of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.”
This tragically played out in 2016 when Otto Warmbier, a student at Virginia University, travelled to North Korea for a Christmas break trip. North Korea alleges he stole a propaganda poster, and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. Though U.S. diplomats tried to get him released, he was returned brain-dead a year and a half into his sentence.
The resort is “unlikely to be a major draw for most Western tourists,” says Rowan Beard, co-founder of exotic tour company Young Pioneer Tours.
“Key sites like Pyongyang, the DMZ, and other brutalist or communist landmarks will continue to be the main highlights for international visitors once broader tourism resumes.”
