The North Korean regime has released this summer the resort Wonsan Kalma, an ambitious tourist complex raised on ancient missile test land, and The first Russian visitors have already told their experience.
White sand beach divided between national and foreigners, Hotels practically empty with a legion of employees, an aquatic park And even a memories store that sells missile replicas: thus define the place some of the 13 Russian tourists who traveled in July, just a month after the inauguration.
“The rooms were impeccablethe hotel was new and we were the only guests ”, He related to CNN Veterinary Darya Zubkova, 34, surprised by the almost excessive care of the staff. Another detail that caught the attention of the travelers was that each footprint in The sand was erased daily with special vehicles, in an attempt to keep the beach “perfect”.
The service, according to the testimonies, sought excellence: reverse in the lobby, doctors taking the temperature, local and international cuisine menus and even imported beers. The souvenirs store, however, It offered an unconventional memory: miniature missiles for 34 euros.
The trips, organized from Russia and authorized by Pyongyang, around 1,540 euros for a week, with three nights at the resort. At the moment, access is restricted to Russian tourists, Reflection of the close political and military relationship that both countries have reinforced after the invasion of Ukraine.
The project, announced in 2013 and paralyzed during the pandemia, has taken more than a decade to complete. Kim Jong-un presented the complex as a symbol of Norte’s Tourist RenaissanceHey inaugurated him accompanied by his wife and daughter, Kim Ju-Ae.
Before the COVID-19, the country barely received about 5,000 Western visitors a year, a figure already reduced after the veto to the Americans in 2017. Now, Pyongyang seeks in Russian tourism a new route of income and An international showcase for its peculiar “Benidorm” on the coast of the sea of Japan.
