See how Kim Jong Un inspects the “North Korean Benidorm,” set to open its doors to guests next week after the leader himself supervised the large-scale tourism development.
Many British tourists have already registered to explore the man-made resort, eager to catch a peek into the secretive life in the isolated country. Kim has officially inaugurated the site, cutting the ceremonial ribbon.
The first guests will finally be welcomed to the Wonsan-Kalma resort next week after years of blundering delays.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the site and made a grand speech at a ceremony on Tuesday.
Footage shows him beaming in front of jack-rabbiting crowds and taking a seat to watch “volunteers” fly down waterslides.
Kim announced that the finished project would be remembered as a significant achievement of the year and praised the location as the initial milestone towards a flourishing tourism sector.
The only hitch is that very few foreigners are actually allowed into North Korea.
Foreign visitors are almost exclusively Russian, reflecting Kim’s bromance with Vladimir Putin.
After a total shutdown during the pandemic, Pyongyang opened the border to Russian tourists in February 2024.
Before Covid, Chinese group tours made up 90 percent of North Korea’s overseas tourism, but that inflow is still being heavily limited.
Wonsan-Kalma, built at a former missile base, is modelled on Spain’s Costa Blanca.
Kim event sent a party of stooges there in 2017 to take notes.
Work kept stalling and the site was even overrun by homeless wanderers – known as “kotjebi” in North Korea – who filled the empty hotels with faeces.
But Kim plodded on with the project, and visited one numerous occasions to monitor progress.
He was pictured strolling along the beach with his daughter Ju-ae at the end of last year.
When word spread that the resort was almost ready, holiday planners On The Beach opened a link for people to express their interest – and it racked up more than 250 sign-ups from Brits within a month.
This is despite a terrifying warning that a trip to the dictatorship could cost holidaymakers their lives.
Campaigners have warned that nobody’s safety is assured in Kim’s kingdom.
Greg Scarlatoiu, director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, said a trip there would be unsafe and immoral.
He said: “The Wonsan-Kalma resort was built with forced labour. Vacationing there is morally and ethically wrong – it is truly an abomination.
“Having Russian nationals vacation there is testament to the pathetic isolation of both Russia and North Korea.”
Past tourists in the country have even lost their lives.
Greg gave the example of Otto Warmbier, an American student arrested on dubious charges during a trip to Pyongyang in 2016.
Accused of taking down a propaganda poster, he was detained for 17 months.
