North Korea’s new Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone.
Miles of white sand, turquoise waters, and rows of pristine beachfront hotels line the shore at the newly built Wonsan-Kalma resort. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hopes the development will be his country’s answer to Waikiki.
But there’s one problem: the tourists aren’t there.
When CNN reviewed footage from the resort, which opened in June, only a handful of Russians could be seen on the vast stretches of beach. The rest of the area appeared empty.
“There are no other foreigners apart from us, 15 people,” said Darya Zubkova, a 34-year-old veterinarian from St. Petersburg, Russia.
She was part of the first group of foreigners allowed to vacation in Wonsan since the pandemic. For a week in July, Zubkova and her fellow travelers had the new multimillion-dollar resort almost entirely to themselves.
The Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone has long been one of Kim Jong Un’s pet projects, frequently showcased in state media. Its pastel-colored hotels, water parks and beachfront promenades were built to broadcast a message: North Korea is open for business.
The reality on the ground tells a different story. Strict Covid-19 protocols remain in place. Tourists are limited almost entirely to tightly managed Russian groups. Chinese and Western visitors are still banned.
The resort itself is divided into domestic and international zones. Zubkova and her group stayed in the international section, separated from North Korean vacationers.
“We could not move around zones freely, although tourists from the domestic zone could go everywhere except the beach,” she said. “There was also a large aqua park — we had the opportunity to see it from the outside, but we were not allowed in because it was in the domestic zone. There were so many locals there, massive crowds.”
She recalled being greeted by hotel staff who bowed as they entered the lobby, then watched as doctors in white coats checked guests’ temperatures and sprayed their hands with disinfectant.
“There was very good service,” she said. “For example, we asked for a clothes dryer for the balcony — they went outside, bought it for us and brought it to the room. We then later asked for a chair for the balcony to lounge on — they bought a couple specially for us and brought these chairs to the room, even despite the short time we were there.”
Her Instagram videos show empty rows of cabanas, resort buses with no passengers, and a vast dining hall prepared for feasts but serving only a dozen travelers.
She said they were treated extremely well: “They tried very hard for all of us. They tried to surprise us in every possible way. They were very strict with themselves to ensure they provided us with the highest quality of services.”
Pyongyang’s consumer sheen
While the coast tries to reinvent itself as a tropical playground, the capital, Pyongyang, has been quietly embracing consumer culture — with a distinctly North Korean twist.
On the city’s streets, foreigners encounter imitation versions of Western brands. There’s “Mirai Reserve,” a café modeled after Starbucks Reserve, where mochas cost $8. There’s a sprawling furniture shop some Chinese students studying in Pyongyang jokingly call “North Korean IKEA.” There’s even a smartphone showroom that looks like an Apple Store, with devices selling for hundreds of dollars.
When Swedish traveler Johan Nylander and his son visited Pyongyang this spring to run in the city’s marathon, before the latest clampdown on foreign tourists, they were stunned.
“Oh man, when you go to North Korea, you will be surprised by so many things,” Nylander told CNN in a Zoom interview.
“I was surprised by the amount of Western brands. Mobile phones are everywhere. Even at a street kiosk, they paid with QR codes — just like in China.”
The presence of QR payments in a country cut off from international banking struck Nylander as surreal.
“You see people texting, watching Premier League football on their phones, playing games. It looks like everyday life anywhere else.”
But the consumer sheen is reserved for a privileged few. During CNN’s visits inside North Korea, we’ve seen department stores in Pyongyang stocked with Hermes and Gucci. Fast-food counters served burgers and fries in packaging that looked like McDonald’s — minus the golden arches.
Pyongyang is a showcase city, heavily resourced to impress both visitors and North Koreans from rural areas. The majority of the population, though, still lives far from these displays of prosperity.
