Pretend tourists, lavish meals, empty beaches: North Korea’s new resort gets first foreign reviews

The billiards hall never closed, the beer was always cold and the beachgoers never seemed to sweat — welcome to North Korea’s latest seaside spectacle, where even the vacationers might be on the payroll.

The details were revealed on July 14 by Russian journalists who recently visited the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone in North Korea, describing how some North Koreans pretended to be tourists to create the image of a successful opening of the site.

Russia’s Kommersant newspaper published a field report from its correspondent who accompanied Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on his visit to North Korea. Lavrov is the first high-ranking foreign official to be invited to the resort.

Signs bearing the words “Pub,” “Restaurant” and “Video Game Centre” lined the road from Wonsan Airport to the resort area — all written in English, contrary to expectations, according to the reporter.

Notably, there were no signs in Russian or Chinese, despite the fact that Russian nationals now comprise the overwhelming majority of foreign tourists visiting North Korea.

Between January and May last year, the number of Russian visitors to North Korea reportedly tripled compared to the entire year of 2019.

On the first day of the hotel stay, North Korean hosts served a 14-course meal to foreign journalists, consisting of four appetizers, seven main dishes and three desserts. The menu included dishes made with ginseng chicken, crab, duck, beef, fish and eggplant — all priced at just $10 per person, the reporter said.

Hotel rooms, priced at $90 per night, were outfitted with slippers, towels, an iron, disposable toiletries and a minibar stocked with local beverages. From the balcony, guests had a sweeping view of a beach that stretched several kilometers.

However, the vibrant image of a bustling resort portrayed during its early promotion did not match the reality. Although the North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimed domestic tourists were using the facilities, the beach remained mostly empty as of Saturday morning, according to the Russian report.

In the hotel’s second-floor billiards hall, a well-dressed man and woman played billiards from morning until late at night, only leaving after most reporters had returned to their rooms.

“These two were probably not given the worst roles,” the reporter wrote. “Others appeared to be staging vacation scenes — such as someone smoking continuously on a park bench, someone riding a bicycle along the beach, and another holding a beer glass at a bar terrace under the scorching sun.”

North Korea has artificially produced the image of a bustling resort, the report pointed out. Some of the pretend vacationers wore Workers’ Party badges and spoke fluent Russian.

The Russian journalist said they only saw actual Russian tourists using the resort facilities on Saturday evening. These visitors said they had gone through numerous procedures to enter the country and were only seen swimming and sunbathing after Minister Lavrov’s arrival.

Another Russian daily, Izvestia, also covered the Wonsan resort, describing its buildings — painted in bright shades of blue, green and pink — and newly constructed housing as examples of North Korea’s architectural capabilities.

The city was clean, and some locals were observed using smartphones. However, some beach zones were off-limits to foreigners, and light traffic was attributed to fuel shortages.

The beach was far from crowded, according to the second Russian report. The resort’s coastline was divided into 15 sections, with some designated exclusively for North Korean citizens. A local official reportedly blocked the reporter’s attempt to enter one of these restricted areas.

Russian tourists expressed general satisfaction with the resort, with package tour prices ranging from $1,600 to $1,800 per person.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]