Wonsan Kalma: My journey to North Korea Benidorm of North Korea

It was the guards accompanying the group of Anastasia Samsovanna that suggested that this was not a typical beach holiday.

In July, the 33-year-old human resource worker was one of the first tourists to stay in a new festive resort in North Korea, a country largely closed to the outside world.

Located in an exclusive area on the east coast, where leader Kim Jong Un spent much of his youth, the Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area opened on July 1.

Built near the rocket test site, the resort has hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and a water park, according to the state media.

But although it was originally declared open to international tourists, so far only Russians entering groups and organized by accredited travel agencies have been authorized in.

Anastasia travels there last month with 14 other people. The visit was strictly controlled, with the drivers and guards accompanying them and a fixed route that cannot diverge without permission from the North Korean authorities.

She tells her that the leaders told her that security was needed to “prevent situations in which we interacted with the locals and we were startled by them.”

“When we walked down the street, they (the North Koreans) looked at us with great surprise because the country has been closed for a very long time,” Anastasia says.

The BBC News Russian contacted it after searching the geotails of people on social media who traveled to the resort, regardless of any travel agency or media.

Anastasia says that her group is also said not to photograph construction sites and is expected not to wear disclosure.

But despite the limitations, she says she “enjoyed a vacation without humans” on almost empty beaches with white sand.

“Every day (the beach) was cleaned and leveled perfectly. Everything was flawless,” she says.

“The sorts were completely new, everything flawless. The entrance to the sea was very gentle, so yes, it was really a very good beach.”

Following the Covid pandemic, international tourism in North Korea paused to prevent the virus from spreading.

But last year, the republic began to allow Russian tourists to visit again.

In February, he also began to receive tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, although sharply stopped this week later, without saying why.

Wonsan Kalma was advertised as a key part of Kim’s ambitions to strengthen tourism in the country.

He is said to have drawn inspiration from the hot spot of Spain Benidorm tourism, where a delegation was sent to North Korea in 2017.

But details of how it was built were coated secret, and human rights groups criticize the alleged heavy attitude towards workers.

Weeks after its opening, North Korea has announced that foreigners are “temporarily” not allowed to visit – except for tourists from Russia, an ally of the Republic.

So far, two Russian tourist groups have visited the resort, another is currently there.

A weekly trip from Russia to North Korea, including three days at the Wonsan Kalma resort, costs $ 1800 (1300 pounds) – 60% more than the average monthly salary in Russia.

Some ads for the trip even refer to a nearby missile test site, describing it as a “unique” place to rest.

Anastasia says rockets were not fired while it was there, but toy missiles are sold near $ 40 (£ 30).

Describing a typical day during his trip, Anastasia says that the group will have breakfast at 08:00, when many activities were planned and 09:30 on a more relaxed day.

In terms of the food they were given, there were “lots of meat”, usually in a sweet and sour sauce and a dish, including finely chopped cabbage and carrots in sauce.

She says a 500 ml beer bottle was very cheap, costing about 60 cents on the beach, while the optional souvenir for tourists was North Korean Olympic clothes.

Another tourist, Daria, writing on Instagram, described the resort as “very raw” and “not the appearance of the vacation with which Russian tourists are playing.”

“But if you are tired of Asia, Turkey, etc., and you want something exotic – that’s all,” she added.

However, there is uncertainty about when the next Russian tourists will be released at Wonsan Kalma.

The travel agency, which organizes the first three trips to the resort, Vostok Intur, said it has a great interest in potential tours in September, but the North Korean authorities have not yet agreed with them.

Initially, the tours were advertised online by Russian travel agencies in mid-September, but they were later removed.

Not only the Russians are confronted with difficulties in reaching Vonsan Kalma.

Even the citizens of China, which borders on North Korea and is its main ally and economic partner, are having difficulty accessing the resort, according to Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea-Russia and Professor at Kookmin University in Seoul.

He says that Pyongyang deliberately limits the number of tourists and carefully controls his movements, partly, so that the North Koreans will not compare adversely to the more rich foreigners.

“Ordinary people may start to wonder,” How is it, even without our great leader or his son or daughter, they seem to live so good? “, Says Lakov.

For this reason, North Korea has come to the conclusion that it is largely better not to have too many foreigners in the country, he adds.

Travel restrictions in North Korea are facilitating tourism from Russia, although it remains modest compared to other destinations.

In 2024, about 1500 Russians traveled to North Korea for tourism, according to the Russian border guards of the Federal Security Service.

In contrast, over 6.7 million visited Turkey and almost 1.9 million went to China.

However, in the second quarter of 2025, 1673 Russians entered North Korea as tourists – a level last seen in 2010, before tourist restrictions were introduced.

Wonsan Kalma is seen as the key to the revival of North Korea’s patients’ economic wealth, but it is not without dispute.

Since the resort began construction in 2018, human rights groups have been protesting against the alleged abuse of their workers. They point out reports that people are forced to work for long hours to complete the massive project under difficult conditions and inadequate compensation.

The BBC addressed the North Korean Embassy in London for comment.

Despite the challenges of reaching Vonson Kalma and the limitations of what Russian tourists can do when they arrive in North Korea, Anastasia says she hopes to return next year.

“We are actually thinking of gathering the whole group next year to go to the same place.

“I’m not sure if it would work out, but I heard there was also a ski resort near Vonsan Kalma. So, maybe one day I’ll visit this resort too.”