My journey to North Korea’s ‘Benidorm’

It was the safety guards accompanying Anastasia Samsonova’s group that advised this wasn’t a typical seaside vacation.

In July, the 33-year-old human assets employee was one of many first vacationers to remain at a brand new vacation resort in North Korea, a rustic largely closed to the surface world.

Set in an unique space on the east coast the place chief Kim Jong Un spent a lot of his youth, the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Vacationer Zone opened on 1 July.

Constructed close to a missile testing website, the resort options inns, eating places, procuring malls and a water park, based on state media.

However whereas it was initially billed as being open to worldwide vacationers, to this point solely Russians, coming into in teams and organised by accredited journey businesses, have been allowed in.

Anastasia travelled there final month with 14 different folks. The go to was tightly managed, with guides and guards accompanying them and a set itinerary that might not be diverged from with out permission from North Korean authorities.

She says the guides advised her the guards have been wanted to “forestall conditions the place we interacted with locals and startled them”.

“Once we walked down the road, they [North Koreans] checked out us with nice shock as a result of the nation has been closed for a really very long time,” says Anastasia.

BBC Information Russian bought involved along with her after looking the geotags of individuals on social media who had travelled to the resort, independently of any journey company or media outlet.

No scramble for sunloungers

Anastasia says her group was additionally advised to not {photograph} building websites and was anticipated to not put on revealing garments.

But regardless of the restrictions, she says she “loved a trip with out folks” on almost-empty seashores with white sand.

“Each day the [beach] was cleaned and levelled completely. All the pieces was immaculate,” she says.

“The loungers have been completely new, all the things spotless. The doorway to the ocean was very light, so sure, it actually was an excellent seaside.”

For the reason that Covid pandemic, worldwide tourism into North Korea had been on pause to stop the unfold of the virus.

However final yr, the republic started permitting Russian vacationers to go to once more.

In February, it additionally began receiving vacationers from the West, together with Australia, France, Germany and the UK, although it abruptly halted this weeks later, with out saying why.

Wonsan Kalma has been touted as a key a part of Kim’s ambitions to spice up tourism within the nation.

It’s stated to have drawn inspiration from Spain’s tourism hotspot Benidorm, the place a North Korean delegation was despatched on a fact-finding mission in 2017.

However particulars of the way it was constructed have been shrouded in secrecy, and human rights teams have criticised the alleged harsh remedy of staff, together with claims of compelled labour, harsh situations, lengthy hours and locals being pushed out of their properties.

Weeks after it opened, North Korea introduced that foreigners have been “briefly” not allowed to go to – besides vacationers from Russia, an ally of the republic.

Up to now, two Russian tour teams have visited the resort, with one other at the moment there.

Every week-long journey from Russia to North Korea, together with three days on the Wonsan Kalma resort, prices $1,800 (£1,300) – 60% greater than the typical month-to-month wage in Russia.

Some adverts for the journey even reference the close by missile testing website, describing it as a “distinctive” trip spot.

Anastasia says no missiles have been launched whereas she was there, however toy rockets have been being offered close by for $40 (£30).

Describing a typical day whereas on her journey, Anastasia says the group would have breakfast at 08:00 when plenty of actions have been deliberate and 09:30 on a extra relaxed day.

When it comes to the meals they got, there was “plenty of meat”, usually in candy and bitter sauce, and a dish involving finely chopped cabbage and carrots in sauce.

She says a 500ml bottle of beer was very low-cost, costing about 60 cents on the seaside, whereas the memento of selection for vacationers was North Korean Olympic clothes.

One other vacationer, Daria, writing on Instagram, described the resort as “very uncooked” and “not the type of trip Russian vacationers are used to”.

“However for those who’re bored with Asia, Turkey, and so forth., and need one thing unique — that is it,” she added.

Nonetheless, there may be uncertainty over when the subsequent Russian vacationers can be allowed into Wonsan Kalma.

The journey company which organised the primary three journeys to the resort, Vostok Intur, stated there was excessive curiosity in potential excursions in September, however North Korean authorities had but to conform to them.

Initially, excursions have been marketed on-line by Russian journey businesses for mid-September, however these have been later eliminated.

It isn’t simply Russians who face difficulties attending to Wonsan Kalma.

Even residents of China, which borders North Korea and is its predominant ally and financial accomplice, are having difficulties accessing the resort, based on Andrei Lankov, an professional in North Korea-Russia relations and a professor at Kookmin College in Seoul.

He says Pyongyang intentionally limits the variety of vacationers and carefully controls their actions, partly so North Koreans will not evaluate themselves unfavourably to richer foreigners.

“Odd folks may start to surprise, ‘How is it that even with out our nice chief, or his son or daughter, they appear to reside so nicely?'”, Lankov says.

For that motive, North Korea has concluded it is largely higher to not have too many foreigners coming into the nation, he provides.

With journey restrictions into North Korea easing, tourism from Russia has been rising, although it stays modest in contrast with different locations.

In 2024, about 1,500 Russians travelled to North Korea for tourism, based on Russia’s Federal Safety Service border guards.

In distinction, greater than 6.7 million visited Turkey and virtually 1.9 million went to China.

Nonetheless, within the second quarter of 2025, 1,673 Russians entered North Korea as vacationers – a stage final seen in 2010, earlier than vacationer restrictions have been launched.

Wonsan Kalma is seen as key to reviving North Korea’s ailing financial fortunes, nevertheless it’s not been with out controversy.

For the reason that resort started building in 2018, human rights teams have protested the alleged mistreatment of its staff. They level to reviews of individuals being compelled to work lengthy hours to complete the large challenge in a speedy timeframe beneath harsh situations and insufficient compensation.

As BBC Confirm reported final month, the UN has highlighted a system of compelled labour utilized in North Korea, particularly “shock brigades” the place staff typically face harsh situations, lengthy hours, and insufficient compensation.

James Heenan of the UN Human Rights Workplace in Seoul has stated “there are reviews that the resort was constructed utilizing what they name shock brigades”.

“We have additionally seen reviews that folks have been working 24 hours on the finish to get this factor completed, which seems like a shock brigade to me.”

The BBC has approached the North Korean embassy in London for remark.

Regardless of the challenges of attending to Wonsan Kalma, and the restrictions on what Russian vacationers can do once they arrive in North Korea, Anastasia says she hopes to return again subsequent yr.

“We’re truly serious about gathering the entire group subsequent yr to go to the identical place.

“I am undecided if it can work out, however I’ve heard there’s additionally a ski resort close to Wonsan Kalma. So, perhaps someday I am going to go to that resort too.”