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North Korea opens beach resort with slides, swimming pool to boost tourism
Though North Korea has been gradually reopening its borders, the country has not clarified if it would fully resume international tourism.
North Koreans enjoyed water activities including, swimming and riding water park slides amid ban on entry of foreign tourists at the newly opened Wonsan-Kalma eastern coastal tourist zone, state media reported.
The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area resort is reportedly set to welcome Russian guests later this month.
The giant beach resort, dubbed "North Korea's Waikiki" by South Korean media, can reportedly accommodate nearly 20,000 people and is the core of leader Kim Jon Un’s push towards improving the economy and boosting tourism in a regime which is one of the most secretive and repressive in the world.
Will North Korea open borders for tourism?
However, the prospects of the tourist complex remains unclear as the country most likely won't fully reopen its borders and embrace Western tourists anytime soon. According to the reports by the official Korean Central News Agency, the Wonsan Kalma area began its services Tuesday, attracting a large number of people. North Koreans were seen enjoying open water swimming, slides and other attractions present at a water park.
North Koreans of all ages from across the country flocked to the site this week "filled with joy at experiencing a new level of civilization", news agency AFP quoted lines from a KCNA report.
The visitors were "astonished by the grandeur and splendor of the tourist city, where more than 400... artistically designed buildings lined the white sandy beach in ideal harmony", it added.
Photos released by North Korean state media featured children with inflatable tubes and balls dipping in the sea while others wore colorful swimsuits and sat behind the red and white parasols.
During the inaugural session last week, Kim said that the site would become “one of the greatest successes this year" calling its opening “the proud first step” toward realizing the government’s policy of developing tourism.
North Korea slowly reopening borders
Since 2022, North Korea has been gradually easing the curbs imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic and reopening its borders in phases. Despite this, the country has not clarified if it would fully resume international tourism. Since February 2024, North Korea has been accepting tourists from Russia with the expanding military cooperation between the two.
But Russian records seen by South Korean experts still show a little more than 2,000 Russians. Of this, only about 880 of them are tourists who visited North Korea last year. Meanwhile, Russia’s Primorsky region, which borders North Korea, said last week that the first group of Russian tourists to the Wonsan-Kalma resort will depart on July 7.
(With AP Inputs)
