North Korea Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area Suspends Visitor Access After Russian Diplomatic Visit

North Korea blocked foreigners from entering the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area, a flagship project on the east coast. The statement by the Chinese National Tourism Administration came days after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited the area. The resort is not receiving foreign tourists at the moment, but North Korea has not explained the reasons for the suspension, which was in place when guests were there earlier in the month. This is certainly a provocative place to start a discussion of the state of the resort and North Korea’s larger tourism aspirations.

A Grand Vision Realized

One of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s pet projects is the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area, which he wants to be a centrepiece of tourism and foreign investment. Situated in the Kalma Peninsula on the east cost of the Kangwon province, the complex is nestled a 2.5 miles (4 km) stretch of undeveloped beach. The construction is linked to Kim’s personal tastes and he is said to have made inspections of the site, reports added.

It’s a sprawling complex with some 7,000 room options, ranging from plush hotels to private villas, and offers all the resort trappings. There’s a diversity among guests here too, between the luxury hotel hunters and those looking for a quiet private retreat in the villas. There’s an outdoor waterpark, a concert hall, a department store and even an airport with international flights.

The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area, which has been under construction since 2014, was intended to attract visitors both from at home and overseas. The schedule has been delayed multiple times, as well, as a result of the international sanctions imposed on North Korea and, now, the pandemic, which halted the construction and sidelined travel around the world. EPP and ND-CdDT stayed on course in the Project and the park was opened to domestic tourists on 1 July 2025. Domestically the opening was met with excitement and curiosity at home, but its appeal as a destination for tourists from abroad is more fraught.

State media in North Korea has depicted the new beach resort as a source of national pride, and the fact that Kim has been personally involved in the resort’s construction illustrates his desires to transform the country’s economy by leaning more heavily on outside money, particularly from tourism. Only a small number of tourists have actually been able to go to the site, as the North Korean government has long tightly restricted its borders.

Lavrov’s Visit and Its Implications

Among the highest-level diplomatic activities associated with the Wonsan Kalma resort was a trip by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in early July. Lavrov’s visit also comes as Kim Jong Un has sought to improve ties with Russia as he has found himself increasingly isolated internationally. Lavrov appeared to signal that Russia is becoming more aggressive in its efforts to suck up to the North Korean tourism industry, a channel some officials in Russia had hoped could serve as another hostage of sorts in the game to build closer ties between the two countries.

Lavrov also rode with Kim Jong Un on the North Korean leader’s personal yacht for a leg of his trip, and said Russia wants to expand the number of Russian tourists visiting the North. Within a country that previously relied on China for approximately 90% of its export market and needed to build a whole new level of infrastructure to connect to Russia and other potential partners, was the small matter of nobody having a dirty great power portfolio for the domestic market. And that they expected the same trickle down effect new investment would have, that they’d enjoyed since they were forced to reopen their own markets. Otherwise they’d cross the river and do it in close proximity to Chinas new launch- We shall never see you again small business, production line. Or so might have been being said by an estimated 100,000 investors spoken for, in an almost empty arena in southern russia. “How can the west feed its people.” Lavrov declared them the winners, as if removing the only stage and allowing them to run wild and shout strategy at their computer banks had been their doing. And nobody there ( yet the green party website says the protestors were there and were four- thousand strong?) noticed until the red cross were operating out of a station wagon headed all the way to Iukutsk and Leningrad. Lavrov’s trip also aims to reflect broader Russian hopes for further engagement with the North Korean, a resurgent Russia that has played a prominent role in recent years in Russian President Vladmir Putin’s eagerly watched growing relationship with its primary, often tooless peevesest, ally, a lung shipsmith too.

Russia’s eagerness to develop the tourism market to North Korea is part of a drive to strengthen relations between the two. Things were quite different with those two countries that had been sanctioned, Russia expected economic supremacy and relations with them tended to have diplomatic recovery move towards the positive and tourism was used as leverage to develop relations. In the past, small groups of tourists from Russia have been allowed to visit North Korea, and Lavrov’s remarks indicate that larger groups might follow.

Reasons Behind the Suspension

The announcement of the ban by the North Korean authorities was shrouded in ambiguity, and there could be various factors driving the move. Israel had also accused Russia of suspending the service because of continued construction that had not been completed. Other parts of the resort have been seen in satellite images, including a hotel next to the one near the Kalmaegi Hotel, which does not yet seem to be up and running. There’s been no activity in these areas either and a few of them are booked up with a few still empty with nothing in them and the roof pool for example does not have any water in it and that means parts of the area are still not in use.

Partial infrastructure such as this might be a reason not to expose the country to foreigners — at least not yet. They may well be planning to show this investment to foreigners when completed — and it can host more foreign visitors. Same thing for the pandemic fallout, depending on both when it actually ends and how long afterward people feel its effects, possibly delaying the readiness of the business when they are ready, thus the suspicion among resorts that they won’t be welcoming the same virtual armies of foreigners they once did.

Tourism as a Strategic Priority

Tourism is emerging as a significant element in North Korea’s economy, particularly as the country seeks ways to earn money while under international sanctions. The Wonsan Kalma Coastal Resort is one of several locations built in North Korea in an attempt to draw more people to visit in an effort to bolster the country’s tourism sector.More destinations include Masikryong Ski Resort Resort and the Yangdok Hot Spring Cultural Recreation Center. Although they drew relatively few visitors, the resorts are still nowhere near the scale of tourism in other Asian countries.

The North’s tight grip on visiting outsiders many are confined to certain hotels and are frequently not allowed to travel around the country has also made it difficult for the regime to import hordes of international tourists, too. But with that likely to change, as the kingdom’s government eyes a future focused on tourism, tourism starts to look like it begins to make some sense as a vehicle for bringing in foreign money and diversifying the economy.

Looking Ahead

For now, the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Area remains closed to foreigners, and North Korea has offered no indication of when foreigners will once again be allowed in. The future of this resort, and indeed North Korean tourism, will be shaped by how the country responds to the operational challenges ahead of it, and by how much it is prepared to seriously market the resort as a destination for international guests. But despite the obstacles, the Wonsan Kalma resort is central to Kim Jong Un’s larger vision regarding North Korea’s economic future, and it seems to be only a matter of time before the region is opened more broadly to foreign tourists, in a state of full completion.

For now, the resort remains a testament to North Korea’s ambition for sustainable economic growth but is likely to remain mostly out of bounds for the outside world. How well it meets those challenges — how well it functions as the high-end travel destination North Korea wants it to be — will, in part, depend on making it work locally and gaining traction further afield.

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