WTF Wednesday
Oct. 1st, 2025 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brickhousewenchThis article about a tourist resort in North Korea is just so very weird. Reading through it you can’t do anything but wonder, WTF? Why is a closed country building a tourist site? And saying they want it to restore their economy. But then restricting how many people are allowed to visit? A couple thousand tourists can’t bring that much money into the country.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c707d1ez0kno
Anastasia traveled there last month with 14 other people. The visit was tightly controlled, with guides and guards accompanying them and a fixed itinerary that could not be diverged from without permission from North Korean authorities.
She says the guides told her the guards were needed to "prevent situations where we interacted with locals and startled them".
"When we walked down the street, they [North Koreans] looked at us with great surprise because the country has been closed for a very long time," says Anastasia.
Anastasia says her group was also told not to photograph construction sites and was expected not to wear revealing clothes.
Yet despite the restrictions, she says she "enjoyed a vacation without people" on almost-empty beaches with white sand.
"Every day the [beach] was cleaned and leveled perfectly. Everything was immaculate," she says.
"The loungers were absolutely new, everything spotless. The entrance to the sea was very gentle, so yes, it really was a very good beach."
Since the Covid pandemic, international tourism into North Korea had been on pause to prevent the spread of the virus.
But last year, the republic began allowing Russian tourists to visit again.
In February, it also started receiving tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK, though it abruptly halted this weeks later, without saying why.
Wonsan Kalma has been touted as a key part of Kim's ambitions to boost tourism in the country.
He says Pyongyang deliberately limits the number of tourists and closely controls their movements, in part so North Koreans won't compare themselves unfavorably to richer foreigners.
"Ordinary people might begin to wonder, 'How is it that even without our great leader, or his son or daughter, they seem to live so well?'", Lankov says.
In 2024, about 1,500 Russians traveled to North Korea for tourism, according to Russia's Federal Security Service border guards.
Wonsan Kalma is seen as key to reviving North Korea's ailing economic fortunes, but it's not been without controversy.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c707d1ez0kno
Anastasia traveled there last month with 14 other people. The visit was tightly controlled, with guides and guards accompanying them and a fixed itinerary that could not be diverged from without permission from North Korean authorities.
She says the guides told her the guards were needed to "prevent situations where we interacted with locals and startled them".
"When we walked down the street, they [North Koreans] looked at us with great surprise because the country has been closed for a very long time," says Anastasia.
Anastasia says her group was also told not to photograph construction sites and was expected not to wear revealing clothes.
Yet despite the restrictions, she says she "enjoyed a vacation without people" on almost-empty beaches with white sand.
"Every day the [beach] was cleaned and leveled perfectly. Everything was immaculate," she says.
"The loungers were absolutely new, everything spotless. The entrance to the sea was very gentle, so yes, it really was a very good beach."
Since the Covid pandemic, international tourism into North Korea had been on pause to prevent the spread of the virus.
But last year, the republic began allowing Russian tourists to visit again.
In February, it also started receiving tourists from the West, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK, though it abruptly halted this weeks later, without saying why.
Wonsan Kalma has been touted as a key part of Kim's ambitions to boost tourism in the country.
He says Pyongyang deliberately limits the number of tourists and closely controls their movements, in part so North Koreans won't compare themselves unfavorably to richer foreigners.
"Ordinary people might begin to wonder, 'How is it that even without our great leader, or his son or daughter, they seem to live so well?'", Lankov says.
In 2024, about 1,500 Russians traveled to North Korea for tourism, according to Russia's Federal Security Service border guards.
Wonsan Kalma is seen as key to reviving North Korea's ailing economic fortunes, but it's not been without controversy.
