North Korea beach resort bans foreigners days after opening to Russian tourists

North Korea's newly opened Wonsan Kalma beach resort has banned foreigners from visiting, just days after it received its first batch of international tourists from Russia.

The sudden change is expected to dim North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un's previously stated hope that the resort would boost his country's tourism sector, AP News reported.

According to North Korea-focused news website NK News, DPR Korea Tour, a North Korean official tourism website, posted a sign on Jul. 16 that foreigners will temporarily not be allowed to visit the beach resort.

"Foreign tourists are not provisionally received in the area," the website stated.

There was no further explanation on why the ban was established or whether it would be permanent.

Tourism boost

The resort, located in the country's eastern coastal Kalma peninsula, was opened to domestic tourists on Jul. 1, six years later than originally anticipated, according to BBC.

It had been promoted as a point of attraction for both domestic and foreign tourists.

North Korean state media KCNA reported that on the first day of its opening, citizens rode water park slides and enjoyed other water activities in the enormous park that has been estimated to be able to hold up to 20,000 guests.

"The guests’ hearts were filled with overwhelming emotion as they felt the astonishing new heights of our-style tourism culture blossoming under the era of the Workers’ Party," AP News quoted KCNA.

Russian visitors

Within less than two weeks of its opening, a small group of Russian tourists were received at the resort.

This coincided with the resort's first high-level visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who arrived for a series of meetings with Kim and North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at Wonsan Kalma on Jul. 11.

Lavrov reportedly called the resort a "good tourist attraction" and expressed his desire for it to be a popular site among Russian tourists.

"I am sure that Russian tourists will be increasingly eager to come here," he said, according to AP News.

North Korea and Russia are also set to launch a direct flight between their capital cities Pyongyang and Moscow in late July 2025.

Speculations

While there has been no official statement on why the resort has banned foreign tourists, there has been speculation that North Korean authorities changed their minds on opening the zone to foreigners, after a Russian reporter who had travelled to the resort with Lavrov claimed the locals at the resort were planted visitors and not real tourists.

An analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification told AP News that the North Korean government may be fearing the negative consequences it would face once foreign tourists enter the site.

In 2018, the government also faced backlash by human rights groups over reports of mistreatment of workers while the resort was being constructed, BBC said.

The notoriously closed-border country has seen constantly changing foreign policies.

Tourists from a number of western countries, including Australia, France, Germany and the UK were able to enter the country in February this year, but were again banned just weeks later without an explanation.

Top image via Yonhap