North Korea has opened a massive resort area on its east coast, state media said on Wednesday, July 2nd. 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,” Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency reported.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, a group of Russian tourists is set to visit the zone in North Korea for the first time on July 7. However, given the limited capacity of available flights, international tourism to the new beach resort is likely to remain small in scale, according to Seoul’s unification ministry. “It is estimated that tourists will travel via Pyongyang, and that the number of visitors may be limited to around 170 people per day,” the ministry said.
North Korea reopened its borders in August 2023 after nearly four years of closure due to COVID-19. The country sees tourism as an important source of foreign currency and may have received help from Russia–in exchange for joining its war in Ukraine–to develop new tourist sites. However, foreign visitors remain limited, with mainly Russian tourists returning so far.
