North Korea abruptly banned foreign tourists from entering the recently inaugurated Wonsan-Kalma tourist complex, dimming prospects for a flagship project hailed by leader Kim Jong Un as “one of the greatest successes this year,” AP News reported.
DPR Korea Tour, the state tourism authority’s website, announced on Friday that the eastern coastal resort “is temporarily not receiving foreign tourists,” offering no explanation for the ban or its duration.
The prohibition follows last week’s visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who met Kim at the complex and pledged expanded tourism cooperation.
“I am sure that Russian tourists will be increasingly eager to come here,” Lavrov declared during talks with Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.
Despite this commitment, the ban emerged days after a Russian journalist’s article implied North Korean visitors appeared state-mobilised rather than genuine holidaymakers.
The resort had opened to domestic tourists on 1 July before hosting a small Russian group days prior. Observers anticipated prioritisation of Chinese tourists, who constituted over 90% of pre-pandemic visitors. Meanwhile, analyst Oh Gyeong-seob of Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification suggested the critical media coverage prompted the restriction:
The North Korean government is believed to have determined that it would face some negative consequences when it opens the site to foreigners.
Lee Sangkeun from Seoul’s Institute for National Security Strategy alternatively cited practical challenges: recruiting Russian tourists remains difficult given North Korea’s remoteness and high travel costs. The move also coincides with deepening military ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.
Experts emphasise the ban’s unsustainability given the resort’s scale – designed for 20,000 guests – and its substantial drain on North Korea’s limited resources. Ahn Chan-il of the World Institute for North Korean Studies warned:
If foreign tourists aren’t allowed to the site, no Russian rubles, Chinese yuans and dollars won’t come in. Then, North Korea can’t break even and it has to shut down the resort.
Kim’s personal stake in the project heightens the dilemma; state media enthusiastically reports crowds of local tourists, while international access remains erratic. North Korea cautiously opened its borders after the pandemic, but suspended a similar experimental tourism programme in the city of Rason in February.
