North Korea’s answer to Benidorm has been plagued from the start of the project(Image: AP)North Korea’s “Benidorm-style” beach resort looks set to be doomed just a month after opening as it was announced it would not be receiving foreign tourists. But was the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone — seen as a key part of Kim Jong Un’s plans to boost tourism — cursed from the start?
The showpiece resort — which was dubbed the North Korean Benidorm after dictator Kim sent a fact-finding team to the Costa Blanca in 2017 —was hyped as an attraction for both locals and foreigners that could accommodate 20,000 visitors.
But as of this week, a notice on North Korea’s tourism website says that foreigners are “temporarily” not allowed to visit. Here, your Daily Star takes a look at the dark history of the resort behind the Pyongyang propaganda.
Despot Kim at the Wonsan Kalma coastal(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)Construction controversy
Human rights horrors began at the start of the project when teenage schoolkids were press-ganged by the communist country’s brutal regime into working as “shock brigades” of builders.
State media bragged the youngsters were throwing up hotels in the resort at a rate of a storey per day in December 2019. But as deadlines came and went, builders were forced to work round the clock in freezing temperatures to complete the job.
Party chiefs mobilised workers “in the bitter cold of January, February, and March, allowing them to sleep for only three hours a day,” a source told the Daily NK newspaper.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae visiting the resort(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)And while the regime called the youths “volunteers”, the reality was they had no choice and they were effectively slave labour working for monthly wage “only enough to buy two packs of cigarettes”, according to a UN report.
Sexual abuse claims
The UN report told how were were forced into the “shock brigades” with the threat of arrest and detention in labour camps. But female workers faced the added peril sexual abuse.
One woman quoted by the UN recalled how shock brigade chiefs “harassed” them and said “many women were sexually abused”. Workers at Wonsan lived off “foul-smelling seaweed soup, salted radishes and yellow corn rice,” according to Daily NK.
The project has been hit by serious allegations from the start(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)Covid delays and poo
When the third deadline for finishing the resort passed in April 2020, the site lay almost abandoned for months as Covid-19 spread around the world. Soon reports emerged that homeless wanderers – known as kkotjebi in North Korea – had moved in to the hotels.
A source told Daily NK: “The buildings are no different from toilets, with bowel movements left behind by the kkotjebi everywhere. Now they’re full of human waste and soot from fires.”
Kim Jong Un waves to the crowd at the opening ceremony of the Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)Capital Punishment
Reports also revealed that the resort’s planning chief and site manager had been sacked in 2019 as delays mounted. And nothing had been heard of either of them since, according to North Korea expert Michael Madden.
Mr Madden, the founder of North Korea Leadership Watch, said if they were blamed for inefficiencies or incompetence, they probably faced demotion, intensive indoctrination and a manual labour assignment.
Chillingly, he added: “If these individuals had a habit of corrupt activities on Wonsan-Kalma and any previous projects, then one or both project managers faced the firing squad.”
Fun for all the family(Image: AFP via Getty Images)Russian reviews
When the resort finally opened to the public in July, the first Russian tourists reportedly arrived Wonsan. Coincidently, it was around the same time Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Kim in the city.
The first Russian visitors to the new tourist resort town heralded it as “gorgeous” and “up to European standards”. Natalia Fisher, 52, and Daria Polishchuk, 22, flew to North Korea on a package holiday at the end of July, just weeks after the resort’s official opening.
Daria told the Telegraph: “If someone had shown me a photo, I would never have thought it was North Korea. Visually, I think it could compete with many European resorts.”
The Russians say its good anyway(Image: AFP via Getty Images)But their glowing reviews came amid claims they were warned in no uncertain terms that any negative feedback could threaten Russia’s alliance with the hermit kingdom.
During their trip, guides told them to be careful with what they said about their experience back home, suggesting “any friendship can be broken with some awkward, improper words”. The countries have formed a strong alliance in recent years, with North Korea pumping troops and weaponry onto the Ukrainian battlefield in support of Vladimir Putin.
Forced fun
Keen to show off its “world-class cultural resort”, the country issued photographs of beachgoers enjoying its attractions, such as a water park and leisure facilities.
Kim watches on to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)But Russian journalist Anastasia Dombitskaya, who travelled to the resort with Lavrov, said she noticed the streets were deserted, and the same couple were playing billiards continuously throughout the day.
She wrote: “This couple did not even end up with the worst role – others had to portray vacationers right underneath the scorching sun. One person sat smoking one cigarette after another… another rode a bicycle up and down the embankment, and another settled on the veranda sipping a glass of beer that stayed full.”
Tourists had to be accompanied by a guide at all times outside of their hotel rooms, were not allowed to talk to locals, and had to pay to access the heavily restricted internet. Dombitskaya added: “It really does resemble the Soviet Union.”
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