Posted on 08/02/2025 4:22:10 PM PDT by KingofZion
At North Korea’s new beach resort, the white sand glistened against the crystal-clear waters. Ten minutes of Wi-Fi cost $1.70. Food arrived in abundance, albeit with the same three beverage choices: water, tea or beer.
The weeklong trip cost roughly $2,000. The catch? All travelers had to be Russian.
Welcome to North Korea’s Wonsan Kalma coastal complex, a megaresort built by the regime to portray the country as modern and affluent. It is opening to foreign vacationers for the first time, as part of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s drive to attract more tourism to his cash-strapped country and show his people they can experience some of the finer things in life despite international sanctions.
Anastasia Samsonova, a 33-year-old from Moscow, was looking for something offbeat for her summer vacation. Having never been to North Korea, she chose a group tour that would spend several days in Pyongyang before arriving in Wonsan.
But as she took her first steps on the sand, Samsonova—who, along with 12 other Russians, was part of the first group of foreign vacationers allowed to visit the resort several weeks ago—faced an unsettling sight. “The entire beach was empty,” she said. “In fact, we seemed to be the only guests in the entire resort.”
***
“We really felt like the most important people on Earth,” said Samsonova. She went home with a souvenir statuette shaped like a nuclear warhead.
North Korea once welcomed hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists a year—mostly from China—before slamming its borders shut in January 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The country reopened to tourism in February 2024 exclusively to Russian travelers. Last year, roughly 1,500 vacationers actually went, according to a Russian official from Vladivostok, a far-eastern city that has direct flights to Pyongyang.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Rent a car and visit the beautiful countryside, climb the mountains, visit the quaint little villages, enjoy yourself.
Commies of a feather flock together! *SPIT*
(She went home with a souvenir statuette shaped like a nuclear warhead.)
Gotta admit, the didn’t have that one
in the Five and Dime
when I went to Branson several years ago
Maybe a B-2 bomber
(She went home with a souvenir statuette shaped like a nuclear warhead.)
Gotta admit, THEY didn’t have that one
in the Five and Dime
when I went to Branson several years ago
Maybe a B-2 bomber
(darn autocorrect)
Come on people. Who cares?
The Russians are coming the Russians are coming!!
(Ten minutes of Wi-Fi cost $1.70)
Is that Censored or Uncensored?
Pity the poor people trapped in North Korea (for all of the other reasons)
“Come to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs.”
North Korea really specializes in being bizarre. They are true experts.
Russians tourists. Americans with no money.
“Ve come in Russian Navy Soviet submarine boat!’’
“Egermancy, Egermancy, everybody to get from street!’’
I know, it sounds sort of depressing when one tries to enjoy themselves knowing it is a government for-profit sanctuary for foreigners being kept separated from the dictator’s horrors outside the walls.
Who in their right mind would ever want to visit such a place as North Korea and for what ever unGodly reason I couldn’t begin to imagine.
And it’s “Russians Only’’?
Ivan’s getting his butt kicked in Ukraine and he’s going to take time out for a vaca in North Korea?! At this rate there aren’t going to be a whole hell off a lot of Russians to go anywhere.
Good God what kind of a world do these people live in?
Oligarchs might go for the atmosphere, they can afford glitzier resorts, but where else could they capture the us versus them feeling so well.
I remember seeing the movie when it came out in 1966. Some good actors in it: Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner, Brian Keith, Jonathan Winters, Paul Ford, Ben Blue. It’s streaming on MGM+ so I’ve added it to my queue. Time to get in touch with my long ago past.
“Ivan’s getting this butt kicked in Ukraine ...”
Speaking of butts, you need to pull your head out of yours and check in with reality.
Ukraine is on death watch.
LOL! Those commercials were funny. Unforgettable.
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