North Korea: Kim Jong Un has to close his fun resort again

It was less than three weeks ago that the North Korean state propaganda sent photos of inspired citizens into the world. To be seen were young and old, as they shot into the water from huge slides and tolerated on swimming boards in pools. Always under the benevolent and strict look of the top guide Kim Jong un.

But now the Wonsan Kalma Resort is over again. For the time being, it will no longer be a foreign visitors, the organizer “DPR Korea Tour” now briefly said. Why and for how long – there is no information about this.

Has taken a closer look at the conditions for the trip to the beach fun pool on the Japanese Sea. Also because there are Russians who visited Kim’s new showcase project as foreigners. Even Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrow had traveled from Moscow.

According to “Fontanka”, the resort is located at an old military airfield where hotels, shops, cafes and restaurants were built for 20,000 visitors. Plus the fun pool and other amusement buildings.

“However, there is a catch,” says the newspaper: “You cannot travel to North Korea independently: a visa only get travelers who have booked a tour with an accredited tour operator. These tours combine beach holidays with cultural and educational tourism.”

That means: Instead of being able to relax on the beach, tourists also have to complete the usual mandatory program for North Korea visits. These include detour to propaganda varieties such as the monument of the Juche (State) ideology, the victory museum of the “Patriotic War”, the Kandon greenhouse farm and the subway in the capital Pyongyang. “In fact, the tourist will only spend four out of eight days on the beach in Kalma,” said “Fontanka”.

What North Korea primarily demands from foreign visitors are hard dollars. A seven-day tour at the North Korean organizer “Wostok Intour”-including flights Wladivostok-Pyongyang-Wladiwostok, 4-star hotel, meals and driving service in North Korea costs 145,000 rubles (just under 1600 euros). The amount is payable in 35,000 rubles as a transfer and $ 1400 in cash-the latter only in “new appearances” and only in the travel agency in Moscow.

If you want to have a single room, you have to pay an additional $ 450 – also in “new ones”. The surcharge for a “first class” room $ 850. One night in a suite during the two-day Pyengjang excursion costs $ 480.

The clammy dictatorship cannot count on these income. Despite the allegedly high costs for the construction of the resort. According to the North Korean state media, the locals would enjoy the advantages of the water park. According to connoisseurs of the country, only high officials and party cadres are approved by this type of vacation.