First foreign tourists deliver verdict on North Korea’s ‘Benidorm’ | World | News
A group of Russian tourists, who became the first international holidaymakers to visit North Korea, lifted the cover on their experiences in the world’s most mysterious state. Wonsan-Kalma Resort, which appealed to about 20,000 visitors and contains a hotel, restaurant and a beach, was heralded as a “proud first step” towards a tourism industry that explodes when it was opened by Kim Jong Un. However, during the first few months of operation, the coastal point can only be used by the North Koreans, the country’s tourism authority “temporarily did not buy foreign tourists” confirmed.
This week, the famous secret country opened the complexity to the first crowd of the first international holidaymakers, but a small group of Russian tourists welcomed – passengers from all other countries are still subject to an uncertain ban. North Korea’s reputation as a repressive and totalitarian dictatorship may not easily coincide with the idea of a Benidorm -style holiday for many, but a pleasant surprise from a Russian tourist trip.
“We haven’t seen anything terrible there, there’s no danger,” 33 -year -old HR manager Anastasiya Samsonova said. Sky News. “Obviously, we really liked it.
“The hotel was absolutely new. Everything was done very well, a good interior … Very advanced infrastructure.”
Despite the country’s terrible terrible human rights violations and gulag network history, despite gaining global condemnation for everyone, except to eliminate free speech, do not hesitate to act and act as he wishes during Anastasiya holiday.
“We wanted to see how people live there.” He continued: “There was a lot of prejudice about what you could do and cannot, how you could do in North Korea. But we actually felt free.”
North Korea’s hot reception of Russian holidaymakers comes in the midst of a closing relationship between the two countries after signing a strategic partnership agreement in June 2024.
Kim Jong Un was a significant Mileraryo support for Russia’s ongoing Ukrainian invasion, and the supreme leader promised “unconditional support” for Vladimir Putin’s operations in the region this month.
The arrival of the first few Russian tourists coincided with the initiation of direct passenger flights between Moscow and Pyongyang, and this month for the first time – a tour guide for decades, argued that the strict communist rule of North Korea addressed nostalgic visitors for the Soviet Union.
“North Korea is an amazing country, unlike the others,” Irina Kobaceva, Director of Vostok Indur Travel Agency. ” He said. “A country where you will not see any ad on the streets. And very clean – even asphalt is washed.
“Our tourists mostly old people who want to return to the USSR, because the real North Korea has a feeling that the Soviet Union is very similar to what was once. But there is also a big demand around the young people.”
