North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his daughter walk down a beach in the Kalma coastal tourist area in the country’s east coastal city of Wonsan, in this photo published by the Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 31, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has inspected a new tourist zone along the country’s east coast, stressing that the project is the “first big step” in advancing the country’s tourism, state media reported Tuesday.
Kim looked around newly completed hotels and other service facilities in the Kalma coastal tourist area on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, adding that the zone will open for service in June next year.
The tourist area has been under development since 2014 as part of a project to harness the sandy beach of Myongsasimni on Wonsan’s Kalma peninsula for tourism.
Calling the place “very spectacular, beautiful and magnificent,” Kim expressed “great satisfaction” and said that the service facilities, built “at a high level,” could be utilized for important external, political and cultural state events.
The development of the tourist industry “will open up a new realm of socialist cultural construction and bring about another motive force for promoting regional rejuvenation and national economic growth,” he noted.
The Kalma coastal tourist area’s development is “the first big step” in advancing the country’s tourist industry, Kim stated, ordering “proactively exploiting the tourist resources in other regions.”
North Korea has turned to tourism as a means of earning foreign currency, as its tourism industry is not subject to international sanctions. The country is widely expected to try to attract Russian tourists once the Kalma tourist zone opens in June.
Photos of Kim’s latest inspection, released by the KCNA, showed his daughter, believed to be named Ju-ae, accompanying him on the trip. This is her first public appearance since Oct. 31, when she was present at the site of an intercontinental ballistic missile test.
Images showed her walking down a beach with her arm linked with Kim’s and touring hotel facilities alongside her father.
The visit to the tourist zone marks Kim’s second reported inspection of an economy-related facility since the conclusion of the annual year-end plenary party meeting on Friday, a move seen as highlighting the country’s economic achievements in 2024.
(Yonhap)
