North Korea's new ‘Benidorm' resort mysteriously BANS foreign tourists days after opening – following years of delays
Dubbed the "North Korean Benidorm",
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Kim has closed off his new tourist resort to all foreigners
Credit: Reuters
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The sea did not look particularly inviting for the first batch of visitors
Credit: AFP
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Kim waved to adoring fans at an opening ceremony at the end of June
Credit: AFP
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A North Korean man makes the most of the water park at Wonsan after it opened
Credit: AFP
The Costa del Sol-inspired resort - complete with beaches, waterparks and a strip - had been
markets
.
Wonsan
But then a notice popped up on the national tourism website slapping a "temporary" ban on all overseas visitors.
According to state-run North Korean
news
, a group of 15 Russian holidaymakers rocked up last week - around the same time Russia's Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov visited Kim in Wonsan.
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Lavrov heaped praise on the "good tourist attraction" and said he hoped it would become a popular hols spot for Russians.
NK News said the Russians had been "wowed" by "lavish ten-dish meals", "eerily good service" and "endless beaches".
Other eager Russians will no doubt be disappointed to miss out on this mind-boggling experience.
And a Russian tour guide previously told NK News that they had planned several more trips to the resort in the coming months - but not anymore.
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The chance of other international
travellers
being permitted a peak behind the curtain is looking evermore remote.
Kim Jong Un sheds tears over North Korean troops killed in Ukraine
The city is where Kim spent much of his youth, among holiday villas, maritime infrastructure - and missile facilities.
The dictator oversaw the project himself, and was reportedly inspired by the way Europeans choose to holiday in countries like Spain.
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He is even said to have dispatched a team to the Costa del Sol to take notes and report back.
The result is a 2.5-mile stretch of beachfront lined with restaurants, hotels for 20,000 people, shopping malls and water park.
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Kids were pictured splashing around in the swimming pool
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The strip running along Wonsan before it was officially opened
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A mock-up of Kim on Spain's Costa del Sol - which is said to have inspired Wonsan
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Kim has proudly inspected the construction project several times over the years - and returned at the end of June for a bizarre opening ceremony.
And declared that
would go down as 'one of the greatest successes this year' and hailed the site as 'the proud first step' towards
.
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But the work did not always go according to plan - and was repeatedly stalled by a range of problems.
At one point, the site was even overrun by homeless wanderers - known as "kotjebi" in
- who filled the empty
with faeces.
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Kim cutting the ceremonial ribbon
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These ladies braved the grey weather and took to Wonsan's beach
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Kim shows his daughter Kim Ju Ae around the inside of one of the hotels
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If overseas visitors are ever allowed in, campaigners have warned that nobody's safety is assured.
Greg Scarlatoiu, director of the Committee for
He said: 'The Wonsan-Kalma resort was built with forced labour. Vacationing there is morally and ethically wrong – it is truly an abomination.
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'Having Russian nationals vacation there is testament to the pathetic isolation of both Russia and North Korea.'
Past tourists in the country have even lost their lives.
Greg gave the example of Otto Warmbier, an American student arrested on dubious charges during a trip to Pyongyang in 2016.
Accused of taking down a propaganda poster, he was detained for 17 months.
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The dictator said the new opening marked a new chapter in North Korea's tourism industry
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Kim and his daughter watch a volunteer catapulted into a pool from a waterslide
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