First visitors to North Korea’s ‘Benidorm’ describe having ‘phones bugged’ and being ‘followed everywhere’
Reviews of North Korea's new beach resort have rolled in after the coastal tourist area welcomed its first visitors.
Wonsan Kalma - which has been dubbed Kim Jong-Un's answer to Benidorm - opened its doors earlier this month to Russian holidaymakers.
People who hail from Vladimir Putin's country were granted access to the newly built resort after booking onto package tours in recent weeks.
A trip to Wonsan Kalma is no standard break in the sun though, as guests have now told how they were chaperoned 'everywhere' and feared their devices may have been bugged.
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Visitors were pictured lounging on the giant white sand artificial beach - which was formerly a missile test site - while dipping their toes in the water of the Sea of Japan.
But most of the sun loungers at the resort, which was built in the space of seven years and claims it can accommodate up to 20,000 people, were said to have been empty.
The so-called 'minders' who accompanied tourists such as blogger Daria Zubkova at least helped mask the lack of people at the resort, though.
The traveller claimed that the nosiness of staff members who accompanied her at Wonsan Kalma was disguised as 'sweet concern', rather than outright surveillance.
Explaining that the chaperones said they 'worried about us getting lost or something else', Daria said of her visit: "You are accompanied everywhere... even on the beach someone walked with us.
"They are walking [with you]. [If] you want, they chat with you, [if not] they just walk behind you."
The blogger, who is a veterinary therapist, nephrologist and urologist, revealed that she and her fellow compatriots were conscious that their devices could be being monitored.
Daria, who praised the resort's 'cool infrastructure' as well as the electric cars and trams which ferry tourists around, went on: "What many people are afraid of is some kind of wiretapping everywhere and so on.
"Most likely, I think that there is probably all of this. But we just weren’t afraid, because we have nothing to say that would make someone scold us for it."
Those who embarked on the trip from Russia were flown to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and Daria explained she travelled alongside a party of 12 other tourists.
The group were then supposed to hop on another short flight to Wonsan, but for unexplained reasons, this was cancelled and the travellers were taken to the city on a train instead.
"An entire train for just 13 people is simply unthinkable," Daria remarked. "It was new, very comfortable, with air conditioning. I saw villages [from the windows of the train]. People are working in the fields, not very rich people."
"Every bit of land has something on it," she added, before saying that she believes villages surrounding the Russian region of Karelia where she is from 'look worse' than North Korea did.
The content creator also claimed that locals waved at the group of tourists en masse, as if on command.
Upon their arrival at a hotel in Wonsan, Daria says that the holidaymakers were shifted to inferior accommodation, as the place was booked up with visiting officials and press accompanying Putin’s veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
She explained she did not have a lot of interaction with ordinary North Koreans, however, she did bump into a few Russian-speaking ones who told her how 'delicious' the food from her home country is.
Tourists who jumped on the trip to Wonsan Kalma were reportedly told that sending a single email would cost them £1.65 - while warning that their messages can be viewed by authorities.
"Please note that the email will be sent from the hotel's email box, not yours," the group was told. "Therefore, to make it easier to find a reply addressed to you, we recommend that you include your room number in the subject line.”
Visitors were also warned to bring their own tea, coffee and sugar with them, while fruit was also off the menu.
Daria said there was still plenty of grub to choose from though, saying resort staff 'really tried to please' them by laying out various types of meat and fish for them to eat.
The basic cost of the package tour for Russians is £1,360, once they have flown to Vladivostok, and all but £325 of this sum has to be paid in cash.
Apparently, guests must pay this fee in crisp, new, unmarked US dollar bills - and there is also a £390 surcharge for single rooms, as well as one of £630 for those who want 'first class' treatment'. Visas and some tours are also extra.
All in all, Daria said she felt 'lucky' to be among the first visitors who got to explore Wonsan Kalma and she described her holiday as 'pure relaxation'.
Fellow tourist Pavla Gambal added: "We like everything. The sea is warm, the beach is clean, they keep order. The territory is well-kept. The food is very tasty, you can eat it."
Another holidaymaker claimed staff couldn't do enough for guests, saying: "I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere else. You say you want music, and they bring you a speaker right there...
"We said we needed a kettle to pour tea, and when we came back next time, it was already on the table [in the room]."
Kim Jong-Un has described the beach resort as 'the greatest achievement of the year'.
Topics: Holiday, Kim Jong-un, Russia, Travel, World News
Olivia Burke