The world’s most secretive state is a mystery for billions of people – but not Anastasiya Samsonova.
She has returned from a week’s holiday in North Korea.
“We saw nothing terrible there, there is no danger there,” the 33-year-old HR manager tells me.
“Frankly speaking, we really liked it.”
She was part of a group of 15 Russian tourists who were the first foreign visitors to a new seaside resort, which was opened to great fanfare by North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un in June.
Her holiday snaps show a white sand beach, shimmering seas and high-rise hotels. But something’s missing – people.
There are rows of sun loungers, but not a soul sitting on them. A glittering banquet hall that’s devoid of diners.
That’s because, when it comes to international tourists, the Wonsan-Kalma resort is currently only open to Russians.
“The hotel was absolutely new,” Anastasiya enthuses, unfussed by the absence of others.
“Everything was done very beautifully, a good interior … very developed infrastructure.”
Pic: Anastasiya Samsonova
But why not Turkey? Or Thailand?
I gently suggest that people in Britain might be shocked at the idea of a summer break in a country better known for famines and forced labour than parasols and pina coladas.
“We were interested in seeing how people live there,” Anastasiya explains.
“There were a lot of prejudices about what you can and can’t do in North Korea, how you can behave. But actually, we felt absolutely free.”
Pic: Anastasiya Samsonova
Anastasiya is one of a growing number of Russians who are choosing to visit their reclusive neighbour as the two allies continue to forge closer ties following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, North Korean troops supplied military support in Russia’s Kursk region, and now there is economic cooperation too.
North Korean produce, including apples and beer, has started appearing on supermarket shelves in Russia’s far east.
And last month, Moscow launched direct passenger flights to Pyongyang for the first time in decades.
Pic: Danil Biryukov / DVHAB.RU
But can this hermit nation really become a holiday hotspot?
The Moscow office of the Vostok Intur travel agency believes so. The company runs twice-weekly tours there, and I’m being given the hard sell.
“North Korea is an amazing country, unlike any other in the world,” director Irina Kobeleva gushes, before listing some unusual highlights.
“It is a country where you will not see any advertising on the streets. And it is very clean – even the asphalt is washed.”
She shows me the brochures, which present a glossy paradise. There are images of towering monuments, pristine golf greens and immaculate ski slopes. But again, no people.
‘There is a huge growing demand among young people,’ Irina Kobeleva says
Ms Kobeleva insists the company’s tours are increasingly popular, with 400 bookings a month.
“Our tourists are mostly older people who want to return to the USSR,” she says, “because there is a feeling that the real North Korea is very similar to what was once in the Soviet Union.
“But at the same time, there is a huge growing demand among young people.”
Sure enough, while we’re chatting, two customers walk in to book trips. The first is Pavel, a young blogger who likes to “collect” countries. North Korea will be number 89.
“The country has opened its doors to us, so I’m taking this chance,” he tells me when I ask why he wants to go.
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For pensioner Tatiana, the reason is sentimental.
“My husband wanted to go there, but now he’s gone. So I want his wish to come true,” she says.
It’ll certainly cost them. One week’s trip that takes in Pyongyang, a circus and the new beach resort, costs roughly £1,500 without flights.
At that price, I suspect most tourists will be content for this secretive state to remain hidden.
This story originally appeared on Skynews
