As the official April 15 deadline to complete the giant Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area construction project looms, North Korean state media on Wednesday signaled plans are on track to meet the target opening date. 

The ruling party daily Rodong Sinmun reported on its front page on Wednesday that interior construction and landscaping of the 5 km-long (3.25 mi) beachside resort were well underway, suggesting the project is in its final stages.

But amid a ban on tourism and other stringent national measures aimed at preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), as well as other signs on the ground, it is still unclear if the project will indeed be finished by the middle of next month. 

“In order to magnificently complete the building of the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area in accordance with the time decided by the Party and the high demands of the Party, construction is being carried out aggressively,” Wednesday’s Rodong article said.

The only other mention of the deadline in the article was similarly vague, saying that “cadres of the construction command unit know well the meaning and importance of the landscaping work in the advance towards the completion date.”

The beach resort project, according to blueprints, images, and articles in state media, comprises hundreds of buildings from shopping malls, villas, and a waterpark, to towering hotels including one resembling Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

Construction began in January 2018 with an original deadline of April 15, 2019 — one of North Korea’s most significant national holidays, celebrating the Day of the Sun, the birthday of founding President Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Un delayed the project until October 10, 2019 — Party Foundation day — in his second site inspection in August 2018, before expressing disappointment and ordering changes in a visit that November.

The project’s completion was again postponed following another visit by the North Korean leader in April 2019.  

That was his last publicized inspection of the site, where the new completion date was set for this coming April 15.

Now, workers at the Wonsan-Kalma beach resort are reportedly carrying out interior and landscaping work, ostensibly to still meet this deadline. No change to the target has been reported in state media. 

Workers are installing wall tiles in interiors and properly hitting daily targets, while “tens of thousands of trees have been planted” in the area — including work “especially for presentation of spring season tree-planting,” Wednesday’s Rodong article said.

No change to the deadline was signaled either in the late-December Party Plenary Meeting, where Kim Jong Un was quoted in a summary report as merely saying the Wonsan-Kalma project was “being pushed ahead under meticulous planning.” 

Last Friday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued a one-line report on the progress, saying that “soldiers of the Korean People’s Army and builders speed up the construction of Wonsan Kalma coastal tourist area.”

KCNA images accompanying the report showed interior construction, soldiers installing tiles on a balcony, and others appearing to perform upkeep on beachside landscaping. 

In the background of the images were large hotel exteriors which appeared to be possibly nearing completion, but also with signs of work yet to be done, such as cranes still attached and finishing accents missing. 

The single interior image appeared to be of a ground-floor lobby of sorts, with workers painting walls and ceilings already complete with finishing accents and light fixtures installed, though with no furniture. 

CLUES FROM THE GROUND

In the most recent publicly-available high-resolution satellite imagery taken of the Wonsan-Kalma zone last December, the finishing details of exteriors, landscaping, pathways, and decorations all appeared to be nearly complete.

But comparing progress over the last few months using medium-resolution imagery provided by Planet Labs and seen by NK News — including imagery from the past week — some aspects raise questions over the possibility to open properly next month.

For one, thousands of temporary structures for workers are still standing in a March 6-dated image covering large areas of land to the south of the resort and attached airport, and west along the Kalma peninsula.

Their continued presence as the mid-April deadline approaches could mean there is still work to be done and stored equipment and items to be used and installed.

Kim Jong Un could, however, also decide to open the resort on a controlled scale, making sure exteriors appear complete but not opening up the entire zone to discerning parties such as international media.

This was the case with the major construction project in Samjiyon that also involved hundreds of new buildings and comprehensive new city planning, officially opened by Kim last December despite a continued open push in state media to finish the third and final stage by later this year.

Foreign media or tourists were not allowed to attend this opening or visit the site in the months since, and the same goes for the Yangdok Hot Springs Resort opened exclusively to domestic tourists the same month. 

At Yangdok, some temporary structures had been removed in stages in the final weeks leading up to Kim’s early-December ribbon-cutting, but some also still remained at that time, according to Planet imagery. All appeared gone, however, by the early-January opening to tourists.

As it stands, while there are some indications of plans for the Wonsan-Kalma resort to target foreign tourists — from China, western countries, or even South Korea — it has still been consistently billed as a project to provide another socialist leisure spot for the North Korean people to enjoy in time for this year’s summer “sea-bathing season.”

One remaining obstacle will be the continued official closing of “public amenities” such as the Masikryong Ski Resort and at least some parts of the Yangdok resort as part of COVID-19 prevention measures, which will likely have to be lifted before Wonsan-Kalma opens.

Edited by Oliver Hotham