North Korea’s giant Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area construction project has failed to meet an April 15 completion deadline previously set by leader Kim Jong Un, state media confirmed on Friday.

The confirmation comes in the form of two reports in DPRK internet outlets on ongoing construction efforts as of Friday, including on the provision of finishing materials to the site, and follows weeks of unusual silence from state media.

Additional clues pointing to a possible delay have been brewing for some time, however, given how state media and Kim Jong Un have treated the project differently from other projects of similar stature.

While past top-level projects have seen Kim make multiple site inspections in the weeks and months ahead of their deadlines, the DPRK leader has now not visited the new east-coast beach resort for over a year.

In contrast with other projects as well, it has also not received any major domestic coverage in the weeks surrounding the Day of the Sun holiday deadline, while other signs on the ground point to an incomplete state of construction.

This all comes as Kim Jong Un was also conspicuously absent from other commemorations on the holiday celebrating his grandfather Kim Il Sung’s birthday.

The massive new resort zone — boasting thousands of hotel rooms, malls, entertainment facilities, and more — also faces obstacles in opening due to North Korea’s domestic social distancing measures and closed borders under strict coronavirus prevention policies.

CONSTRUCTION “ONGOING”

Two articles in official DPRK Korean-language outlets geared towards an international audience reported on the Wonsan-Kalma project’s third delay in an indirect manner on Friday, though further official announcements from Kim Jong Un or other authorities have yet to be made.

One from the DPRK Today website reported how the Mangyongdae Aeguk Aluminium Sash Factory (만경대애국늄창공장) is providing aluminum window frames to the Wonsan-Kalma site.

Factory workers “are continuing to make achievements in producing high-quality aluminum window frames that will be sent to the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area construction site,” it said.

The article stressed the workers’ high spirit ahead of the October 10 holiday celebrating the 75th anniversary of the ruling party’s founding, but stopped short of naming the date as a new deadline.

The focus in the article on the need to improve provision of finishing materials to the beach resort, however, appears to support what analysts have long suggested would be its key obstacle to completion under sanctions that officially prevent imports of such frames, faucets, electronics, appliances, etc.

Another article posted Friday to the website Uriminzokkiri said that “major construction projects such as the Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area … are thoroughly pushing forward.”

A new deadline has yet to be hinted or announced, and could depend on the coronavirus situation both domestically and abroad in addition to construction progress.

It was first scheduled to be completed by April 15, 2019, with Kim in subsequent visits to the site announcing delays first until October 10, 2019 and then the latest official deadline of the Day of the Sun holiday this week.

A SILENT DELAY?

While what now appears to be news of the project’s third delay has emerged without a more official announcement from the country’s leadership, Kim Jong Un hinted that the project’s opening would be delayed in a recent speech.

Speaking on March 17 at a ground-breaking ceremony for the state’s newest and now seemingly most high-priority project, the Pyongyang General Hospital, Kim may have been referring to Wonsan-Kalma when he said the new works may cause delays elsewhere. 

“The Central Committee of the Party delayed several construction projects planned to be conducted this year, and defined the construction of the Pyongyang General Hospital as a major project to be finished by the 75th anniversary of Party founding,” Kim said, referring to this year’s October 10 holiday.

The hospital construction, he added, is “a project where primary efforts should be directed among the construction projects to be conducted this year, the first year of the offensive for a frontal attack for making a breakthrough.”

The language is unequivocal in revealing that North Korea intends to redirect resources from other projects towards the new hospital, but does not name Wonsan-Kalma or others.

But state media since that mid-March speech has not repeated such declarations over the Wonsan beach resort made just days prior that “construction is being carried out aggressively” or that it will be “complete… in accordance with the time decided by the Party.”

The style with which state media is treating the decision would also mark a significant departure from past cases.

SUSPECT LACK OF INSPECTIONS

Compared to some similarly large “major construction projects,” leader Kim Jong Un’s lack of public site inspections to Wonsan-Kalma in recent months also raises suspicions that the project’s failure to meet Kim’s deadline has been anticipated for some time.

The DPRK leader, for example, visited the site of another resort project, the Yangdok Hot Springs and Ski Resort, three times in August, October, and November in the span of just over three months ahead of its completion ceremony held early last December, which he also attended.

Ahead of declaring the “second stage” of construction complete for the massive project to remodel the remote mountain town (now city) of Samjiyon, too — at another ceremony in the first days of December — Kim made a final inspection of the premises in mid-October.

Another example of a project of similar size and scope to the massive Wonsan-Kalma beach resort, and which also was saddled with an April 15 Day of the Sun deadline, was the Ryomyong Street project in Pyongyang.

That project was finished ahead of schedule on April 14, 2017, with Kim Jong Un making two official visits to the street of shops and massive skyscrapers in the 90 days prior to its opening (reported on Mar. 16 and Jan. 26).

He even reportedly emphasized his personal attention to keeping deadlines, saying in the March visit that he was “very pleased to think that he became able to keep the promise he made to people to complete the construction of the street till the Day of the Sun.”

He has not visited Wonsan-Kalma, on the other hand, in over a year: inspecting the resort construction in early April 2019, the DPRK leader pushed its deadline ahead six months to “perfectly finish it so that our people would fully enjoy themselves in the impeccable tourist area from the sea-bathing season next year.”

It’s unclear if Kim has indeed since shunned Wonsan-Kalma or if he has been secretly visiting to check up on progress in recent months during his time overseeing military exercises in the area.

But the changes in coverage clearly point to a different treatment by Kim and state media of the Wonsan-Kalma project.

BAD TIMING

In the latest clear satellite image from the site taken on the deadline Wednesday, multiple signs pointed to not only the lack of an opening ceremony but also an incomplete state of construction.

Thousands of temporary structures sprawled across the Kalma peninsula housing workers and equipment remained in place, pools at a water park had yet to be filled, and some of the newer buildings added to the plan appeared unfinished.

But there has been some obvious progress since early March, such as installing roofing on a new aquatic entertainment facility (seen in the above image), a new building at the south end of the beach, and remodeling of the nearby Ryongchon High School (reported in the print version of the Cabinet newspaper Minju Choson on April 9).

Other major construction projects in the past have been cleared of such temporary worker towns ahead of opening, and though some remained at the time of the Yangdok December ceremony, they were cleared by its January official opening to domestic tourists.

With Yangdok separating the completion ceremony from its actual opening by around a month, Wonsan could also be treated similarly, with Kim declaring it finished and only showing off select areas in state media coverage while the final touches are carried out in the next weeks.

But given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has seen North Korea shut out foreign tourists, close Yangdok and other public amenities to its own citizens (though it may have partially reopened), and global tourism in general slow significantly, Kim may find excuses for the delay in the external situation.

And while North Korea is likely looking to fill the thousands of hotel rooms in part with foreign tourists (it is, after all, located directly adjacent to the still-quiet Wonsan-Kalma International Airport), it may also go the route of Yangdok and only open to domestic tourists for an initial period.

Edited by Oliver Hotham