North Korea beckons Chinese tourists with a beach resort in 2026 calendar

A 2026 calendar issued by a North Korean publisher for Chinese tourists features a new beach resort on the country’s east coast, a copy obtained by Kyodo News showed on Wednesday.
The Wonsan Kalma tourist area, featuring hotels and leisure facilities, was launched in the summer, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visiting in July for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Before North Korea shut its borders in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Chinese tourists had visited the neighboring country.
Tours to North Korea via China resumed in late February this year but were suspended again soon after, several tour agencies said in March, with attention now focused on the timing of a restart.
Meanwhile, Beijing-based Koryo Tours announced on its website that the Pyongyang International Marathon will take place on April 5, 2026, and that tours for amateur runners are fully booked.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency has reported that South Korean, US, Malaysian, and Japanese passport holders cannot participate in the marathon.
In April, the North Korean capital hosted its first international marathon in about six years after a hiatus due to the global public health crisis, with runners from around 45 countries applying to take part.
Runners from countries such as Britain, Germany, Canada, China, and Iran registered for the marathon, which offered international participants a rare glimpse of the North Korean capital. Many Pyongyang citizens cheered them on along the city streets and at Kim Il-sung Stadium.