North Korea is reported to have a new ski resort under construction after the first international winter sports tourists since 2019 arrived from Russia.
The group of Russian skiers, reported to number 98, visited North Korea's best known and largest ski area Masik Pass ski resort which was famously conceived and built to what seems to be a high standard in less than a year in 2013.
The new Wonsan-Kalma tourist zone will be much bigger than Masik Pass, at least in terms of its tourism infrastructure which will be spread over 2.8 km², with 17 hotels, 37 guesthouses, 29 shops and a four-kilometre beach alongside the ski slopes.
North Korea is believed to have had a small ski area for its political and military elite prior to Masik Pass opening, with a chairlift donated by a Swiss ski resort in the pre-sanctions era as a gesture of goodwill. It has opened several more smaller ski areas since Masik Pass including Kanggye in 2018 and Yangdok in 2020.
On their visit to Masik Pass, the Russians reported high service standards, low prices, empty slopes and facilities to enjoy but one was quoted as saying she felt sorry for what few local people she saw from the bus between the airport and resort and that she had not felt safe on the aged aircraft she travelled on.