A new beach resort in North Korea, which has been criticized by human rights groups for rigorous treatment of construction workers, welcomed its first group of Russian tourists this week.

Wonson Kalma was the resort Opened in a grand ceremony last month North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, who saw it as “world class tourism and cultural destination”.

The details of how this resort was created has closely closed to the outside world in privacy in a country.

The BBC Verifify has studied satellite imagery, obtained internal planning documents, and spoke to experts and former North Korean internal sources about their concerns over the misuse of human rights during the development of the site.

Kim Jong Un spent his puberty in Wonson, and was a popular holiday destination for the city’s elite before the creation of a new resort.

Ri Jong Ho, a senior North Korean Economic Officer involved in the initial planning stages of the resort, says, “When the Wonson was planned at the beginning of the tourist area … it was considered that it attracts a million tourists in the region, while keeping it in a closed area,” a senior North Korean Economic Officer, who is included in the resort’s early planning stages, says that in 2014.

“The intention was to open North Korea slightly above.”

In 2017, a year before the construction began, Kim sent a delegation to Spain on a fact-Khoj mission, where the team visited the benidorm resort.

The North Korean delegation included “high ranked politicians and several architects who took a lot of notes,” recalls Matias Perez, a member of the Spanish team, who hosted the delegation on a tour including a theme park, high-growing hotel and a marina.

A North Korean brochure with a map of the resort has 43 hotels with a beach front, as well as guest houses on an artificial lake, and camps.

We have matched these places with high-resolution satellite imagery, although we are unable to verify if they are actually complete.

An aquatic park, which is completed with yellow water slides, is set back from the beach.

In addition, there is an entertainment quarter that includes a theater, entertainment and fitness center and buildings known in the plan as a cinema.

In early 2018, satellite images taken in 18 months reveal dozens of buildings with a stretch of 4 km (2.5 mi) of the beach.

By the end of 2018, according to research conducted by the satellite imagery firm, SI analytics in South Korea, about 80% of the resort was completed.

However, after this tornado construction attempt, working on the site seems to be prevented.

This rapid speed of construction has increased concerns over the treatment of those working on the site.

The United Nations has highlighted a system of forced labor used in North Korea, especially in “Shock Brigade” where workers often face harsh conditions, long and inadequate compensation.

James Henon of the United Nations Human Rights Office in Seoul says that “there are reports that the resort was made using shock brigade”.

“We have also seen the report that people were working 24 hours to end this thing, which I feel like a shock brigade.”

The BBC has spoken to a North Korean who eventually worked in the shock brigade and managed it.

Although Cho Chung Hui – who later blamed – was not involved in the construction of the Wonson Resort, he recalled the brutal conditions of the brigade, which he had looked after.

“The principle behind them [brigades] Does it not matter to, you had to complete the task, even if it spends your life, “he said.

“I saw many women who were subject to so much physical stress and were eating so bad that their period was completely closed.”

Kang Gururi, who worked at Wonson before fleeing in South Korea in 2023, says that his cousin voluntarily worked to work at the construction site as he saw it as a route for the residence in the country’s capital Pyongyang, which is reserved by the government for reliable citizens.

“He could hardly sleep. They [didn’t] Give him enough to eat, “he said.

“Features are not properly arranged, some people die only while working and they die and they die and [the authorities] Do not take responsibility if they fall and die. ,

Ms. Kong also said that the residents in Wonson were thrown out of their homes as the resort project was expanded, often without compensation.

However, Ms. is not specific to the experience of Kang, the BBC verification was able to identify through satellite analysis, which leads to the demolition of buildings near a main road. In their place, large tower blocks are now visible.

“They just destroy everything and create something new, especially if it’s in a good place,” said Ms. Kang.

“The problem is, no matter how unfair it is, people cannot speak openly or oppose.”

The BBC reached North Korean officials for remarks.

North Korea has been almost completely closed to foreign visitors, with some high-controlled tourism allowed to visit the country in recent years.

Wonson Kalma is not only seen playing an important role in reviving the sick economic fate of the accepted country, but is also seen as a means of strengthening its relations with Russia – which are close after Pyongyang. Military support For the Moscow war in Ukraine.

According to the initial planning documents viewed by the BBC Verifife, the initial target was to attract more than one lakh visitors, foreign tourists mainly expected to come from China and Russia.

We have scanned tourist agency sites in both China and Russia for any listing promoting trips at the new resort.

None of the Chinese agencies we did not check, Vonson had advertising trips. In Russia, however, we identified three agencies, which were offered the tour that included Wonson Kalma.

We presented one of the Russian agencies in early July as an interested customer a week before its first scheduled departure on 7 July and stated that it attracted 12 people from Russia.

North Korea’s week -long trip, including three days at Wonson Resort, costs $ 1,800 (£ 1,300) – 60% higher than average monthly salary in Russia.

According to this tour operator, two more trips have been set for August.

We contacted the other two agencies offering similar tour packages, but they refused to say how many people had signed up.

Andrey Lankov, an expert at Russian-North Korean relations at the University of Kukmin at Seoul, said Wonson Kalma “was not very likely to be severely popular with Russian visitors”.

He said, “Russian tourists can easily visit places like Türkiye, Egypt, Thailand and Vietnam, which are much better than the development of North Korea.”

“Service standards are high and are not placed under continuous supervision.”

Additional reporting by Yaroslav Kirukhina, Yi Ma and Christina Quas. Graphics by Sally Nichols and Irwan Revolt.