North Korea is trying to appeal to Russian tourists - but will its bizarre advert win them over?

14.10.2024 - 21:27 / euronews.com / Vladimir Putin / Saskia ODonoghue / Kim Jong Un

A North Korean tourism advert with low production values, near-empty beaches and cloudy skies has caught the internet’s attention.

The newly released advert features young, attractive people, who appear to be Russian, frolicking on a beach. It’s clearly aimed at potential tourists from Russia - but what’s not clear is whether or not it would attract any visitors. 

The isolated Asian nation, not on many people’s travel bucket list, opened up to Russians earlier this year. 

In February, around 100 tourists from Russia entered North Korea for a 4-day skiing excursion at the Masikryong Ski Resort. It was the first time since the pandemic that the country’s border had been opened. 

Russian president Vladimir Putin, a close ally of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, visited himself in June, with the pair signing a mutual aid agreement, in the event that either nation is attacked. 

It was a sign that Russia and North Korea are continuing to strengthen their alliance, which has become closer in recent years. 

North Korea’s advert was launched by the state-owned Korea International Travel Company and, surprisingly, has appeared on social media hub Reddit.

Said to be filmed at Majeon Beach in South Hamgyong Province in the east of the country, the video shows young Russians playing a competitive game of volleyball and swimming in the sea.

Others ride a jet ski through the waves and, for some reason, one woman indulges in a spot of shadowboxing. 

The audio quality throughout is appalling, with most of the sound drowned out by a combination of static, crashing waves and noisy seagulls.

At one point, a couple talk to the camera but, due to a lack of microphones or subtitles, it’s hard to make out what they’re actually saying.

A Russian-speaking Euronews journalist managed to make out “Very beautiful sea, lots of…” and “Very clean beach, beautiful sea” - but not much else. 

That’s not even the oddest thing in the advert. Women in bikinis are pictured throughout - despite the fact that it’s long been rumoured that skimpy swimwear is banned in the totalitarian country. 

Experts, though, have suggested that North Korea may well turn a blind eye to foreigners wearing bikinis, and hold them to significantly lower standards than its own citizens, who live famously repressed and difficult lives. 

Whether or not the advert will work remains to be seen, but it certainly seems as if it’s the latest step in a series of moves to promote Russian tourism in North Korea.

The mysterious nation has reportedly seen its GDP drop year on year, and could be in need of a financial injection from tourism. 

There are even rumours that it plans to open up tourism to its biggest economic market of China in the near future.