It’s the Mar-A-Lago of North Korea, with lobsters and caviar for dinner and giant
private swimming pools. An isolated, sprawling seaside resort. The perfect place to party with
your crew of bootlickers, (clears throat) excuse me your friends. It’s good to be Kim Jong Un.
This is only a small glimpse into how Kim Jong Un spent 2020 and 2021. While most of us were
stuck at home, the supreme leader spent most of his time at his beachfront vacation resort
on the Kalma coast near Woosan, North Korea. Although media access is limited,
we have worked our researching magic and now can proudly present to you
the infographics show guide to Kim Jong Un’s luxurious life.
The resort compound is massive. According to one expert on North Korea, “you could fit six
Mar-a-Lagos in Kim’s compound.’ referring to the 126 room mansion owned by former President Trump.
Kim Jong Un’s resort encompasses beachfront property on the mainland
and a private leisure area on Tae island in the Sea of Japan. There’s also a villa newly built
in 2019 on the Hodo Peninsula located 10 miles (17 km) across the sea from the main estate.
Guests generally arrive via helicopter or jet, landing at the private airstrip at the
main property. If guests do arrive by car, there’s a private highway for them to use.
The estate is so large that a fleet of Mercedes Benz and a private railway are used to transport
guests around. It even has fairgrounds, a shooting range, amusement park rides,
a full-sized basketball court, as well as a soccer pitch and a sports stadium.
Aside from swimming in the multiple swimming pools, both hot and cold,
guests can sunbathe on the beach which is combed frequently. In October of 2020 a large,
130 foot (40 m) inflatable three-lane water slide was temporarily installed on Kim’s private beach
in Wonsan, just days after he shed tears about economic difficulties in a speech
broadcast by state media. In the same speech, Kim ordered North Korean citizens to take part
in a nationwide, 80-day labor productivity marathon to complete key state projects.
If guests don’t want to hang out on the beach, they can visit the private marina.
Several luxury yachts are frequently moored there including Kim’s 95 foot (28.9 m) yacht
nicknamed Princess. This yacht boasts two staterooms, a wide deck, and a dining room
for up to ten people. It’s often used for business such as Kim touring the east coast
of North Korea. The manufacturer of Kim’s yacht, Princess Yachts, is owned by LVMH,
the French luxury goods group. While it’s not known what amenities, in particular,
are on Kim’s yacht, the estimated cost to purchase the yacht in 2013 was over
$7 million dollars. He also keeps several slightly smaller luxury yachts to use for leisure and also
transportation to his Hodo Peninsula Villa. Kim has a luxury barge specifically for
entertaining guests. His party boat is 260 feet long (79.2 m) and decked out with twin twisting
waterslides, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a multistory lounge with an observation
deck. It has been described in the media as a “floating amusement park.’ In 2020 Kim’s
party boat underwent a complete renovation. This was not long after he gave a speech at
the beginning of the year warning ordinary North Koreans to prepare for more economic hardships.
Jet skiing, motor boating, or water skiing is also available to guests. If none of these
activities catch a guest’s fancy, they can use one of the luxurious yachts to travel to
Tae island and have a picnic lunch on the beach. Of course, the meals served at Kim’s vacation home
are exquisite. Any meal at the resort, including picnics is served on fine china, and the drinks
in crystal glasses. The servants are highly trained to cater to any whim a guest may have.
Lobster, caviar, the finest champagne, cognac, and other expensive liquors are on the menu. As
well as fancy coffee, chocolates and cheeses, including Kim Jong Un’s favorite Swiss cheese.
While the specifics of meals served aren’t known, in 2016 alone Kim splurged $1 million
on imported booze and $86,000 on Swiss cheese. Kim has been known to smoke expensive French
cigarettes made by the famed fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, costing around $55 a pack.
This all happened in the same year when a UN report found that 71 percent of North Koreans
relied on government food handouts amounting to just 10 ounces of food a day. In July of 2016,
Switzerland halted imports to North Korea in compliance with UN sanctions. However,
it’s hard to know exactly how much UN sanctions have affected Kim’s access to luxury goods as
he has sophisticated and covert ways of purchasing goods via third parties,
cryptocurrency and the black market. Near the mansion on the mainland property,
there are several smaller villas so that guests may retain privacy. Each room in all of the
resort buildings are decorated with expensive antiques, designer furniture, and works of art.
Granted, we don’t know exactly what kinds of magnificent art pieces are on display
since the media has not been allowed inside. But, given Kim’s predisposition for luxury,
we’re sure the decorations in this resort meet his exacting standards. The entire estate,
including the Hodo Peninsula Villa, is guarded by North Korean troops.
Kim often stays at the recently built Hodo Peninsula Villa compound when he’s observing
a missile launch. Since the 1960’s the Hodo Peninsula has been used as a training area
for live-fire testing and training exercises for artillery. For the past 10 years, the area
has been increasingly used for testing ballistic missiles such as the KN-0 and long-range artillery
rocket testing such as the 300mm multiple rocket launcher. But then again, Kim’s Hodo villa does
have a private beach and dock for his yachts, so it’s not all serious business at this location.
Sometimes he goes back and forth between staying at the Hodo Villa and staying at the mainland
Kalma resort which is a leisure boat ride away. Kim hosts top North Korean officials and
officials from China at his luxury resort. Other visitors have included a British
diplomat and a few American sports stars. Former basketball player Dennis Rodman once
called Kim’s retreat a ‘7 star resort’. ‘It was like going to Hawaii or Ibiza,’
he said ‘...but Kim’s the only one that lives there….Everything you want, he has the best.’
So how did Rodman end up visiting North Korea? In 2012, Vice Media decided to make a program on
North Korea and wanted access to Kim Jong Un, who had recently taken over after his father
Kim Jong Il passed away. They realized if they could have a celebrity guest accompany them,
they might get a meeting with the new Supreme Leader. Knowing Kim had become a
huge basketball fan and especially a Chicago Bulls fan during his time overseas in boarding school,
Vice reached out to Michael Jordan to see if he would be interested in accompanying them to North
Korea. Jordan declined, but famed Bulls rebounder and wild child Dennis Rodman was intrigued
by the paid ‘basketball diplomacy’ mission. Pyongyang, upon hearing that a Bulls Player
would come ok’d the trip. In February of 2013, Dennis, 3 members of the Harlem Globetrotters,
several handlers and the Vice Media crew went on an epic trip to North Korea. The trip ended up
going well, the basketball players participated in exhibitions and played with North Korean players.
Dennis became friends with the dictator, so much so that he’s gone back to North Korea
4 more times, even bringing other former NBA players with him. Supposedly he’s helping Kim
set up a basketball league. On each trip they spend some time at Kim’s seaside resort. Many
feel that Dennis’s friendship with Kim has had a positive effect on North Korea and US relations.
It’s said that one of Dennis’ favorite reasons for visiting Kim is the ongoing party that frequently
accompanies him. Like his grandfather and his father before him, Kim keeps a ‘Kippumjo’ or a
“Pleasure Squad”. The job of this harem of fawning girls is to entertain Kim and his cronies. The
members of the squad are separated into different units. There’s a singing unit, dancing unit, and
a unit devoted to ‘hosting’. The job of the host is to flirt at events, give massages and allegedly
perform sex acts to keep guests ‘happy’. Some of the 2,000 young women in the squad are as young
as 13 and were selected directly out of school. A defector from North Korea who was once a part of
the squad says that girls chosen for the squad are made to undergo invasive medical tests to confirm
that they are virgins. In 2016 Kim spent $3.5 million on lingerie and costumes including corsets
and suspenders imported from China for his harem. The Kamla resort isn’t Kim’s only vacation
home. Kim has 17 different secluded villas scattered around North Korea
as well as a lavish mansion in the heart of the capital, Pyongyang--and those are the properties
that we known about. Kim has so many properties that he doesn’t visit them for years at a time.
Kim’s main home in Pyongyang is huge: 4.6 square miles (11.9 square km). It’s known as the
Ryongsang Residence and has an Olympic-sized swimming pool with a giant water slide,
banquet facilities, a running track and athletics field, a shooting range,
and stables. The palace is nuclear blast-proof, surrounded by minefields and a high-voltage
electric fence. The grounds are constantly patrolled by military units with dogs.
To travel the country and between his properties, Kim has ‘Air Force Un’ a luxury Russian IL-62
jetliner worth millions. Kim also has a 100-strong fleet of predominantly European
luxury cars including two armored Mercedes-Maybach limousines, worth close to $1million each.
Sometimes Kim also uses an armored train to travel between his residences. In fact, Ryongsang
Residence has its own train station underneath and has tunnels connecting it to some of his other
properties. Allegedly, Kim’s train is staffed by "lady conductors" picked from his Pleasure Squad.
Beyond all the luxury items, probably the most outrageous thing Kim owns
is a monument. In Ryanggang Province, built on the side of a mountain in 65 ft (20m) high characters
is a 1,800 ft (548m) propaganda slogan extolling the virtues of the Supreme Leader.
It reads "Long Live General Kim Jong-un, the Shining Sun!" This message is visible from space.
Even while the country went through an economic recession the government continued
to prioritize strategic weapons development leading the UN Security Council maintaining
their severe economic sanctions. Pyongyang also continued to work, albeit at a slower pace,
on Kim’s vanity projects such as a beachfront recreational area near Woosan, designed
to be a tourism spot for the societal elite. In August of 2021 reportedly Kim demanded that
the US lift sanctions on importing "high-class" alcohol and luxury suits before denuclearisation
talks can resume. In a briefing to politicians, the head of South Korea’s National Intelligence
Service, Park Jie-won explained that North Korea’s demand for access to luxuries was
"not just for Kim Jong Un’s own consumption but to distribute to Pyongyang’s elite". It
seems like being a bootlicker pays off. What's Inside North Korea Secret Room 39?
Is Kim Jong-Un the only one who knows? Click here for our guesses: