SEOUL/BEIJING - Coffee bars. Waterparks. Retail therapy. North Korea — a country few would associate with leisure or pleasure — is experiencing an unlikely outbreak of fun.
Leader Kim Jong Un, himself no stranger to indulgence, is orchestrating new ways for his citizens to spend their wealth. Chinese customs data tells the story: North Korea’s imports of massage equipment have surged 40-fold over the past decade. Treadmill shipments jumped over 600%. Pianos and even bumper cars are pouring in, too.
The consumption drive extends to luxury malls, beach resorts and ski destinations that are popping up around North Korea, according to a Reuters review of trade statistics and state media reports, and interviews with five recent visitors and two defectors.
It’s not just about expanding access to life’s little luxuries, analysts say. By channeling personal spending through state-controlled leisure and retail networks, Kim strengthens government control of commerce, squeezes informal markets and unlocks new sources of revenue and growth for the nuclear-armed country.
The strategy draws “the production, distribution, and capital flows concentrated in the markets into an official economic space managed by the state," said Kang Seong-hyeon, a research fellow at the Seoul-based Hyundai Research Institute, a think tank.
Avenues for consumption have proliferated even as North Korea faces heavy U.N. sanctions – including on luxury goods, energy, and mineral trade – designed to impede Kim’s weapons program. North Korea’s economy grew 3.5% in 2025, a third consecutive year above 3%, the South Korean central bank said in July.
The glow-up has attracted the attention of outsiders. After visiting Pyongyang in May, Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan called the capital’s progress “remarkable,” saying it resembled “any modern city” in East Asia.
Residents drink cappuccinos and browse home appliances at the Rangnang Aeguk Kumgang Service Complex, a luxury mall in Pyongyang that opened last year, according to social media videos verified by Reuters. A hard-earned thirst can be quenched at the Hwasong Taedonggang Beer Restaurant, a two-year-old drinking den celebrated in state media. In April, Kim toured a new pet shop with his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, who was drawn to the kittens and puppies.
Pyongyang’s leisure blitz is bankrolled by revenue streams including cryptocurrency heists, the deployment of North Korean troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine, and exports of coal and other minerals, according to South Korean researchers.
The U.S. and other foreign officials and cybersecurity experts have repeatedly tied crypto theft to North Korean state-sponsored hackers. The Seoul-based Institute for National Security Strategy, a South Korean government-funded think tank, estimates North Korea earned up to $14.4 billion from its involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war between August 2023 and December 2025.
The influx of cash trickles through North Korea’s economy, where many have also made money from informal trade. But accumulated wealth creates a problem: “A middle class of roughly eight million people with savings and nowhere to spend them,” said Ruediger Frank, a professor of East Asian economy and society at the University of Vienna.
Consumption is Kim’s answer, Frank said: It reduces frustration, channels money away from bidding up prices of essentials like rice, and generates growth through domestic demand.
With its fortunes uplifted, North Korea has less need for sanctions relief and fewer incentives to restart nuclear negotiations with the United States, analysts have said, despite President Donald Trump’s stated desire for another meeting with Kim.
North Korea’s embassy in Beijing didn’t respond to questions about the domestic-consumption drive. Russia’s foreign ministry and the White House also didn’t comment.
China's foreign ministry said it maintained trade and cooperation with North Korea while implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions, adding that sanctions should not affect the country’s livelihood.
PARKS AND RECREATION
Mentions of tourism, leisure and cultural life in North Korean state media have increased since 2022 as attractions have been opened or refurbished, a Reuters review of over 1,200 articles found.
These developments include the Wonsan Kalma beach resort, which launched in the summer of 2025; five luxury hotels that opened in December in Samjiyon, on the Chinese border; a ski resort under construction nearby; and a waterpark and yet-to-be-finished equestrian club in the northeast.
State TV’s coverage of a heatwave in August showed the Wonsan beach resort packed with domestic visitors.
"One local contact even told me that when taking his family there, several members had to share a twin room because everything else had already been booked," said Rowan Beard, co-founder of tourism agency Young Pioneer Tours.
Wonsan Kalma received more than 300,000 domestic visitors in the latter half of 2025, according to China's embassy in Pyongyang, which mentioned the figure in a February post about its ambassador's visit.
Saunas, pools, video-game arcades and sports centers have also sprung up in northeastern Rason city, said a Chinese businessman who gave his surname as Cui.
As part of a regional development plan, Kim is also building leisure complexes containing libraries, restaurants and movie theaters across the country, with at least two dozen completed or under construction, according to state media.
But the most lavish additions are in Pyongyang. State media has described a new housing district containing a gaming arcade, car dealership and a barbecue restaurant that serves salmon belly and foie gras burgers.
KIM’S CONVENIENCE
The range of goods available in North Korea also has expanded, three recent visitors told Reuters.
At Ryugyong Golden Plaza, which opened in 2023, shops display the logos of watchmakers including Rolex, Omega and Herbelin, and an electronics store features Huawei branding, according to social media footage verified by Reuters.
Rolex and Huawei declined to comment. Omega and Herbelin told Reuters they have no official retailers or distributors in North Korea.
North Koreans shop online using mobile apps that resemble China's Alipay, according to images published by Beard and NKTechLab, an analysis project of the U.S.-based Stimson Center think tank. Beard, who visited Pyongyang in May, said mobile app payments were used “everywhere” and for “anything available for sale.”
Trade statistics show how the leisure drive encompasses both personal goods and state-led infrastructure.
Chinese customs data reveal surging shipments of pianos, watches and amusement equipment – including merry-go-rounds, rollercoasters and waterslides. North Korea imported more than 3 metric tons of bumper cars from China, worth more than $20,000, between January 2025 and July this year.
Trade with China has rebounded broadly since the covid-19 pandemic. A flourishing car culture has even emerged in Pyongyang, fueled by Chinese imports.
BUYING TIME
After the 1990s famine, semi-legal markets flourished as the state couldn't supply residents. Attempts to close them early this century failed because the state lacked the distribution infrastructure to replace them, according to Jung Chang-Hyun, director of the Peace Economy Research Institute in Seoul.
Now, he said, Kim's consumption gambit serves that purpose: building state commercial infrastructure that can compete with and eventually undermine private markets.
Payment and delivery apps also enable official scrutiny of private spending, analysts say. In 2023, Pyongyang passed a law requiring every bank and store to accept electronic payments.
Not everyone benefits from the consumption boom. Yang Il-cheol, who worked as a driver in Pyongyang before defecting to South Korea last year, said people like him had little access to the new restaurants and leisure facilities. While cellphones have become ubiquitous in the capital, many North Koreans distrust the government and prefer cash payments, Yang said.
Frank, the professor, said Kim’s campaign to boost domestic spending appeared to be paying off – for now.
"Consumption buys time," he said. "It does not buy loyalty forever."
