The latest tourism initiative by North Korea, the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, is central to the nation's economic development plans.

North Korea will open a tourist site on its east coast next week that it called a prelude to a new era in its tourism industry, though there is no word on when the country will fully reopen to foreign visitors.

Kim Jong Un has made tourism a top policy priority but the opening of the country's biggest tourist zone is yet to be followed by a return to international tourism.