Kim Jong Un retreat: Images show boat with 50m pool

An 80-metre luxury vessel with a 50-metre swimming pool and waterslides was repeatedly visible off North Korea’s Wonsan coast between July and mid-October 2026, near a seaside retreat used by Kim Jong Un and his family, according to satellite-image analysis reported by BBC News.

The boat moved from a maintenance facility in early July after spending months there, relocating to waters off the Kalma Peninsula. It was one of four large vessels tracked around Wonsan this year, offering clues to leisure activity around the leadership’s residences—but not proof of the family’s whereabouts.

North Korea has not publicly identified the vessels’ owners. Former officials, defectors and experts consulted for the report said access to boats of this size would be difficult for anyone without connections to the country’s leadership.

Four vessels tracked around Wonsan

The vessels measured approximately 50, 55, 60 and 80 metres. All four appeared repeatedly around Kim’s Wonsan villa during the year, with the largest showing the clearest movement from its dock to waters off Kalma.

The 50-metre and 55-metre vessels were seen repeatedly near Tae and Sin islands until the end of August. An image dated 4 July showed the 50-metre vessel near Tae island, while satellite imagery also captured four smaller boats alongside it.

Satellite imagery specialist Jeong Seong-hak interpreted the smaller craft as carrying people, fuel and supplies to the larger vessel. He said the nearby islands offered privacy for recreation away from public attention. The 60-metre vessel was seen near Kim’s villa as recently as the week before publication.

Some vessel movements coincided with gaps in Kim’s public appearances. That overlap does not establish that he was aboard, nor does it confirm who used the boats.

A longstanding family retreat

Ri Jong Ho, a former official in the Workers’ Party’s Office 39, described a seasonal routine in which vessels stayed at a shipyard during winter and moved towards Kim’s villa or Kalma for summer recreation. Office 39 is believed to help raise and manage foreign currency for the leadership.

Wonsan’s connection to the ruling family predates Kim Jong Un. Biographers and intelligence accounts place part of his childhood there with his mother. A defector who spent 13 years guarding residences used by Kim Jong Il recalled elite families using villas around Wonsan and children and teenagers waterskiing in summer.

Historical satellite imagery also showed a large vessel with the same distinctive features in Wonsan in 2002, during Kim Jong Il’s rule. Separately, former basketball player Dennis Rodman told The Sun after his 2013 visit that he had spent time with Kim Jong Un around Wonsan, including on a roughly 60-metre boat. Whether that was the vessel now visible in satellite imagery remains unclear.

Luxury alongside restricted travel and food shortages

The vessels’ prices are unknown. Comparable luxury yachts can cost tens of millions of dollars to more than $100 million, but that range is not a valuation of the boats seen off Wonsan.

The contrast with everyday living conditions is stark. A 2025 United Nations report described pervasive human rights abuses, forced labour and chronic food shortages in North Korea, with an estimated 40% of the population undernourished.

Wonsan’s Kalma resort opened in July 2025 and accepts both foreign and domestic tourists. State media says its hotels and other facilities can accommodate nearly 20,000 visitors; state and Russian media have published images of small Russian tour groups there.

A South Korean news report, relying on an unnamed source, said some local visitors were offered four-night packages costing about $100. For economic context, UN figures put North Korea’s 2024 GDP per person at roughly $667, compared with $36,227 in South Korea. GDP per person is not a measure of an individual worker’s earnings.

Defectors said workers, office employees and cooperative farmers nominally receive 14 days of annual leave, but that entitlement is rarely observed. Even when time off is available, travel beyond a person’s city or county requires official permission. Those restrictions put ordinary holidays—let alone private maritime retreats—beyond the reach of much of the population.