Photos show luxury boat with 50m pool and water slides near Kim Jong Un's summer retreat

BySoram Cheon, BBC Korean and Aghnia Adzkia, East Asia Visual Journalism.

Key points

• An 80m (263ft) luxury vessel has been repeatedly spotted in satellite images off North Korea's Wonsan coast from July to mid-October this year.
• The BBC tracked four sizeable vessels around Wonsan, measuring approximately 50m, 55m, 60m and 80m.
• Two of the other vessels – 50m and 55m – were repeatedly seen until the end of August around Tae and Sin islands, close to Wonsan.
• North Korean state media additionally claims Wonsan is home to high-rise hotels, restaurants, shops, sports facilities and water parks, and can accommodate almost 20, 000 visitors.
• This is close to Wonsan, a seaside resort with a sprawling villa applied by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his family.

Meanwhile, an 80m (263ft) luxury vessel has been repeatedly spotted in satellite images off North Korea's Wonsan coast from July to mid-October this year.

What stands out is the 50m swimming pool along the deck, with a cluster of waterslides at one end.

After sitting idle for months at a maintenance facility, it relocated in early July to waters off a strip of coastline known as the Kalma Peninsula.

It was not the only sizeable vessel on the move. A handful of others were additionally repeatedly seen near Kim's villa, in satellite images analysed by the BBC.

Notably, the vessels are widely believed to be applied by Kim and his family. Former North Korean authorities, defectors and experts say it would be challenging for anyone unconnected to the regime's leadership to own or freely employ vessels of this size.

"In winter, they would keep them at the shipyard. When summer came, they would bring them out and move them to Kim Jong Un's villa or towards Kalma, and employ them for swimming and recreation, " states Ri Jong Ho.

Ri was once an official at the Workers' Party's Office 39. It is believed to be involved in raising and managing foreign currency for the leadership.

Notably, the wealth of those who sit at the top of the secretive North Korean dictatorship is just as hard to pin down as the country's economic figures.

Meanwhile, the United Nations and others rely on estimates to classify North Korea as one of the world's poorest countries, with an especially sizeable military budget that funds a sanctioned nuclear programme.

Most North Koreans, according to a 2025 UN report, live under "systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations" with total state control, widespread forced labour, and chronic food shortages that leave an estimated 40% of the population undernourished. But the regime has long been known to live in luxury.

We don't know the cost of the vessels seen in the satellite imagery, but comparable luxury yachts run from tens of millions to over $100m (£75m). Kim's much smaller, 29-metre Princess yacht was previously estimated to be worth regarding $7m.

While vessel locations alone cannot definitively establish the family's whereabouts, their movements – which overlap with gaps in Kim's public appearances – point to activities that would otherwise remain out of public view.

Wonsan is where Kim Jong Un spent part of his childhood with his mother, according to biographers and intelligence reports, and one expert informed the BBC the city has been associated with the family since his father Kim Jong Il's rule.

Notably, a defector who served for 13 years guarding residences applied by then leader Kim Jong Il – through the 1990s to the early 2000s – informed the BBC the villas around Wonsan were applied as a retreat by the elite. He recalls seeing dozens of children and teens waterskiing during summer.

North Korean state media rarely publishes reports regarding Kim being on holiday, instead framing such visits as official inspections or guidance. But defectors interviewed by the BBC appeared to be aware that the family spent holidays in Wonsan, suggesting that at least some North Koreans knew regarding it.

State media and Russian outlets have published images of small groups of Russian tourists visiting the Wonsan Kalma resort. It opened in July 2025. Although developed to attract foreign visitors, the resort is additionally open to local tourists.

Notably, a South Korean news report, citing an unnamed source, notes some locals were offered four-night tour packages for around $100, a substantial sum for most North Koreans. The country's per capita GDP – around $667 in 2024, according to the UN – is a small fraction of South Korea's $36, 227.

For most of North Koreans, holidays are out of reach. And while a growing middle class does exist, they might not have much time for leisure.

Defectors informed the BBC that workers, office employees and cooperative farmers are legally entitled to 14 days of annual leave, but this is rarely followed.

Taking consecutive days off to travel is unusual. Individuals typically take weekend trips or travel during national holidays instead of designated "summer holidays".

Even if leave is granted, travel itself is restricted, with official permission required for individuals to travel outside their city or county. Moving freely is sometimes as much a luxury as the holiday itself.

Meanwhile, the BBC tracked four sizeable vessels around Wonsan, measuring approximately 50m, 55m, 60m and 80m. All four vessels repeatedly appeared around Kim's Wonsan villa this year.

In practice, the largest vessel indicated the clearest activity, moving from the dock to the waters off the Kalma Peninsula, where it has been since July.

Two of the other vessels – 50m and 55m – were repeatedly seen until the end of August around Tae and Sin islands, close to Wonsan. Satellite images additionally demonstrated four smaller boats alongside the 50m vessel.

Satellite imagery expert Jeong Seong-hak remarked the smaller boats ferried residents, fuel and supplies to the larger vessel, adding that small islands like Tae and Sin offered "secluded maritime retreats where privacy can be maintained away from public view".

Notably, the 60m vessel was repeatedly seen near Kim's Wonsan villa until as lately as last week.

When Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea, though North Korea has never publicly disclosed the vessels' official ownership, BBC's analysis of historical satellite imagery discovered a substantial vessel with the same distinctive characteristics in Wonsan in 2002.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman. This person visited the North in 2013, informed The Sun that he had spent much of his seven-day visit with Kim Jong Un around Wonsan, where they went jet-skiing and horse riding.

He additionally described a 60m vessel they employed as a cross between a ferry and a Disney boat. It is not clear if this is the same 60m boat pictured in the above satellite imagery.

To most North Koreans, the life lived by the Kims and others who backing the regime would seem not just extravagant but unimaginable. Especially since state propaganda is dedicated to presenting the "supreme leader" as a selfless man who always puts the nation first.

"Kim Jong Un is supposed to be a 'leader of the people', " Ri Jong Ho notes, "yet he has four luxury vessels like these while ordinary people are struggling just to get one meal a day." Graphics by: Arvin Supriyadi.

For now, photos show luxury boat with 50m pool and water slides near Kim remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.