Satellite Images Reveal Luxury Yacht With Pool and Water Slides Near Kim Jong Un’s Retreat
Satellite images analysed by the BBC show an 80m (263ft) luxury vessel – complete with a 50m swimming pool and a cluster of water slides on deck – repeatedly anchored off North Korea’s Wonsan coast between July and mid-October this year, near a villa used by leader Kim Jong Un and his family.
The ship sat idle at a maintenance facility for months before relocating in early July to waters off the Kalma Peninsula, close to the Wonsan resort area. It was not alone: the BBC tracked four large vessels, measuring roughly 50m, 55m, 60m and 80m, that repeatedly appeared near the villa this year, with the two smaller boats seen until the end of August around nearby Tae and Sin islands. Satellite imagery expert Jeong Seong-hak said smaller support boats were seen ferrying people, fuel and supplies to the largest vessel, describing islands like Tae and Sin as offering “secluded maritime retreats where privacy can be maintained away from public view.” Historical imagery reviewed by the BBC found a vessel with similar features in Wonsan as far back as 2002, under Kim Jong Il’s rule.
A lifestyle most North Koreans never see
People who once served the regime, along with defectors and outside analysts, say vessels of this scale would be virtually impossible for anyone outside the ruling family to own or use. “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 use them for swimming and recreation,” said Ri Jong Ho, a former official at the Workers’ Party’s Office 39, which is believed to manage foreign currency for the leadership. A defector who spent 13 years guarding residences used by Kim Jong Il recalled dozens of children and teenagers waterskiing near the family’s Wonsan villas during summer. Former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who visited North Korea in 2013, has described spending much of a week-long trip with Kim Jong Un around Wonsan jet-skiing and horse riding, and once likened a 60m vessel they used to “a cross between a ferry and a Disney boat” – though it is unclear if it was the same boat seen in the recent images.
The contrast with ordinary life in North Korea is stark. The UN and other bodies rely on estimates to rank North Korea among the world’s poorest countries, with a 2025 UN report describing “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations,” forced labour, and chronic shortages that leave an estimated 40% of the population undernourished; per capita GDP stood at around $667 in 2024, against $36,227 in South Korea. Workers are nominally entitled to 14 days of annual leave, defectors say, but rarely take it, since travel outside one’s home city or county requires official permission. Comparable luxury yachts elsewhere in the world typically cost anywhere from tens of millions of dollars to more than $100m; Kim’s much smaller 29-metre Princess yacht was previously estimated at around $7m.
North Korean state media rarely acknowledges holidays taken by the Kim family, usually describing such visits as official inspections, though defectors say many North Koreans are nonetheless aware the family spends time in Wonsan. State media has promoted the city’s Kalma resort, which opened to foreign tourists in July 2025, as a hub with high-rise hotels and water parks capable of hosting nearly 20,000 visitors – though a South Korean report citing an unnamed source said some locals have been offered four-night packages there for around $100, a significant sum in a country where most people cannot access the leisure travel enjoyed by the elite. As Ri Jong Ho put it: “Kim Jong Un is supposed to be a ‘leader of the people,’ yet he has four luxury vessels like these while ordinary people are struggling just to get one meal a day.”
Source: BBC News