North Korea begins construction of 10,000-apartment residential complex

North Korea has begun work on a sprawling residential complex of 10,000 apartments as the country embarks on a concerted effort to increase housing in the capital Pyongyang.

Amid major economic problems caused by trade sanctions and the Covid-19 pandemic, leader Kim Jong Un attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site last Saturday, according to state media reports.

While few details of the project have been released, digital renderings of the development show towers being erected on either side of a tree-lined avenue in an area of ​​the capital called Hwasong. A larger skyscraper, which appears to be at least 40 stories tall, is also depicted in the plans.

In a speech titled “Let’s Further Glorify the Golden Age of Capital Construction by Bringing Maritime Change in the Hwasong Area,” Kim thanked construction workers and the army at the ceremony, according to the newspaper’s Sunday edition. North Korean Rodong Sinmun. The state-run newspaper said the project demonstrates the regime’s commitment to creating a “new world of prosperous power, where the people enjoy the highest dignity and the best happiness.”

The development is part of a housing campaign in which the government has pledged to build 50,000 new homes in Pyongyang before the end of 2025. But the pledge, announced at the Workers’ Party of Korea Congress last year, comes as South Korea North faces sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and plummeting trade with its closest ally, China. The country’s economy has been slumping since 2020, when Kim’s government closed its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic, although rail freight resumed last month.

In a rare admission of the country’s challenges, Kim’s parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, said last month that it was working to improve livelihoods by considering “difficult and complicated issues”, according to North Korean state media. North Korea also has a long-standing housing shortage, with some studies suggesting the country only has enough homes to accommodate 70% to 80% of its families.

However, construction projects continue to be used as state propaganda to promote the government’s achievements.

A documentary broadcast in North Korea last month, titled “The Great Year of Victory 2021,” showed Kim visiting a construction site alongside footage of an 80-story skyscraper and a large apartment complex. Work on Hwasong began just days before the country celebrated what would have been the 80th birthday of late former leader Kim Jong Il.

The new development is one of several skyscraper projects announced in recent years in Pyongyang, where residents enjoy a significantly better quality of life than anywhere else in the country.

According to data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, there are currently 15 completed buildings measuring 150 meters or more in the North Korean capital. Among them are four of the towers built in Ryomyong New Town, an upscale residential area that opened in Pyongyang in 2017. State media reported in January that work was nearing completion on 10,000 newly built housing units in Songsin and Songhwa districts. , in eastern Pyongyang.

The country’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has already boasted of the so-called “Speed ​​of Pyongyang”, claiming to have completed the structure of a 70-story skyscraper in the new city of Ryomyong in just 74 days. But some experts were concerned about the quality of building materials, as well as the level of technical expertise and the pace at which the work is sometimes carried out.

In 2014, an apartment building housing dozens of families in Pyongyang’s Phyongchon district collapsed. The official death toll was never released.

KCNA later blamed the disaster on “sloppy construction” and “irresponsible oversight of employees”.

Meanwhile, other construction projects in the capital remain unfinished — such as the Ryugyong Hotel, which reached its planned height of 330 meters in 1992 but remains unoccupied after decades of unspecified delays. The 3,000-room hotel is among the tallest unfinished buildings in the world.