As part of a housing drive in Pyongyang, North Korea has begun construction on a massive 10,000-apartment residential project. According to official media sources, Kim Jong Un attended a ground-breaking ceremony at the construction site on Saturday, amid huge economic hardships imposed by by trade restrictions and the Covid-19 outbreak.
Though few design details have been disclosed, digital renderings of the development show towers rising on both sides of a leafy boulevard 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 Us Further Glorify the Golden Age of Capital City Construction by Bringing about a Sea Change in the Hwasong Area,” Kim thanked construction workers and army personnel at the ceremony, according to North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
The state-run paper claimed that the project demonstrated the regime’s commitment to creating a “new world of a prosperous power where the people enjoy the highest dignity and the best happiness.”
In a rare admission of the country’s challenges, Kim’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, said last month that it was working to improve livelihoods in light of “difficult and complicated problems,” according to North Korean state media. North Korea also has a long-standing housing shortage, with some studies suggesting that the country only has enough homes to accommodate 70% to 80% of its households.
Yet, construction projects continue to be used in state propaganda to promote the government’s achievements. Kim Jong Un pictured in front of an artistic rendering of the new development. Kim Jong Un pictured in front of an artistic rendering of the new development. The development forms part of a wider housing drive that has seen the government promise 50,000 new homes in Pyongyang before the end of 2025.
According to data from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, there are currently 15 completed buildings standing 150 meters (492 feet) or above in the North Korean capital. Among them are four of the towers built at Ryomyong New Town, a showpiece luxury residential area opened in Pyongyang in 2017. And state media reported in January that work was almost complete on 10,000 newly built housing units in the Songsin and Songhwa districts of eastern Pyongyang.
