A National Defense Commission building under construction in Pyongyang collapsed in October and killed some 80 people, the Japan Times reported on Tuesday.

The Japan Times report, which could not be corroborated, cited information from an unnamed South Korean government official who reportedly received news about the collapse from an anonymous North Korean source.

The report said that North Korean authorities spent two days cleaning up the wreckage and blocked all entrances into the site to prevent the incident from being picked up by orbiting satellites.

No information was provided about where and from when the building was being built and North Korean state media made no mention of such an incident this October.

Satellite imagery analysis of Pyongyang conducted by NK News in August showed over 200 buildings in a state of construction in the North Korean capital, many of which stalled for several months.

With the latest available Google Earth public satellite imagery taken in late September, it has not been possible to check imagery for signs of a further collapse taking place in October.

In May of this year, an apartment block collapse in Pyongyang also led to an unconfirmed number of deaths.

In what some said was a response to the Sewol Incident that had occurred just days earlier, North Korea issued a public apology to local residents in regard to the collapse.

But despite evidence to suggest the collapse occurred well before the official timeline of the incident, tourist photographs later uncovered by this site confirmed the date of the collapse as being in line with Pyongyang’s schedule of events.

Rumors of a further, partial building collapse emerged in November, with Radio Free Asia reporting at least one dead after a crane fell onto a building site.

Photos documented by NK News have shown the haphazard state of the North Korean construction industry, where speed is routinely prioritized over quality.

Picture: Eric Lafforgue