North Korea on Tuesday completed the construction of the December 6 Children’s Camp in Kangwon Province (December 6 Children’s Camp), a camp about one-third the size of the nearby Songdowon International Children’s Camp, Wonsan.

Located about 4.6 kilometers northwest from the Songdowon International Children’s Camp, satellite analysis showed that the construction of December 6 Camp began between March to July of 2014.

“Located right alongside the beautiful shores of Munchon city, the December 6 Children’s Camp is an educational complex that any students living in Kangwon Province can visit,” the state-run Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Wednesday.

Around 15,530 meters squared, the camp has two residential buildings, a restaurant, beach, assembly hall, gym, stadium with an outdoor stage, swimming pool with water slides and a roller-skating rink.

Kim Jong Un, who visited the site on Tuesday, praised the smooth construction of the zone and said “the people of Kangwon Province have done a great deed,” KCNA said.

KCNA repeatedly mentioned the speedy construction of the camp, which was carried out autonomously by Kangwon Province. However, it did not precisely specify when the construction was started.

According to Google Earth satellite image comparisons, the groundwork of the camp was started sometime around March to July of 2014. The exterior of the camp seems to have been almost completed by February 2016.

Taken five days before Kim Jong Un’s visit, a satellite image taken on December 1, provided by the San Francisco–based Planet Labs, showed that the construction could have been finished in October.

Counting from March to July of 2014, the estimated time it took for the completion of the December 6 Children’s Camp was around 29 or 33 months.

It is possible that the construction of the December 6 Camp begun around the time that the Songdowon International Children’s Camp was completed.

According to the various news reports, including South Korea’s Tongil News, the Songdowon Camp was completed in May 2014, around the time when work on the December 6 Camp is believed to have been started.

This means that the two large children’s camps, one for international children and the other for the locals, were built one after another in the vicinity of Wonsan.

“This push for development around Wonsan means two things,” Dr. Rhee Yoojin, a researcher from the Korea Development Bank reunification department, told NK News.

“First, this is where Kim Jong Un was born and raised. So he would be personally interested in developing around Wonsan so that people can commemorate his efforts of economic development and his ‘Youth First’ policy,” Rhee continued.

“Also, located next to Mt. Geumgang, Wonsan has great potential to be one of the most well-developed tourist attractions. The camps like these will be very helpful in hosting the young tourists who visit this region.”

Edited by: Oliver Hotham

Featured Image: Planet Labs