Back in March this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stood before an open patch of land on the outskirts of Pyongyang and declared that a new neighborhood of 10,000 homes for ordinary people would be built across over 50 new buildings before the end of 2021.

Now, ahead of a deadline that appears to have been moved up to sometime before the end of November, state media says soldiers are working on interior and exterior finishing and landscaping the streets below.

Propaganda outlets have promoted the construction as the country’s marquee project this year, as North Korean authorities continue to prioritize projects in the capital despite pandemic restrictions that limit imports of construction materials. 

10,000 FLATS PROJECT

New high-resolution Planet Labs satellite imagery taken on Sept. 24 and recent images from state media reveal that military builders constructed an 80-story skyscraper and 44 other tall concrete apartment buildings with ornate exterior designs in the span of less than half a year.

State media has so far largely sought to hide images of the buildings under construction for unknown reasons, but available footage shows uneven concrete works — a common sight at North Korean construction sites.

According to the party-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Sept. 27, “the building of skyscrapers was unfamiliar” to the military unit charged with the 80-story building’s construction, but the article added that the unit nonetheless carried out Kim Jong Un’s orders to take on the work for the first time. The building is now likely North Korea’s second-tallest behind the Ryugyong Hotel.

Behind the new skyscraper at the entrance to the new neighborhood stand nine conventionally rectangular apartment buildings, nine curved shape buildings each over 100 meters long (330 feet) and three clusters of more ornately shaped buildings that jut out like sun rays from circular shopping centers.

State media and satellite imagery have recently shown signs of late-stage construction at these buildings, such as exterior tiling work and the hanging of permanent murals. Workers also appear to have paved the main road running through the neighborhood in early September.

But two new large schools still appear far from finished, and it’s unclear if Pyongyang will be able to source the necessary materials to furnish all 10,000 homes and hundreds more public facilities as it maintains strict self-imposed trade restrictions to stave off COVID-19.

A propaganda billboard at the site that appeared on state TV on Sept. 25 said “63 days” remained until the project’s deadline. This could refer to a late November deadline if the footage was shot just prior to broadcasting, but even if older footage, it suggests an earlier deadline than the vague end-of-year target specified in state media back in March.

North Korea is likely to hold a major ceremony when the neighborhood opens to new residents, but delays are also possible after the state failed to finish other major projects — such as the Pyongyang General Hospital and Wonsan-Kalma beach tourism zone. Those initiatives remain unopened and largely ignored by state media.

TERRACE HOMES

At a luxurious housing project for elite citizens on the other side of the city, landscaping work had yet to appear in the Sept. 24 Planet Labs image. Kim Jong Un has visited three times — compared to just once to kick off construction of the 10,000 homes project.

The temporary worker camp near the site was also still intact last week. Kim Jong Un — who dubbed the new neighborhood “Kyongru-dong” last month — originally set a deadline of the end of 2021.

NEW, UNDISCLOSED PROJECT

On the western edge of Pyongyang, construction began in July on a new large-scale project that may be another housing complex, according to Planet Labs imagery.

In an empty patch of land right next to what one Pyongyang-based source told NK News in 2020 was a new national archives complex, a temporary workers’ camp was built and six new foundations similar in size and shape to the long, curved apartment buildings at the 10,000-home project appeared.

It is unclear if apartment towers will eventually be built at the site, and state media has not revealed any information about this project. 

The complex next door, whether a new national archives facility or something else, also does not appear to be completely finished even though it was mostly built by early 2020 and has seen consistent vehicle traffic ever since. 

A paved platform appearing to be intended for a statue of a Kim leader or other major figure, which stood empty since construction on the site began, was cleared and covered in dirt in late August.

Meanwhile, satellite imagery shows that progress has continued on new apartment towers directly in front of the Ryugyong Hotel, as the area has been under steady redevelopment in recent years. 

Edited by Arius Derr