North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made his fifth visit to a housing project for flood victims on the Chinese border on Monday, according to state media, again extending a deadline for completing new apartment blocks.

The Rodong Sinmun reported Tuesday that Kim inspected new apartment towers in Sinuiju and Uiju on the banks of the Amnok River (Yalu River), saying the project aims to “turn the flood-hit area into a utopian ‘rural cultural city’ with civilized and modern homes no different than in a real city.”

The latest visit underscores state propaganda’s efforts to present the leader as the champion of those who lost their homes in the late July floods, after Kim accused local officials of failing to prepare in an attempt to deflect blame for the damage.

During his latest inspection, Kim said new buildings in Ojok-ri of Uiju County and in Hadan-ri of Sinuiju City are going up “inside safe areas” surrounded by “sturdy embankments,” suggesting they will be properly protected in the future due to new measures.

Satellite imagery shows they are being built in the same vulnerable flood zone that was completely submerged in the late July floods, though most apartment buildings also appear to built on stilts with the first floor elevated above the ground.

Young students and military conscripts working on the project should “complete the rehabilitation campaign at the highest level before the December Party plenary meeting,” he said. 

This meeting has taken place over the final week of December in recent years, suggesting he moved the deadline back after calling last month for all flood reconstruction projects in three northern provinces to wrap up by the early part of the month. His original deadline was early November.

State media previously reported that workers would build 4,400 homes in Sinuiju and Uiju, following the flooding of 4,100 homes and around 7,400 acres (3,000 hectares) of farmland in July.

Photos published Tuesday show dozens of apartment buildings as tall as 16 floors situated on the riverside. 

Makeshift wooden scaffolding surrounds most of them, and while some bricks have been installed on some facades, most appeared as basic concrete shells without windows, doors or interior fittings. 

Planet Labs satellite imagery reveals that there are around 140 buildings going up along the river in Hadan-ri, which is just north of the Sinuiju city center.

A smaller cluster of buildings is under construction in the footprint of a destroyed village in Uiju’s Ojok-ri (Ojok Island) further north, while satellite imagery shows there are also other new clusters to the north and south in Uiju.

The imagery shows evidence of work to build up embankments surrounding the flooded islands in the middle of the river, as well to build new road bridges, which state media also highlighted in its report Tuesday.

There does not appear to have been much progress on a mystery project Kim Jong Un visited soon after the flooding that is possibly related to replacing the import quarantine and inspection complex previously housed at the Uiju Airbase.

Kim also visited flood recovery project sites in Jagang Province late last month, while he has not publicly visited flooded areas along the Amnok River in Ryanggang Province, the third province affected by the July storms. 

Edited by Bryan Betts