Update: This article was updated at 0945 KST to include additional information from an Arirang Meari article, as well as an image originally published in the Rodong Sinmun

Thousands of North Korean students are spending their winter holidays working on a marquee construction site in Samjiyon, DPRK ruling party organ the Rodong Sinmun reported this week.

The work, taking place in what are currently sub-zero conditions in the north of the country, is being undertaken “voluntarily,” Rodong claimed, and is motivated by a desire to “actively help toward renovating” the area.

“A youth shock brigade of university students was