After vowing to gift hundreds of new apartment units to North Korea’s finest teachers, writers and scientists by the end of the year, Kim Jong Un reportedly showed up at the complex’s construction site for a second time to show he’s serious about the project.
On Thursday, North Korean state media reported that Kim visited the apartment grounds near Pyongyang’s Pothong River, an area that some experts say is among the most coveted neighborhoods in the country’s capital city. Kim Il-Gi, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), said that the 800 modern “terrace” apartments slated for this area would stand out symbolically as the first “model homes” in Kim Jong Un’s greater series of urban construction projects for Pyongyang.
“These are the houses that give dreams to North Koreans,” Kim of INSS said. “In order to have effective propaganda, you need to show the best … That’s why Kim keeps going there.”
Earlier this month,DPRKstate media also reported that Kim Jong Un vowed to allocate a “large share of the total state budget” to building 10,000 “modern flats” in Pyongyang this year. At the time, Kim promised to build 70,000 homes in the capital city before Oct. 2025.
Cho Han-bum, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), told NK News that the separate construction projects in Pyongyang are Kim’s “two-track strategy” to show off his commitment to improving people’s lives amid the country’s economic downturn.
“The construction site of the 10,000 flats planned is at the outskirts of Pyongyang … It’s for the general public,” he said. “But the area around the Pothong River, that’s the finest residential area where Kim Il Sung’s official residence was once located.”
According to North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun, the 800 to-be apartments are meant for “scientists, educators, writers and other working people who are devotedly working for the Party and the state.”
However, sanctions and COVID-19 border closures raise questions about the country’s capacity to take on massive construction projects like this.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said the DPRK has swiftly built other major construction projects in the past, such as Pyongyang’s luxury Ryomyong Street between 2016 and 2017.
“[North Korea] is saying that this is their priority now,” Lim said. “Presenting a better version of Pyongyang could be the most tangible way of showing their achievement this year. They wouldn’t do it if they are not confident about it.”
After vowing to gift hundreds of new apartment units to North Korea’s finest teachers, writers and scientists by the end of the year, Kim Jong Un reportedly showed up at the complex’s construction site for a second time to show he’s serious about the project.
On Thursday, North Korean state media reported that Kim visited the apartment grounds near Pyongyang’s Pothong River, an area that some experts say is among the most coveted neighborhoods in the country’s capital city. Kim Il-Gi, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), said that the 800 modern “terrace” apartments slated for this area would stand out symbolically as the first “model homes” in Kim Jong Un’s greater series of urban construction projects for Pyongyang.
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