A 2015-era plan to construct over 30 new buildings on Wonsan’s Kalma Street appears to be completely stalled, ground-level photos and recent satellite imagery obtained by NK Pro show.

The halt is notable because the project – once trumpeted by North Korean state media – stands about 3 kilometers southwest of the ambitious new Wonsan Kalma peninsula tourist resort construction zone.

Originally announced as part of an initiative to turn Wonsan into a “world-famous tourist city,” a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction at Kalma Street took place on May 20 2015, the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported at the time.

And while few other details emerged in North Korean state media, 2018 dated ground-level photos obtained by NK Pro show a rendering of the entrance of the city and blueprint of the completed residential district, which would have included numerous high-rise buildings and presumed apartments.

The project was particularly notable due to its state media presentation in May 2015 as representing movement towards the fulfillment of “the lifetime wishes and behests of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il to spruce up Wonsan area.”

But while Google Earth satellite imagery showed foundations for at least three main buildings to have been quickly laid by May 2016, commercially available Planet Labs satellite imagery dated March 2018 shows progress to have since been extremely slow.

“It still looks like not much is going on here,” said Curtis Melvin, a North Korea researcher at the U.S.-Korea Institute.

“The last noticeable change on Google Earth happened between 2017-2-14 and 2017-5-19 when a new hole was dug for a new building foundation, but since then, no new progress appears to have been made on the actual building itself,” he said.

“According to the (recent) Planet imagery, it just collects rainwater.”

Some buildings in the zone have, however, been completed, but it’s unclear whether interiors are finished or if buildings attached to water or electricity supplies.

While banners attached to the outside of the construction zone show mottos like: “Perfect score! See! 200% – We are not satisfied,” it appears something went wrong not long after the project kicked-off, resulting in its likely abandonment.

Meanwhile, satellite imagery shows construction progressing at a dramatic pace in the nearby Wonsan Kalma peninsula tourist zone.

“There are well over 100 facilities under construction on the beach, stretched over a four-kilometer-long construction site,” said Melvin on his NKEconwatch.com blog about progress observed in March-dated satellite imagery.

“Completing this project within one year (the rumored construction time) would be a monumental feat,” he wrote.

“It is possible that, as with Mirae Scientist Street (and maybe others), the buildings will be “completed” on the outside, but only one or two will be completed on the inside (the ones Kim Jong Un will visit).”

North Korean state media has been issuing semi-regular updates about the new tourist zone, which, standing adjacent to Wonsan Kalma airport, could be intended for visitors from South Korea if ongoing inter-Korean rapprochement bears fruit for the DPRK.

But the fate of Wonsan Kalma Street remains unclear, where another banner outside the shuttered project reads: “The construction of Wonsan district … the best civilization at the highest-level.”

Edited by Oliver Hotham

Featured image: NK Pro