Construction on two new streets of skyscrapers in the North Korean capital is showing signs of progress, while a third that started last year appears to be nearing completion, according to NK Pro analysis of Planet Labs satellite imagery.

Workers have demolished old apartment buildings and parts of the Pyongyang Vegetable Science Institute and began preparing new building foundations in recent weeks. There are now active construction sites and sprawling worker camps across an area in northern Pyongyang twice the size of New York City’s Central Park.

The new streets are part of a high-profile campaign to build tens of thousands of homes for capital dwellers within the next few years, as the state looks to show it is providing for the people despite pandemic shortages and an overall priority on military spending. 

Foundations for Hwasong street phase two apartment towers started to appear between Feb. 14 and March 13, while the project’s worker camp grew. More parts of the Pyongyang Vegetable Science Institute were also demolished to make way for new buildings after many of the facility’s greenhouses were removed for phase one of the project last year. | Images: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro (Please refresh if images do not load)

This comparison of Feb. 14 and March 13 images shows more demolition to make way for new foundation work on the Sopho street project, while its worker camp for 100,000 youth also grew | Images: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro (Please refresh if images do not load)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un officially kicked off phase two of the 10,000-home Hwasong street project and the separate 4,100-home Sopho street project in the area at ceremonies on Feb. 15 and Feb. 25, respectively. 

He mobilized 100,000 “inexperienced” young people from around the country to leave work and school to live in a camp and build Sopho street, and ordered military conscripts and construction teams to work on Hwasong street.

Around a year has passed since he ordered the start of work on 10,000 homes for phase one of Hwasong street and opened Pyongyang’s Songhwa street reportedly containing the same number of homes. 

This wide view of northern Pyongyang shows the two Hwasong street and Sopho street project areas | Images: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro (Please refresh if images do not load)

Construction crews largely completed exterior work months ago on Hwasong street phase one, and additional road paving in recent weeks suggests Kim could open this section to new residents soon — possibly around an April 15 holiday typically used to inaugurate construction projects. However, some skyscrapers are still unfinished after only being started in recent months.

The DPRK leader said Sopho street should be finished “in a short span of time,” without offering a specific deadline, while both Hwasong street projects are part of the ruling party’s stated goal of building 50,000 homes between 2021 and the end of 2025. 

Meanwhile, workers have also started carving out foundations for hundreds of greenhouses and homes at a new farm in Pyongyang’s northeastern Kangdong suburb. Kim attended the groundbreaking ceremony for this project on Feb. 15, the same day as Hwasong street phase two, and ordered it finished by Oct. 10 this year.  

These images taken on Feb. 14 and March 13 show initial progress on the Kangdong Greenhouse Farm project | Images: Planet Labs, edited by NK Pro (Please refresh if images do not load)

Edited by Arius Derr