North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered construction of yet another new lakeside mansion last month, according to NK Pro analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery, as state media reports ordinary people in the country are suffering and must continue to make sacrifices.

The new construction is part of a major project that has grown in size and picked up pace in recent weeks near an existing sprawling mansion compound on Yonphung Lake, the closest of Kim’s luxurious retreats to the country’s Yongbyon nuclear complex.

Kim kicked off the project in May 2021, partially demolishing a mansion and expanding it with new annexes and a hotel-like tower. Work appeared to stall from late last summer until August this year, when the DPRK leader appeared to change his mind and had parts of the newly built sections demolished to make way for much larger plans now being executed, Planet Labs imagery shows. 

The tower section is at least four stories tall and is part of an intricately constructed building spread across 230,000 square feet (21,000 square meters) — four times the footprint of the White House in the U.S. and just slightly smaller than France’s Palace of Versailles. 

In this image of the largest new mansion at Yonphung Lake, the areas indicated inside yellow dotted lines are where the most significant new demolition and expansion work has been taking place since Aug. 2022 | Images: Planet Labs PBH (Oct. 18, 2022), edited by NK Pro

This comparison reveals in detail the newest lakeside mansion under construction since Sept. 2022 | Images: Planet Labs PBH (Oct. 18, 2022), edited by NK Pro

Annotated map of the Yonphung Lake mansion construction site | Images: Google Earth (April 16, 2022), Planet Labs PBH (Oct. 18, 2022), edited by NK Pro

The complex appears to be still growing in size, as workers demolished another mansion next door in the first week of October and started building more ornate structures in its place.

Work started on the newest mansion in early September, which also features an intricate layout but is smaller than the one started last year, with a footprint of around 29,000 square feet (2,600 square meters).

In addition to the two new mega-mansions, work on at least six other support structures spread out in the surrounding forest began in late August and was still ongoing as of Oct. 18. 

Around that same time, Kim Jong Un appeared to order armies of construction workers to build an onsite camp covering 20 acres (8 hectares), and it has continued to grow since the start of October as Kim appears to be pushing workers to carry out construction this fall and winter.

The camp is larger than one set up to build the Pyongyang General Hospital in 2020, pointing to the high priority status of the North Korean leader’s latest personal luxury project. 

Kim Jong Un’s mansion projects conspicuously contrast with his public pleas this week for the population to endure “unprecedented challenges and difficulties” and give up personal interests to work for the common good toward a perfect communist future.

A new state TV documentary this week also sought to dispel any notion that Kim takes personal time off, claiming he refuses to rest while working for the people and yearns for a chance to sleep. 

North Korea’s ruling party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun also published a propaganda essay on Wednesday saying 2022 has been “a year of much more unexpected difficulties and hardships than expected” for ordinary people.

The article said “it’s true that it’s difficult to live and there’s a scarcity of all [necessities] at the moment,” but it asserted that North Korean people “take the greatest pride and joy in sacrificing themselves” in accordance with Kim Jong Un’s teachings to forget oneself and work for future generations.

The North Korean leader, however, has appeared to maintain a steady focus on nurturing his and his family’s own unique privilege in the country, ordering new mansions and other upgrades at his main office in Pyongyang earlier this year. 

He also built an entirely new private beach resort near Wonsan in 2019, and last year renovated buildings at a different Wonsan mansion complex as well as another tower mansion up the coast near Hamhung. 

Edited by Arius Derr