New Appearance of the DPRK

The appearances of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are changing beyond recognition.

Last year, North Phyongan and South Hwanghae provinces on the west coast of the country obtained 13 000 hectares of land by finishing the reclamation of the Honggondo tideland and two sections of the Ryongmaedo tideland, projects unprecedented in the history of reclamation of tideland in the country. Ring roads run along the banks, linking many islands and rural villages in the provinces, and crop fields and offshore farms of standard shapes have been created.

The transformation of the city of Samjiyon in the northernmost part of the country, which is called the first village at the foot of Mt Paektu, the ancestral mountain of the country, is a good example.

The construction of the city was completed in four years, divided into three stages.

Thousands of low- and high-rise apartment houses, a hospital, a hall of culture, a schoolchildren’s palace, a gymnasium, hotels and other public and industrial buildings and their signboards and illuminations go well with the natural and topographical features of the alpine area; landscaping has been completed on a high standard. The country calls it a model cultured mountain city, a standard regional city, and is trying to build all the regional cities on its level.

A man engaged in tourism in Europe, after visiting the city, said: I have visited many countries, whose economy and culture have developed, but I have never seen such a nice mountain city as this; what is more surprising is that all these wonderful houses and service facilities are for the ordinary people.

The Yangdok Hot Spring Resort is another example.

It has outstanding scenery and a number of hot springs, which are 

good for the promotion of people’s health and their medical treatment. Built two years ago there is a comprehensive multi-functional medical treatment, sports and cultural complex of 1 660 000m2 that blends well with the regional characteristics and natural surroundings. Indoor and outdoor spa baths, ski slopes, a riding park, hotels, medical treatment and sanatorium areas, sports and cultural facilities, public catering and welfare facilities, low- and high-rise apartment houses go well with one another and are applied with practicality and formative and artistic beauty. The resort is now evaluated as a “characteristic service base that has opened a new chapter of civilization” and a “resort of a high level that can represent spa culture of the DPRK.”

A ski resort was built in an area of 1 412 hectares on Masik Pass, which links the eastern and western middle areas of the Korean peninsula.

There are ten ski slopes, 1 700m long on average and over 5 000m at the longest.

Buildings for large-scale skiing contests and administration, such as hotel and skiing and skating service and other buildings, have been built in conformity with the mountain surroundings and their utility. 

There are also a helipad, ski slope watch tower, cable ways of various lengths, ranging from 600m to over 2 000m, and snow canon.

A few years ago, a large-sized greenhouse vegetable farm was built in the Jungphyong area in the northeastern coastal region to provide the people there with fresh vegetables all the year round even in unfavourable weather conditions; the 320 blocks of greenhouses and tree nursery occupying an area of 200 hectares and hundreds of houses for their employees are regarded as models of their kinds to be built across the country. 

In recent years several areas in the northern, eastern and western parts of the country were hit by unprecedented flooding and typhoons; the disaster-stricken areas were renovated beyond recognition.

Now, a project of building 50 000 flats in five years is in full swing in Pyongyang, the capital city of the DPRK, and 25 000 flats for miners are being built in the mountain valley of Komdok in an eastern part of the country. 

Unimaginable separated from the leadership of Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs, is the appearance of the DPRK, which is changing day by day; all the structures built for the wellbeing of the people are associated with his deep thinking, devotion and painstaking efforts. He aspires to the best thing possible, saying: Every structure should be built with an eye to 50 years, nay, 100 years, so that it can represent the present era.

His energetic leadership is bringing about the new appearance of his country to the admiration of the international community.