Journey of Creation for the People

Over the past ten-odd years Kim Jong Un, President of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, was always on a journey of creation to provide the people with a happy life and to spruce up the country. 

Edifices Heralding a Change

Kim Jong Un started his effort for the people’s welfare before he assumed the leadership of the overall affairs of the country. While accompanying Chairman Kim Jong Il on his field guidance, he paid close attention to the sectors related with the people’s living. 

After he was elected to the top position of the Party and the state in 2012, he personally guided the construction of the Rungna People’s Recreation Ground. 

When he came to the construction site of the recreation ground, he suggested ways for building it into an excellent cultural resort for the people, personally drawing pictures. Thanks to his leadership the Rungna People’s Recreation Ground with a modern wading pool, a fun fair and a dolphinarium could be built on Rungna Islet on the Taedong River. 

In 2012 many edifices sprang up one after another in Pyongyang. Changjon Street was erected in the Mansudae area, Ryugyong Health Complex, People’s Open-air Ice Rink and Thongilgori Fitness Centre were built on the bank of the Taedong River as public health and sports centres, and Mangyongdae Fun Fair and Taesongsan Pleasure Ground were renovated. The modern Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital was constructed in the Munsu area. Pyongyang was spruced up in a short span of time. 

In retrospect, all these were a prelude to a grand transformation. 

The letter Kim Jong Un sent to the participants in the First Grand Short Course of Officials in the Construction Sector in December 2013 indicates that he already planned gigantic projects ranging from 

housing construction to the building of industrial structures. 

Golden Age of Construction

It was the intention of Kim Jong Un to give precedence to the construction sector so as to ensure that the sector leads the civilization of the era and the torch that has flared up in it serves as the initial spark of the flames of leaps forward and creations in all other sectors of the economy and culture. True to his intention, a golden age of construction was ushered in the DPRK.

Modern streets and residential districts were built in Pyongyang and other parts of the country. 

Kim Jong Un paid close attention to the construction of the capital city and guided the formation plans, designs, construction work of the streets and details of buildings, sometimes aboard a plane, and other times on the construction site. 

Unha Scientists Street, Wisong Scientists Residential District, apartment houses for lecturers of Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology, Mirae Scientists Street, and Ryomyong Street sprang up in a matter of several years.

As many as 11 900 dwelling houses were built in just two months in the northern part of North Hamgyong Province which had been severely hit by a natural disaster several years ago. And the flood-stricken areas like Rason, South Hamgyong Province, North Hwanghae Province and Kangwon Province went through a sea change.

 Samjiyon in the northern part of the country was renovated into a model of a mountain city which combines national identity, modern character and features of the northern alpine region opening up a new era in which provincial regions are transformed.

Many edifices for the promotion of the people’s health and cultural and sports activities have been built: Munsu Water Park, Masikryong Ski Resort, Mirim Riding Club, Central Zoo, Natural History Museum, Yangdok Hot Spring Resort, Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital, Okryu Children’s Hospital, Ryugyong Dental Hospital and Myohyangsan Medical Appliances Factory. 

The master plans of buildings Kim Jong Un has personally guided show how much effort Kim Jong Un directs to the work for the happiness of the people; the formation plans of the Munsu Water Park, Mirae Scientists Street, Yangdok Hot Spring Resort, and the city of Samjiyon number as many as 110, 590, 2 000 and 11 360, respectively. 

The Journey Continues

Kim Jong Un’s journey of creation is going on.

In October 2020 Kim Jong Un unfolded a plan to build 25 000 dwelling houses in the Komdok area, the country’s leading mineral production base, so as to turn the area into a first-ever mountain gorge town in the country. And at the Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in January 2021 he put forward the task of building 50 000 flats in Pyongyang in five years by building 10 000 every year.  

The country built 5 000 houses in the Komdok area by the end of last year, and Songhwa Street with 10 000 flats and Pothong Riverside Terraced Houses District with 800 flats were completed in April this year, showing that Kim Jong Un’s plan is being realized.   

As he had done last year, Kim Jong Un paid close attention to construction projects this year, too. In February he participated in the ground-breaking ceremony of the project to build 10 000 flats in the Hwasong area and encouraged the construction workers. 

Then, in the Ryonpho area, Hamju County, South Hamgyong Province, he proclaimed the start of the construction of a vegetable greenhouse farm which would be much bigger than the Jungphyong Vegetable Greenhouse Farm built previously, and broke the ground for the project.

Kim Jong Un also put forward a grand plan for radically changing the living environment of the rural areas throughout the country. 

While stressing the need to effect a revolution in the field of construction at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the WPK, he said that the living environment throughout the country should be radically changed within 20 to 30 years.  

True to his plan, the DPRK has adopted it as a law and policy to 

strengthen the regional construction forces and to provide all the cities and counties with cement on a regular basis.

It is also pushing ahead with the campaign of steadily consolidating foundations for fresh economic development by channelling great efforts into industrial construction and land administration, which are undertakings for guaranteeing the improvement of living standards of the people. 

Achievements made in the past decade show that it will not be long before Kim Jong Un’s plan is realized. As he said, the appearance of the DPRK will be radically changed within 20 to 30 years.