Housing Construction in the DPRK

The past ten years witnessed a boom in housing construction in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 

Regarding housing construction as an important undertaking in providing the people with more civilized and stabler living conditions, the country channels great efforts into building dwelling houses in the capital and provinces. 

Modern streets and residential districts were built one after another from 2012. They include Changjon Street in the central part of Pyongyang, Unha Scientists Street, apartment buildings for lecturers at Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology, Wisong Scientists Residential District, Mirae Scientists Street and Ryomyong Street.

From then onwards, a modern street sprang up every year in Pyongyang. 

Housing construction was undertaken on an unprecedented scale also in towns and rural communities in provinces.

The renovation project of the city of Samjiyon in northern Korea which had been carried out in three stages was brought to completion in 2021, four years after its start. As a model of perfect harmony of modern, national and alpine features, the city attracted the attention of the international community.  

As a result of the construction of low-rise and multi-storeyed apartment houses for thousands of households and many excellent facilities, the mountainous town, 1 300 metres above sea level on average, was completely changed in the true sense of the word.

Modern houses were built one after another in many other places like Onjong-ri, Yangdok County in the middle part of the country and Sangso-ri, Poptong County in the eastern part.

In the Jungphyong area in the northeastern part, hundreds of modern houses were built for the employees of a large-scale greenhouse vegetable farm and a tree nursery.

Precedence was given to housing construction in building the Tanchon Power Station which is of great importance in the country’s power production. This clearly showed the considerate intention of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK to prevent 

inconveniences in the life of the residents who would have to be relocated when important construction projects were undertaken. 

Also worthy of note is the fact that prompt measures are taken for disaster victims. 

In 2015, 2016, 2020 and 2021 many parts of the country were severely affected by flooding, heavy rains and typhoons, resulting in a number of factories, enterprises and farmland as well as houses being destroyed or inundated.  

Many people around the world were concerned and pessimistic about the flood victims in the DPRK as it was suffering harsh difficulties and hardships owing to persisting blockade and sanctions by the forces hostile towards it. 

However, the WPK and the government of the DPRK promptly rose to the occasion. With a view that the sufferings of the people were the biggest emergency and there was no more important work than the undertaking to relieve the people of their misfortune, they defined the construction of houses for the victims as the first priority in the rehabilitation project and mobilized all the human, material and technical potentials of the country. Thus, nice streets and villages were built in a very short span of time and the flood victims were provided with new houses.  

The people around the world were surprised to see the flood victims, who they thought must be in despair, moving to new houses.  

What is more surprising is the fact that the houses are built with state investment and given to them free of charge.  

The scale of the country’s housing construction is getting larger and larger with the passage of time.

In March 2021  the ground-breaking ceremony for the project to build 10 000 flats was held in Pyongyang in the presence of             Kim Jong Un, president of the State Affairs of the DPRK.  

A big architectural group composed of 10 000 flats was formed in the Songsin and Songhwa districts and 800 luxurious houses in the Pothong riverside terraced houses district was near to completion. 

The Komdok area, the country’s leading non-ferrous minerals producer, is being renovated into an unprecedentedly large mountain gorge town; 25 000 new houses are planned to be built in the miners’

 town by 2025, which marks the 80th founding anniversary of the WPK.

This is not because the country has a surplus of funds in its coffer or it has good conditions; it is because the state regards it as the supreme principle of its activities to make everything serve the people and work for their wellbeing.

To be more specific, all this is thanks to the politics of love for the people, which is administered by Kim Jong Un who always pays close attention to providing a stabler and more civilized life to the people.

What he said in his speech at the above-mentioned ground-breaking ceremony is quite impressive: The Party and the government, having made themselves aware of the number of families that were in need of new houses, conducted in-depth research to determine the measures for solving the problem; they regarded this project as their most important task; and nothing is more worthwhile, honourable, or happier, for us than to dedicate our sweat and passion, without hesitation, to building an ideal street that will be a warm home for our people.

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.

Report of the European Regional Seminar Seminar on the Juche Idea“Kim Jong il's Contribution to the Development and Implementation of the Juche Idea Held on 19.02.2022.

An online seminar on the theme ‘“Kim Jong il's Contribution to the Development and Implementation of the Juche Idea'' was held on  19.02.2022 at 0900 hours GMT .It was hosted by  the European Regional Society for the Study of the Juche Idea .(ERSSJI)

  Participating were directors of the  ERSSJI from a number of European countries including Italy , France , Finland and Britain . Juche idea followers from Britain , France , Italy , Austria , Spain, Romania , Serbia ,Bulgaria , Basque Country and Norway .The secretary general of the International Institue for the Study of the Juche Idea also participated in the meeting.

 Professor Matteo Carbonelli director general of the ERSSJI gave a keynote speech which praised the extraordinary contribution of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL in developing the Juche idea and defending socialism . Professor Carobnelli  pointed out how comrade KIM JONG IL rallied the socialist forces after the collapse of the USSR by initiating the Pyongyang Declaration .

Dr Ogami Kenichi head of the International Institute of the Juche Idea gave an an addresss to the meeting.   Directors of the ERSSJI from Britain , France  and Finland addressed the meeting .

 Juche idea followers from Britain , Romania , Italy , Spain , Basque Country  , Austria , Norway , Bulgaria and Serbia addressed the meeting .

  Dr Dermot Hudson, Chairman of the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea in his speech said that “ Comrade KIM JONG IL was a great leader of towering achievements in both the field of theory and the field of practice . 

   The achievements,philosophy and  ideas of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL will live forever . Today they are carried forward by dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN who is leading the Korean people forward to build socialism under the unfurled banner of Juche and self-reliance in the face of the despicable moves of the imperialist -led hostile forces”

 The seminar concluded at 1100hours GMT.

In demand of revoking regulations of "the day of Juk Islet"

A joint contents show to prove Dok Islet belong to Korea was held in the educating house for experiences of Dok Islet in North Gyeongsang Province from the 16th of February.
This show is aimed at denouncing the commemoration of "the day of Juk Islet", which Japan celebrates to assert its "dominium" over Dok Islet, and at its withdrawal, the Dok Islet Foundation stressed.
The secretary general of the Dok Islet Foundation resolved to declare that Dok Islet is in Korean possession and widely expose the wild ambition of Japan to seize Dok Islet on this occasion, censuring that celebrating "the day of Juk Islet" is like thief cries for a thief.

A press conference for declaration of anti-US struggle

 

Of late, the 46th anti-US monthly meeting for dissolution of the south Korea-US alliance and withdrawal of the US troops from south Korea was held in the form of a press conference outside the US embassy in Seoul.

The press conference was held under the sponsorship of the preparatory committee of the national reunification meeting for independence and great unity of the nation. It made a fresh determination to wage a campaign for independent unification against the US in 2022 and strongly demanded the dissolution of the south Korea-US alliance, pullout of the US troops from south Korea, abandonment of the US hostile policy toward north Korea and permanent discontinuance of the joint south Korea-US war exercises.

Sharply criticizing the US and south Korean authorities' hostile actions against north Korea, the participants called for the people to take the road of national independence and break off relations with the US through an intense struggle for independence against the US in 2022.  

It declared its plan to be carried out according to the orientation of this year

The People's Leader

 

A Wild Theater of Human Hatred and a Grand Flower Garden of Human Love

http://www.mfa.gov.kp/view/article/14401

 2022.2.17.

There are two societies on Earth. One is the society with money-is-almighty principle and the jungle law, where the strong assaults the weak, the rich exploits the poor, and those holding the gun shoot down the innocents. The other is a beautiful society of human love where everybody lives in harmony, helping and leading each other, not knowing even the words of exploitation and oppression.

Recently, people were thrown into consternation to hear the crime where the couple in the UK kidnapped the ex-husband and took money from him after using a cruel torture and threatening him for 12 hours.

Meanwhile, ITV News of the UK reported that over 2,000 cases of family violence were reported to the police within just 15 days at the year-end and the beginning of the new year in Northern Ireland.  According to the statistics released by the UK Office for National Statistics, London saw a 25.71% increase in the number of the cases of sexual crime in 2021 compared with the year before, recording and settling 16,213 rape cases and 26,281 cases of other sexual violence.

Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States also informed recently that murder case gained an increase of 30% in 2021 compared to the last year, recording more than 21,500 cases which means approximately 59 cases broke out a daily basis.

The above facts show that the capitalist society is indeed a perverted one full of moral and spiritual freaks and degenerates, where man-hating ideas are rampant, and murder and violence run rife.

Whether the society is prevailing with virtue or vice, whether the society is sound or corrupt depends on the moral and spiritual qualities of the people.

It is one of the inevitabilities of history that the capitalism - a malignant tumor of humankind - will legitimize social inequality for its own existence, and will be more corrupt and degenerate into a society with money-is-almighty principle and the jungle law, ruining people morally and spiritually.

But let’s look at the reality of socialist Korea, a large harmonious family where virtue and affection are shared between people, and people help and lead each other.

In our country, a girl at a central organ married a special class disabled soldier with the blessing of all people. This beautiful deed spread throughout the country, pulling at heartstrings of our people.

In the meantime, many other beautiful stories continue to be created adding aroma to the grand flower garden of socialism; a teacher tutored a disabled girl carrying her to school on the back for several years; medical workers dedicated themselves to enabling her to stride along the street; entire village and school devoted their love and affection for orphan siblings.

In the future, too, socialism of our own style centered on the masses, under the warm sunrays of the great sun, will flourish ever more as a grand flower garden of human love running with affection and overflowing with love, enriching it as the national customs and manners the excellent virtue and trait of devoting oneself for the society and the collective.