Golden Age of Construction in Democratic Korea

Buildings reflect the aspect of the times of a country. This is because construction precisely means progress and change and investment in the future.

In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea a new construction speed, a new construction legend, has been created in the golden age of construction over the past ten years.

From 2012 Changjon, Ryomyong, Unha and Mirae Scientists Streets, Wisong Scientists Residential District and other streets have newly been built in the capital city of Pyongyang in succession. The framework of 70-storey apartment building on Ryomyong Street with its total floor space of over 120 000 square metres was completed in over 70 days and the placing tiles on it, in a little more than 10 days.

The Munsu Water Park, Mirim Riding Club, Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum, Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery and many other construction projects were brought to successful completion in 2013. The slopes of the Masikryong Ski Resort on the ranges of the Taehwa Peak of over 1 360 metres above sea level are well over 100 000 metres in total with an area of hundreds of thousands of square metres; this project was completed in less than one year.

The construction of the Paektusan Hero Youth Power Station completed in 2016 was a grandiose nature-remaking project to be carried out by overcoming the worst unfavourable natural and geographical conditions in the history of building hydropower stations of the country. However, young builders built in a matter of a year power stations Nos. 1, 2 and 3 even in such a bad weather and climate and unfavourable transport conditions of the northern alpine area–biting cold of around 30℃ below zero and heavy snowfall.

The Okryu Children’s Hospital, Breast Tumour Institute under the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital, Ryugyong Dental Hospital, Medical Oxygen Factory and other public health bases have mushroomed.

The 50 000-hectare desolate plateau that covers Sepho, Phyonggang and Ichon counties was transformed into a leading large-scale livestock farming base of the country in less than five years. A new speed of the times was also created in industrial construction for further consolidating the material and technological foundations of socialist construction.

The golden age of construction gave a strong impetus to rapid progress in Juche-oriented architecture of the country.

All the structures have been built in different parts of the country with distinctive designs of various forms that conform with their characteristic features, utility and capacities.

The roofs of the apartment buildings for lecturers of Kim Il Sung University are designed in the form of books opened, and the apartment buildings for lecturers of Kim Chaek University of Technology on the bank of the Taedong River look like sailing boats.

The Sci-Tech Complex on Ssuk Island in Pyongyang consists of an atom-shaped main building representing the symbolic meaning of science and technology and architectural features, a tower in the form of a pen point symbolic of science and technology, a scientists’ hostel, outdoor sci-tech exhibition grounds, etc.

The corridor at the Yonphung Scientists Holiday Camp is in the form of a swan spreading its wings at a lakeside, and the Mirim Riding Club is built by combining modern and natural features.

With the construction of the Pothong riverside terraced houses district in Pyongyang gaining momentum, a new style of architecture has been created to make an effective use of mountain slopes and mountainous areas across the country for housing construction, and the renovation of the city of Samjiyon brought about a revolution in architecture so as to provide a springboard for regional construction.

The great golden age of construction is, in a word, a new era of architecture based on the people-first principle.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un ensures that top priority is given to the aspirations and demands of the people and their convenience, as it is the people themselves who create architecture and benefit from it.

He sees to it that the principle of prioritizing convenience, aesthetic beauty and the view on rising generations is fully maintained in construction, and has specified problems in construction. Saying that we should never rest content with doing things for the people and that we should provide them with the most excellent and best things, he continued to inspect the construction sites of the Munsu Water Park, Yangdok Hot Spring Resort, Mirae Scientists and Ryomyong Streets and the City of Samjiyon, giving guidance to many architectural designs.

Noting that his mind was always on what he could do more for his people and that construction for them should continue, he looked round the Ryonpho area in South Hamgyong Province in April Juche 108 (2019), when the construction of the Jungphyong Vegetable Greenhouse Farm was in full swing in North Hamgyong Province, and conceived a plan to build a large-scale vegetable greenhouse farm there.

He always places housing construction before anything else and devotes painstaking efforts to this end.

Regarding the provision of more stabilized and cultured living conditions for Pyongyang citizens as a long-standing aspiration of the Workers’ Party of Korea, he stressed the need to set annual plans for building 10 000 flats every year by concentrating efforts on the construction of 50 000 flats in Pyongyang and scrupulously organize the construction operation and guidance for implementing them at the Eighth Congress of the WPK held in January 2021.

The Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth WPK Central Committee held in December 2021 unfolded a far-reaching plan for making a new revolution in the construction sector for continuing to usher in the golden age of the capital city construction, opening an era when the local areas will change, and transforming the living environment of all the people across the country within 20 to 30 years.

The ideals and dreams of the Korean people are being translated into brilliant reality along with the golden age of construction.

2022-03-09