{"id":15924,"date":"2026-05-14T00:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/15924\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T00:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:22:07","slug":"north-koreas-showpiece-capital-struggles-with-basic-winter-heating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/15924\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea’s showpiece capital struggles with basic winter heating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pyongyang<\/a>Apartment buildings in Pyongyang. (Todd Mecklem, Creative Commons, Flickr)<\/p>\n

As modern apartment dwellers in the North Korean capital<\/a> of Pyongyang<\/a> struggle to heat<\/a> their homes<\/a> in the winter<\/a>, some apparently miss the old-fashioned stoves of the countryside. Chronic energy shortages in North Korea\u2019s showcase capital have rendered central heating systems largely ineffective, leaving residents of Pyongyang\u2019s high-rise apartment buildings<\/a> to improvise in the cold \u2014 a sign, observers say, that the regime\u2019s showy construction<\/a> projects<\/a> often fail to meet people\u2019s basic needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese apartments<\/a> may look modern on the outside, but the reality is that irregular heating means residents often find themselves shivering in their homes. So people living in coveted Pyongyang apartments often find themselves envying country people living in houses<\/a> heated by stoves,\u201d a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK recently, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.<\/p>\n

According to the source, residents of high-rise apartments in the Mangyongdae district of Pyongyang are exposed to bitter winter temperatures because of unreliable heating. These apartments usually have five or six hours<\/a> of heating every day, but heating is sometimes cut off completely when energy is redirected during major political events.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang apartments generally depend on central heating systems that utilize waste heat from coal<\/a> plants. But this method is inefficient because of severe energy loss from aging equipment at the plants, including old heating conduits.<\/p>\n

That has led North Koreans to use space heaters, electric blankets and gas boilers, but none of these are reliable alternatives given the chronic shortage of power<\/a> and gas. Some people compensate by installing solar panels on their veranda, but wealthy<\/a> families<\/a> are generally the only ones who can handle the high installation fees.<\/p>\n

Workarounds blocked, options narrow<\/p>\n

Another common workaround is to retrofit the floor heating system<\/a> \u2014 known as ondol \u2014 to work<\/a> with coal briquettes. This heating approach is also the reason for the stovepipes often protruding from veranda windows. But the authorities have been cracking down on stovepipe installation and the resulting fumes for reasons of urban beautification, the source said, with the result that briquette heating is no longer a viable option.<\/p>\n

Under power saving guidelines, the use of space heaters is prohibited even in newly built apartments on Songshin, Songhwa, Rimhung and Jonwi avenues, where the power supply is said to be more regular. That suggests that the heating issue remains unresolved in both older and newer apartments.<\/p>\n

That has forced apartment residents to turn to old-fashioned methods of enduring the winter, such as draping verandas and windows with insulating materials<\/a>, staying inside indoor tents or carrying around hot-water bottles to conserve body heat.<\/p>\n

Given these inconveniences, people gripe that apartment life is not much of an improvement, despite the fancy exteriors, the source said.<\/p>\n

Considering that Pyongyang has the finest amenities in North Korea, it<\/a> may sound strange that capital residents struggling to keep their homes warm would long for the old-timey stoves of the countryside. That can be seen as a dramatic example of how the regime\u2019s showy construction projects often fail to meet residents\u2019 basic living requirements.<\/p>\n

Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n

Reporting from inside North Korea<\/p>\n

\n Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information<\/a> through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media<\/a>, satellite<\/a> imagery, or defector<\/a> accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.\n <\/p>\n

\n Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea \u2014 discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report<\/a> on developments other outlets cannot access: market<\/a> trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.\n <\/p>\n

\n Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge<\/a> between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what\u2019s happening inside one of the world\u2019s most closed societies.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apartment buildings in Pyongyang. (Todd Mecklem, Creative Commons, Flickr) As modern apartment dwellers in the North Korean capital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2339,3139,4638,129,11623],"class_list":{"0":"post-15924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pyongyang","8":"tag-dprk","9":"tag-housing","10":"tag-infrastructure","11":"tag-pyongyang","12":"tag-winter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}