{"id":24686,"date":"2026-05-21T05:27:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/24686\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T05:27:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T05:27:50","slug":"kim-jong-un-plots-continued-renewal-of-pyongyang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/24686\/","title":{"rendered":"Kim Jong Un Plots Continued Renewal of Pyongyang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Jong Un\u2019s ambitious plan to build 50,000 new apartments in Pyongyang over a five-year period is entering its final year and appears on track for accomplishing this goal.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

On February 16, Kim attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the fifth and final stage of the project that has to-date created two entirely new neighborhoods in Pyongyang and redeveloped a third. The final stage of the project will further expand one of those new neighborhoods, the Hwasong District, with an additional<\/a> 10,000 apartments.<\/p>\n

\"\"Figure 1. Kim Jong Un attends groundbreaking ceremony for the final stage of the Pyongyang housing redevelopment initiative. (Source: Korean Central News Agency)<\/p>\n

Beyond the housing push, Kim also announced an ambitious plan to develop eastern Pyongyang and redevelop three existing districts near the city\u2019s center.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang\u2019s modernization runs parallel to the rural development initiative <\/a>and \u201cproject for regional development<\/a>,\u201d two projects that have emphasized the need to improve rural communities. Kim\u2019s latest announcement indicates that the intense push for rural development is not coming at the expense of Pyongyang\u2019s continued modernization.<\/p>\n

The Final Push in Hwasong<\/p>\n

The final phase of the five-year Pyongyang housing construction project includes building up the southern end of the Hwasong District, according to renders of the project shown in state media images.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Figure 2. Kim Jong Un gives a speech at groundbreaking ceremony for the final stage of the Pyongyang housing redevelopment initiative. (Source: Korean Central News Agency)<\/p>\n

The Hwasong District, in northwest Pyongyang, was farmland before development work began in 2022. It currently consists<\/a> of multiple high-rise apartment buildings, shops and schools clustered around two major roads. The first phase built up along Hwasong Street and the second phase, along Rimhung Street.<\/p>\n

This third phase appears to continue along Rimhung Street and possibly expand beyond Hwasong District\u2019s boundary.<\/p>\n

The groundbreaking took place in an area that is currently part of the neighboring Taesong District, making it possible the boundary of Hwasong will be redrawn to include this area.<\/p>\n

Eastward Development<\/p>\n

In his speech<\/a> at the groundbreaking, Kim noted that after the Hwasong development is done, \u201cWe plan to implement with serious intent the policy of extending streets of Pyongyang towards Kangdong as the second stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kangdong is a rural district of Pyongyang on the eastern edge of the city that is connected via the four-lane Pyongyang-to-Kangdong Road. Before reaching Kangdong, it runs through Samsok District. Kim appears to have plans for that area too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs major science research institutes, technology universities, and officers’ schools will be built in Taesong District, [we] wish to build tens of thousands of modern houses in the section between the Hwasong area and Samsok District’s Songmun-dong,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

State media did not offer any detailed plans of the development, but it could encompass a sizable area, including large stretches of agricultural land.<\/p>\n

The goal of this additional project would be to \u201ccreate another wonderful scientific, cultural and dwelling area in Pyongyang,\u201d said Kim.<\/p>\n

Central Pyongyang<\/p>\n

While large parts of Pyongyang have been redeveloped since Kim came to power in late 2011, there are still many neighborhoods of decades-old, single-story houses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will transform such culturally backward metropolitan areas and suburbs \u2026 thereby eliminating and renovating all the elements unbecoming of the appearance of the capital city in its overall formation,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n

He named three districts: Tungme-dong in Songyo District, Wolhyang-dong in Moranbong District and Hadang-dong in Hyongjesan District.<\/p>\n

Tungme-dong is an area in southeast Pyongyang. It is near the Songsin and Songhwa developments that were part of the 50,000 apartments plan in 2022. The neighborhood is made up of mostly single-story houses and includes some factories along its southern edge, including the Pyongyang Steel Factory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Figure 3. Overview of Tungme districts. Image \u00a9 2025 Planet Labs, PBC cc-by-nc-sa 4.0. For media licensing options, please contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wolhyang-dong is immediately northwest of the Arch of Triumph roundabout and already contains a number of high-rise structures, although many are at least 20 years old. Curiously, just north of Wolhyang is Jinhung-dong, a largely residential district of single-story houses that appears to be a less developed area of the city, but hasn\u2019t been mentioned as part of the plan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Figure 4. Overview of Wolhyang-dong and Junhung-dong. Image \u00a9 2025 Planet Labs, PBC cc-by-nc-sa 4.0. For media licensing options, please contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hadang-dong is in northwest Pyongyang and includes a large area of single-story housing and an undeveloped area alongside a river. It is also home to the Pyongyang University of Transport and the Railway Research Institute.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Figure 5. Overview of Hadang district. Image \u00a9 2025 Planet Labs, PBC cc-by-nc-sa 4.0. For media licensing options, please contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is unclear when these newly announced projects will begin. North Korea\u2019s current five-year plan, which included the 50,000 apartment project for Pyongyang, is scheduled to end this year. Commercial satellite imagery does not show any current preparations in the three districts mentioned by Kim, so his announcement could be a preview of his next five-year plan for the capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kim Jong Un\u2019s ambitious plan to build 50,000 new apartments in Pyongyang over a five-year period is entering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3139,16690,3140,16691,129,16692,16693],"class_list":["post-24686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pyongyang","tag-housing","tag-hwasong-area-development","tag-martyn-williams","tag-planet-labs","tag-pyongyang","tag-pyongyang-city","tag-sadong-district-apartments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24686","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=24686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}