North Korea celebrates building 10,000 modern homes in Pyongyang

By Reuters April 16, 2023 | 04:59 pm PT

A North Korean flag flutters on top of the 160-metre tall tower at North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong, in this picture taken from Tae Sung freedom village near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), inside the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, September 30, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji

North Korea held a ceremony on Sunday to celebrate the completion of 10,000 new modern homes in the newly built Hwasong District in Pyongyang, state media KCNA reported.

Leader Kim Jong Un took part in the ceremony, the report said, as well as a number of senior government officials including Kim Tok Hun, premier of the cabinet.

The milestone comes two months after Kim broke ground in February on another housing project that has been described as "another luxurious street of socialism full of the people's happiness" by KCNA.

In 2021, North Korea announced plans to build 50,000 new apartments in the capital over the course of five years.

Since then, North Korea said it has moved forward with a series of construction projects, some of which are still ongoing amid foreign suspicion of food shortages.

Kim said the housing project is a long-cherished plan being pushed forward as a "top priority" by the Workers' Party of Korea and the state and he reaffirmed his idea to make Pyongyang a "world-famous" city, according to KCNA.