[imText1]Regarding the Hyesan, Yangkang province “apartment collapse incident (Reported Daily NK 7/23),” an opinion has been brought forward that the direct cause is the change in the weight load that followed from a drastic removal of the interior wall.
An internal North Korean news source quotes a witness to the incident who states, “Starting on the morning of the 19th, two construction workers were carrying on with a project to remove the wall panel of a house. When the wall panel was about to be dismantled, the concrete floor from the floor above spilled out and one side of the seven-story apartment crumbled down.”
Among the residents who had lived in the collapsed apartment, it was a trend to remodel the interior to enlarge the drawing room in a modern Chinese style. This apartment was typically a place where the relatively affluent class such as customs or trade workers resided.
Without passing building safety inspections, households would remove the wall panel that divided the small room and the kitchen to create a drawing room where they could drink tea with guests.
North Korean apartments are distributed to residents in the form of a rental apartment and if apartment residents want to change the structure, they must report this to the City Administrative Bureau under the People’s CommitteeNorth Korean people's committees are akin to local governmen... More that acts as the Superintendence Office for residents. However, the City Administrative Bureau has been accepting bribes and looking the other way which makes the regulations only valid in theory.
The news source also claimed, “It seems the building couldn’t withstand it anymore and collapsed. Due to this incident, 26 people have died and there are dozens more in casualties.”
In addition, they also claimed, “the Public Security Forces evacuated the residents on the side of the building without damages and demolished the entire apartment. It was a place that was clearly visible even in China and as reconstruction was difficult, it seems they demolished it all.”
Defector Kim Ju Chan [pseudonym] who had spoken to his family who lives in Hyesan said, “There has been a rumor to be alert as the apartment collapse incident is a conspiracy of the South Korean National Intelligence Service. However, hardly anyone believes this and says that this couldn’t be the result of a NIS conspiracy but from the construction of the wall panels.”
As this incident occurred during the Local Assembly representative elections, the North Korean authorities have been spreading such rumors like “South Korean NIS invasion” to prevent any changes in public sentiment.
Kim said, “In the process of handling the building debris, they also withdrew bundles of money or anything that looked valuable from private households. As the majority of the apartment residents are powerful people, it seems as there will be no other trouble.”
