North Korea has announced plans to construct 20,000 housing units across 130 agricultural areas this year, according to the regime’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
The official publication reports these homes will showcase “the vitality of the party’s rural revolution platform,” highlighting what appears to be a significant investment in rural infrastructure. One imagines the marketing brochures: “Revolutionary views, juche-inspired floor plans, and only occasional power outages!”
In the capital, a contingent of 500 architects is designing these rural homes, part of the broader “Regional Development 20×10 Policy” that aims to build modernized factories in 20 cities and counties annually over a decade. The disparity between urban planners and rural recipients underscores the persistent divide the regime is ostensibly trying to address.
The Workers’ Party has acknowledged the existence of disparities between urban and rural living standards – a revelation that ranks just below “water is wet” on the surprise scale.
Party officials have stated their intention to provide rural residents with “the same level of sanitary conditions as urban people” and promised construction of modern hospitals in rural regions, setting the bar at what might charitably be called a modest height.
Behind the propaganda lies a genuine challenge: North Korea’s countryside has languished for decades while resources concentrated in the capital. These housing initiatives, whatever their actual implementation, represent an overdue recognition that the regime’s stability depends on addressing basic needs beyond Pyongyang.
As rural residents potentially move into improved housing, they might find themselves with better living conditions – and perhaps just enough comfort to avoid asking inconvenient questions about why such necessities took so long to arrive.
Note: This is an opinion column offering a wry perspective on North Korea.
