A 2023 calendar recently obtained by Daily NK highlights a terraced housing complex on the banks of the Potong River in Pyongyang. The residential development, which is located in the city’s Kyongru-dong neighborhood, is one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s signature projects.
Completed on Apr. 13, 2022, the terraced housing development occupies the site of Kim Il Sung’s private residence. It has been compared to the ritzy UN Village neighborhood in Seoul.
That North Korea chose to highlight the housing complex in its 2023 calendar suggests that it is being treated as one of Kim Jong Un’s major achievements.
Generally speaking, everything published in North Korea is aimed at promoting the regime or reinforcing internal cohesion, and calendars are no exception. The housing complex’s inclusion in the calendar suggests that North Korea may have chosen it as the construction project it most wants to promote to the outside world. In fact, photographs of the complex may be aimed at showing the outside world that North Korea is still in good shape despite the economic difficulties caused by the closure of its national borders and international sanctions.
On Dec. 12, the Rodong Sinmun described 2022 as “a significant year in which our construction work peaked despite trials and tribulations never before seen in our history,” further claiming that “this is a historical moment in which construction is complete on Songhwa Street, the first fruit of the 50,000-house construction project in Pyongyang; the distinctive terraced housing development on the slopes of the Botong River has come into being; and the construction of 10,000 houses in the Hwasong District has entered its final stage.”
North Korea’s much-vaunted Songhwa Street was also used as the background for the February page of the calendar. Work on Songhwa Street was finished on Apr. 11, which was the tenth anniversary of Kim Jong Un being named first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and officially taking power in North Korea.
The regime’s efforts to supply a large number of houses to the public on the very day that Kim officially took power was likely an attempt to present KIm as a benevolent leader. In all likelihood, North Korea wanted to highlight this fact to the outside world when it included a photograph of Songhwa Street in its 2023 calendar.
The calendar also includes a photograph of an 80-story building that is one of the landmarks of Songhwa Street. There are reportedly around 900 families living in that building.
Considering that a five-year plan to build a total of 50,000 homes in Pyongyang is currently underway – with 10,000 homes being built each year – North Korea is likely to include photographs of these buildings in future calendars as well.
In addition to these new building projects, the calendar also includes photographs of buildings and streets that have been developed under Kim Jong Un, including Ryomyong Street, Mirae Scientists Street and the Sci-Tech Complex. Also featured are the Arch of Triumph and the Juche Tower.
In short, the calendar contains a mix of major landmarks symbolizing the past and present of North Korea.
North Korea’s Foreign Languages Publishing House, which specializes in publications for the outside world, published the calendar, suggesting that the regime wants to promote some of its landmark buildings to a foreign audience.
The calendar provides explanations of street names and key events in both Korean and Chinese. Chinese does not appear in calendars that are made for the North Korean public.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
