As North Korea’s work on the Hyesan-Samjiyon Line continues as part of broader development efforts in the Samjiyon area, the completion of construction has been announced for a modern version of the line’s first station, Wiyon Station.
“Wiyon Station [remodeling] was completed in August after construction began at the end of last year as work on the Hyesan-Samjiyon Line (wide gauge) finished,” said a Ryanggang Province-based source on September 3.
The massive redevelopment near the station together with the construction of new apartments is ongoing, and the remodeling of nearby government buildings and hotels is helping to modernize the Wiyon area.
“A road was redone in front of the station, and there are newly-built apartments,” he said. “There are a lot of new or remodeled buildings, including offices for enterprises and historical and cultural sites, and places for soldiers to stay.”
The newly constructed apartments in Wiyon have designs similar to those in Pyongyang and other major cities, with kitchens connected to the living rooms and dining rooms opening out to verandas.
Real estate brokers have flocked to the area as new apartments have been built in front of the train station. The apartments have easy access to transportation, and housing prices have spiked accordingly as locals have scrambled to secure residence permits.
“In the past, the exteriors of most apartments and government buildings were just cement or gray in color, but now there are more bright greens and reds,” a separate source in Ryanggang Province reported.
“The colors make you feel good when you look at them.”
The remodeling of the area around Wiyon Station is part of broader development efforts in the Samjiyon area. The Hyesan-Samjiyon railway took a lengthy two years to complete as the mountainous terrain presented numerous difficulties. A construction team from Pyongyang supported construction of the wide-gauge line.
During on-site visits to the area, Kim Jong Un said that “serious vibration could be felt on train and its speed was impeded,” thereby ordering that the railbed construction be redone by 2019 so that the Hyesan-Samjiyon line could “set the standard” for railways in the country, Korean Central News Agency reported on August 19.
In November 2016, he ordered that Samjiyon County be modernized within three to four years, leaving the local North Korean authorities scrambling to gather the resources needed.
Kim visited the area in July and August, announcing that he wanted to make Samjiyon County an “ideal place for the people to lead quality lives” and that it would become the model for all new municipal development in the country. Currently, North Korea is in the second stage of a project to “redesign Samjiyon.”
The entire city of Hyesan is feeling the effects of the leader’s newfound interest, as numerous construction crews get to work. Both sources said that construction crews are even using drones to help with city planning and monitoring the progress of the efforts.
Kim Jong Un has habitually visited Samjiyon on national holidays or when an important decision has been handed down. He visited the area immediately before Jang Song Thaek’s execution in December 2013, as well as prior to the third anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death in November 2014, and to commemorate the launch of the Hwasong-15 intercontinental missile in December 2017.
