Changes in Pyongyang’s administrative districts due to apartment construction projects have led the authorities to reissue city residency cards to some Pyongyang residents, Daily NK has learned.
“A Supreme People’s Assembly Standing Committee ordinance led to the changes in addresses in Sadong District, Jung District’s Kyongnu-dong neighborhood, Hwasong District, and Rongsong District following the creation of Hwasong District,” a reporting partner in Pyongyang told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The reissuing efforts began from Mar. 15 through an order by the citizen registration department of Pyongyang’s Social Security Bureau.”
In North Korea, people carry a citizen ID card, analogous to South Korea’s national ID card. However, residents of Pyongyang — where the nation’s elite live — are issued city residency cards that differ from regular citizen ID cards.
The ongoing effort to reissue city ID cards is not directed at all Pyongyang residents, only at those people whose addresses must be corrected in accordance with changes in administrative districts due apartment construction projects.
“The first round of the efforts to reissue city resident cards is directed at people who moved into homes completed in Sadong District’s Songsin-Songhwa area and Jung District’s Kyongnu-dong neighborhood, or people scheduled to move into the stage 1 homes being built in Hwasong District, as well as people who live in Ryongsong District’s Ryongmun 1-dong and Ryongmun 2-dong, where the neighborhood names have changed because of the creation of Hwasong District,” the reporting partner said.
He further reported that the citizen registration department of Pyongyang’s Social Security Bureau plans to complete reissuing the cards by Apr. 15, which is the birthday of North Korea’s late founder Kim Il Sung on Apr. 15. The bureau then plans to carry out another reissuance of city residency cards in the autumn.
The Supreme People’s Assembly’s Standing Committee issued an ordinance in January unveiling the new administrative districts of Pyongyang’s Hwasong District, where a large-scale housing construction project is underway. Accordingly, North Korea divided Hwasong District into Hwasong 1-dong, Hwasong 2-dong, Hwasong 3-dong, Chonghwa 1-dong and Kumnung 1-dong. The neighboring Ryongmun-dong neighborhood of Ryongsong District was renamed Ryongmun 1-dong, while Hwasong-dong was renamed Ryongmun 2-dong.
In March of last year, the the Supreme People’s Assembly’s Standing Committee issued another ordinance renaming the neighborhoods in the Songsin-Songhwa area of Sadong District Songsin 1-dong, Songsin 2-dong, Songhwa 1-dong and Songhwa 2-dong, while the existing Songsin 1-dong, Songsin 2-dong and Songsin 3-dong neighborhoods of Sadong District were renamed Sadong 1-dong, Sadong 2-dong and Sadong 3-dong, and Songhwa 1-dong and Songhwa 2-dong were renamed Songnyu 1-dong and Songnyu 2-dong.
The Supreme People’s Assembly’s Standing Committee had also issued an earlier ordinance in September 2021 naming the residential district of terraced housing next to the Potong River in Jung District as Kyongnu-dong.
Meanwhile, Pyongyang’s Social Security Bureau will use the reissuing of the cards to compare the actual residences of all the city’s residents with electronic records. This is expected to enhance the law enforcement agency’s management of records related to Pyongyang denizens.
“Pyongyang’s Social Security Bureau is calling on people to actively take part in the investigation into the actual [legal] residences of the city’s residents,” the reporting partner said.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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