As part of the 2012 centenary celebrations of the birth of Great Leader Kim Il Sung, an ambitious building project was planned for the capital. From Nov 2009:
The North Korean authorities proclaim that they will have constructed 100,000 houses in Pyongyang by 2012, thus solving Pyongyang housing shortages by the time North Korea is scheduled to have become a strong and prosperous state. Therefore, the success or failure of the housing project will be a key standard by which to judge the strong, prosperous state claim overall....
“The construction of 100,000 houses in Pyongyang, which was initiated at Chairman Kim Jong Il’s suggestion, is one of the key planks of the 2012 plan. When the 100,000 houses are completed, Pyongyang residents’ housing problems will be completely solved.”
Alas, this key project has not been proceeding according to plan. Lack of cement was one problem. And a general economic squeeze was cited as a reason why the target had been cut back to a mere 20,000 homes. What a humiliation for the great and prosperous nation!
Additionally, this project has been advertised as an achievement of the successor, Kim Jong Eun. If the plan fails then it will be a blow to the succession. If construction is suspended completely in advance of the Delegates’ Conference, happening in September, the image of Kim Jong Eun could be damaged.
And that cannot be allowed to happen.
Then ten days ago we had this report:
Close watchers of North Korean affairs were caught on the hop last week by reports that universities in the hermit kingdom would be closed from 27 June for up to 10 months while students are sent to work on farms, in factories and in construction.
Diplomats in Pyongyang confirmed that students were being drafted into manual labour on the outskirts of the city until April next year to prepare for major celebrations to commemorate the centenary of the late leader Kim Il Sung's birthday.
Now we have more details, and everything falls into place:
Large numbers of additional soldiers and students have been mobilized to try and address the slipping schedule for the construction of 100,000 homes in Pyongyang by 2012, with universities in the capital and some bigger local universities having received a ‘socialist construction mobilization order’ in mid-June.
A Pyongyang source, explaining the situation today, said, “I know that students from universities in Pyongyang like Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology have been sent to the construction of 100,000 houses. I hear that they will be at the construction site for at least two months or more.”
The mobilization could easily be extended depending on the status of the construction project, he further added....
Mobilized personnel are reportedly working primarily on construction in neighborhoods where major public works idolizing the Kim family are to be found.
Work experience, you could call it. Or gap year, socialist-style.
So, will those 100,000 houses get built in time? Or will the image of Kim Jong Eun be irreparably damaged? The signs are not good:
One source reported, “In Seopo and Hadang 2-dong, where there are soldiers, buildings have already been erected, so people can move in there in August. However, the interiors have not been completed, so people don’t actually want to move in.”
However, on those sites staffed by people from enterprises, events are characterized by a lack of basic materials and the siphoning off of what is available.
The source said, “They are short of materials, while individuals are selling off existing materials and cement to buy rice because the authorities are not providing them with any support. Of the construction overseen by enterprise work units, almost none have been erected. In Hyeongjesan district, with the exception of those sites for which soldiers are responsible, they have only erected the bottom floor.”
According to one source, on April 1st the National Defense Commission ordered, “Complete the construction of 100,000 homes by April 15th, 2012 and get people to move into the new homes without condition.”
However, reports suggest widespread skepticism of this, with one source saying, “According to rumors, there was even a threat, ‘Those in charge of construction who cannot complete it must prepare to leave their posts.’ However, there are many people saying that the 100,000 houses won’t even be done by 2017.”
Wait, I thought NK was already a "strong and prosperous state"? Isn't this the government that's always telling its people how successfully they have intimidated all the greatest world powers?
If these poor people ever get a chance to see what life is like in the rest of the [non-crazy] world, a goodly number of them may simply go mad from the shock, and the realization they've been living in a twisted bizarro-Disney cartoon (with Satan in the role of Mickey) their whole lives.
Posted by: Gene | July 11, 2011 at 05:56 PM