North Korea is creating a commercial street in downtown Pyongyang as part of a large-scale project to turn the capital into an international city by 2012, when its late leader Kim Il-sung marks the centennial birthday, according to Yonhap News.
North Korea broke ground in December to construct a 50-story twin tower hotel, a trade center, a modern department store and office buildings under the initiative of Jang Song-taek, brother-in-law of leader Kim Jong-il, Yonhap reported quoting informed sources.
The creation of "Geumgang street" is part of the North's broader plan to rebuild its sagging economy by 2012, a year honoring the 100th birthday of its late leader Kim Il-sung, the sources said.
North Korea launched an all-out campaign late last year to make a "powerful and prosperous country" by that year.
According to Yonhap, construction of the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel also resumed in March with support from the Egyptian group Orascom, after being suspended for nearly 20 years.
North Korea aims to build an apartment complex for 100,000 households alongside a highway linking Pyongyang and Nampo, a western port city, but construction has yet to begin, according to Yonhap.
Pyongyang's image of a "gray city" has already been improved considerably thanks to a separate large-scale project to modernize the city by the 60th founding anniversary of the country that falls in September.