By Kim Young-jin
North Korean authorities have ordered some Pyongyang residents to live in unfinished high-rise apartments in a bid to showcase the country’s supposed development, a website reported Tuesday.
Sources in the North told the Daily NK that authorities ordered citizens into new units in the Mansudae district before their interiors were complete, in time for the 100th birth anniversary of country founder Kim Il-sung on April 15.
The impoverished North had promised to emerge as a “strong and prosperous” state by the landmark date and had been in high gear to renovate the capital, even mobilizing university students for construction work.
The report said building had stopped due to a materials shortage and that the order was given to create the impression that the apartments had been completed.
Those living in the apartments were told to work on the interior construction themselves, the report said.
“The residents, scared as they are that they may lose their homes again after losing them once when they were ripped down in the first place, are just living in them while working on the interior construction,” the source was quoted as saying.
The Daily NK, which focuses on developments in the Stalinist state, has reported major developments there such as a botched currency reform in 2009. The North’s media has protested the site.
The report said the country suffers from corruption in its management of construction projects, and that site managers have in the past diverted materials for profit.
Analysts in the South say Pyongyang’s claims of prosperity aim to convince the impoverished populace that economic improvements are on the way in a bid to retain power.
Other economic projects included the completion of the Huichon Power Station in its central border region with China with a generating capacity of 300,000 kilowatts, an aquarium and an amusement park.
Despite a successful power transfer some experts say the regime has tough days ahead as any reform of the economy would risk opening the country to outside forces and the likelihood of undermining the regime.
The report comes amid criticism against the North for spending an estimated $850 million on a failed satellite launch instead of improving living conditions for its people, who face problems due to food shortages and isolation.