For many months, North Korean state media has spoken of its “utopia” towns and “socialist villages,” broadcasting images of vibrant and colorful homes tightly knit into cookie-cutter residential communities.

Now, North Koreans in two northeastern coastal regions are celebrating “housewarming parties” as they move into their new houses, state media reported on Monday.

The DPRK’s Korean Central Television (KCTV) showed people in Mao jackets and “hanbok” traditional dress commemorating the rural construction project’s completionin Hamgyong province and Rason City — two areas recently devastated by floods and typhoons earlier this year. KCTV claimed that both construction workers and the