Dozens of new high-rise apartments have begun to dot the Pyongyang skyline two months after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un demanded the army build two entirely new urban districts for more than 10,000 families by the end of the year.

Soldiers and North Korea’s so-called “youth shock brigades” seem to have worked day and night to build concrete apartment buildings at least 10 stories high as of mid-May, according to images published in state media as well as the Russian embassy in Pyongyang.

Kim had demanded in late March that framework construction needed to be completed “in the first half of the year” — by the end of June — on more than three dozen mostly residential buildings with 25-50 stories in southeastern Pyongyang’s Sadong district.

The North Korean leader apparently did not repeat the demand at two on-site inspections of another, smaller apartment project in April, but both are apparently meant to be completed by the end of 2021.

Given the rapid progress so far and North Korea’s history of speedy construction, it appears possible that the Sadong district project meets Kim’s June deadline.

One example is Ryomyong Street, a large project launched in March 2016. North Korean state media claimed that the bare concrete framework for 3,000 homes was completed just three months later, and that nearly two floors were being built per day. North Korea also showed off the completed framework of a 70-story skyscraper less than five months after construction began in 2016.

The original 2021 plan for the Sadong district project (indicated within thick blue outlines) calls for building 10,000 homes across over 40 new residential buildings, eight large public buildings, one large new school, and remodeling two existing schools. Most of the buildings appeared to be growing in height by May 18, except for the tallest planned building — set for 50 stories — which still appeared to be in the foundation stages. | Images: KCNA and © 2021 Planet Labs Inc. All Rights Reserved, reprinted by permission. Edited by NK News.

But the two new Sadong district housing projects seem just as likely to extend past their year-end deadline. Kim Jong Un has been on a losing streak with his giant construction projects — he delayed and ultimately began to publicly ignore the Wonsan-Kalma beach tourism zone and the new Pyongyang General Hospital, which both now sit unopened while appearing mostly finished from the outside.

Despite its early progress, Ryomyong Street also ran into problems and missed its end-of-year 2016 deadline by several months.

Faded illustrations of highrises and other buildings on the left and right sides of this 3D-rendered layout (and outside the thick blue outline in the design map image above) are not part of the 2021 plan but also do not exist yet. Authorities could demolish the existing neighborhoods in their place in the coming years to satisfy Kim Jong Un’s orders to build 50,000 new homes in the city by the end of 2025. | Images: Google Earth, KCNA, edited by NK News

However, Pyongyang housing projects may soon benefit from increased trade and imports of some specialized building materials. Recent NK Pro analysis of Satellite imagery suggested North Korea may be working to do just that.

Meanwhile, the Korean Central News Agency reported on Thursday that builders at the Sadong district project are “economizing as much building materials as possible, while putting efforts into ensuring speed and quality.”

Edited by Arius Derr