There have long been massive differences in North Korea between the relatively prosperous capital and the rest of the country, which suffers from greater poverty and underdevelopment.

But in a major speech earlier this month, leader Kim Jong Un expressed renewed interest in changing this situation and in developing the many neglected backwaters outside Pyongyang.

The state has branded this ambitious — probably overly ambitious — local development plan as the 20×10 policy. It calls for building 20 state-of-the-art industrial facilities every year for a decade, in essence requiring the construction of a new facility in every one of