Under “stage three” of North Korea’s major project to reconstruct Samjiyon city and its surrounding area, around eight districts have seen large-scale demolition and reconstruction of homes and public buildings this year, NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery reveals.

Stage two of the “sprucing up” of Samjiyon County was officially completed last December and consisted of rebuilding the main township — now renamed Samjiyon City — with hundreds of new buildings. 

State media this week reported on the progress of stage three, which focuses on areas outside the city, saying workers have “completed the frames of over 80 apartment houses for more than 300 households and at least 10 public buildings.”

The report added that “river improvement projects are underway” and that “the overall framework project in Samjiyon area is being carried out at over 90 percent.”

The deadline for stage three was said in last December’s ceremony to be the 75th ruling party founding anniversary on October 10 this year.

Comparisons of satellite images taken this week and last fall, before snow covered the area for the winter, corroborate this week’s report, showing that while some preparations were visible late last year, most commenced over winter. 

In the main Samjiyon city itself, temporary worker structures disappeared and no major new construction began in the same time period, though there are signs work remains unfinished there as well.

A ski resort on the western edge of the city still appeared unfinished as of Tuesday, for example, and state television showed last month that cranes had yet to be removed at the two main 10+ story hotels. 

The new construction as part of stage three does not extend outside the old Samjiyon County limits, the imagery shows, with no such new major work in Pochon or Hyesan to the south or past Mubong in the east.

Below are details of the new construction in eight small districts and surrounding areas.

Note: North Korean state media, in announcing last December that Samjiyon County was renamed Samjiyon City, said the city is now divided into the Kwangmyongsong-dong, Pegaebong-dong, Potnamu-dong, and Ikkal-dong districts.

It said the rest of the former “workers’ districts” would be reformed into regular districts as well, listing Paektusanmilyong-dong, Rimyongsu-dong, Ohomuldong-dong, Sinmusong-dong, Phothae-dong, and Mubong-dong. Other village names used in this article may refer to older names now absorbed by other districts. 

Rimyongsu

Closest to Samjiyon proper to the southwest is the district of Rimyongsu, a narrow valley village where there is ongoing construction replacing dozens of small homes with what appear to be apartment buildings.

Directly to the east near the newly-built Rimyongsu Station — part of the Hyesan-Samjiyon railway project, the first of Samjiyon’s three stages — temporary worker structures appeared since last November as well, and new construction seems to be in the works next to a group of new apartments that were built in the first stage.

Phothae

Perhaps the largest area of new construction as part of the project’s third stage is concentrated in and nearby the Phothae district.

This is where the new Samjiyon Potato Farina Factory was built in late 2017, bringing with it new apartments, a new bridge, and other infrastructural developments at the time.

But Planet Labs satellite imagery shows that since November, new roads have been carved out, dozens of homes demolished, and extensive new construction is underway.

Directly to the southeast, a new grid of streets in likely preparation for apartment or public building construction has appeared around an existing monument, and some small homes nearby appear to have been demolished.

To the south of central Phothae, there appears to be new development, possibly apartment construction, on a hill’s plateau, as well as other new construction on both the east and west sides of the hill.

Honggyesu

In the Honggyesu district, sandwiched between Rimyongsu and Phothae along the border with China, many small villages spread apart have seen near-total demolition of former groups of small homes.

These appear to be in the process of being replaced with new apartment construction, the imagery shows.

Poso

Poso, located to the southeast of Phothae, is also in the early stages of new apartment construction along newly-built roads.

Some new public or industrial buildings have also appeared in the village since November, along with temporary worker structures strewn throughout.

Junghung and Thongnam

These valley districts form the southern administrative border of Samjiyon City, straddling the main road and railroad from Pochon and Hyesan to the south.

Similarly, large-scale foundation work appears underway to build new roads, apartments, and other buildings to replace the now-demolished small homes.

Sinmusong

The only major area of reconstruction as part of stage three to the north of Samjiyon proper is in the Sinmusong district, lying in the shadow of Mt. Paektu just south of the Chinese border.

Planet Imagery shows that construction here began in September 2019 with four small new public or industrial buildings, followed by demolition of some homes in early November and building of new apartment buildings over winter.

Mubong

Located on the northeast administrative border, and the boundary of the stage three construction, is the separate Mubong Special Zone construction project.

This was originally intended as an ambitious tourist zone right on the Chinese border, boasting investment interest from foreign companies.

Construction on over 125 new apartment or hotel villas began in late 2017 but stalled before restarting in June 2019.

No major progress appears to have been made over winter, though gradual roofing work continued through December, according to Planet Labs imagery.

Samjiyon Airport and nearby ski hill

While the new Hyesan-Samjiyon railway was hailed as a significant project that would facilitate more tours of workers and ordinary citizens to the “revolutionary” sites in the area of state propaganda lore, it is Samjiyon Airport which provides the quickest link from the capital to the remote area.

But the area directly surrounding the airport has not seen any significant development in recent months as construction has increased elsewhere in the county.

At a nearby ski hill, slated to be part of the Mubong tourist zone, it is unclear if construction has stalled or will be resumed.

But groups of new homes or apartments that began to go up last fall have yet to be finished, satellite imagery shows, while six additional homes were demolished over winter.

Edited By James Fretwell