Construction on a new military base or other kind of campus is underway on the grounds of a recently demolished airfield in central Pyongyang, according to NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery. 

The airfield runway and over a dozen large buildings and aircraft shelters were demolished starting in late March, indicating wasteful or near-sighted planning by central authorities as the complex was originally built only around eight years ago.

Planet Labs imagery shows around 20 new buildings in the early stages of construction as of May 14 at the site along Pyongyang’s Taedong River. 

Slide to compare the airfield in February this year (left) to the most recent high-resolution image taken on May 14 (right) showing the new construction project underway in place of the demolished runway (please refresh page if images do not load) | Images: Planet Labs; edited by NK Pro

Most of the buildings appear even larger than the ones they are replacing, while inner wall layouts visible in the imagery suggest they include classroom or dormitory buildings as well as administrative buildings and auditoriums or gyms.

The building designs and campus layout indicate the new project is not another luxurious guesthouse project. The last time a sprawling construction worker camp appeared in the same place as the one for the airfield replacement project, it was to house workers building the Kumsusan Guesthouse for Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2019.

The construction project is unlikely to receive major coverage in state media, as it is located in a cloistered part of the capital between the Kumsusan and Paekhwawon guesthouses — both utilized by leader Kim Jong Un’s personal elite band in addition to foreign leaders.

Just to the west are more elite mansions or guesthouses, the highly secure Kumsusan Palace of the Sun where the bodies of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il lie in state in glass cases, and a giant secretive military campus that has yet to be revealed in state media years after becoming active. 

The project’s valuable location and unusually large construction worker camp point to its importance to Kim Jong Un, but the lack of coverage so far in state media suggest it belongs to the military, intelligence or some other sensitive institution. 

Edited by Arius Derr