Kim Jong Un’s top-priority greenhouse megaproject is in danger of missing its deadline for completion next month, NK Pro analysis of satellite imagery shows, as material shortages, a summer COVID-19 outbreak and an overly ambitious schedule may have posed more problems than state media is letting on.

The North Korean leader said in January that the Korean People’s Army should finish the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm by Oct. 10 in order to address urgent food shortages for people in South Hamgyong Province where it is located, after declaring a “food crisis” in the country last year. 

But Planet Labs imagery shows that none of the more than 800 standard plastic-covered greenhouses or 18 larger greenhouses, some with glass roofs, are nearing the final stages of construction at the new farm, nor are its support buildings or a new apartment complex for workers.

This stands in stark contrast to the similar but vastly smaller Jungphyong greenhouse farm built further up the east coast in 2019, where apartments, support buildings and many of its 300 greenhouses already appeared fully built one month before its December opening ceremony attended by Kim. 

The Jungphyong greenhouse farm was nearly finished one month before its Dec. 3, 2019 opening ceremony. These images taken on Nov. 3 and 23 that year show far more progress than the Ryonpho project site seen above. | Images: Planet Labs PBH, edited by NK Pro  

Kim’s targets for the new project are significantly more ambitious than the previous project as well. He demanded the army build the Ryonpho farm to be over twice the size of the older project and in almost half the time — 230 days versus Jungphyong’s 430 days.

Unless the pace of work picks up, the army is likely to miss the Oct. 10 deadline — a major holiday celebrating the 77th founding anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).

However, state media reports in recent weeks have suggested the project is still on track.

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said last month that “construction perseveringly pushed ahead … as planned” in spite of a COVID-19 outbreak, which infected millions of people nationwide from April to July and caused a breakdown in the “transport and supply of materials.” 

Kim said the Ryonpho project’s active status throughout strict local lockdowns provided “a firm guarantee for completing [it] within the set dates.” 

A Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) article published Monday said overnight work shifts are ongoing and that workers “increased [their] construction speed 1.2 times” after propaganda music troupes performed at the site. Another KCNA report from Sept. 3 said the local railway bureau “ensured the transport demand” is being fulfilled for the Ryonpho project.

State media has not reported a change in Kim’s original Oct. 10 deadline, but it would not be unusual for the army to miss the deadline and delay the opening of the Ryonpho farm.

The opening of last year’s top housing project, a new street of skyscrapers in Pyongyang, was delayed by nearly four months, and the top projects of the previous two years — the Pyongyang General Hospital and Wonsan-Kalma beach tourist zone — were both indefinitely delayed and have still yet to open. 

Edited by Bryan Betts