Residents complain about Pyongyang’s fancy new apartments
Promoted for their luxurious facilities and night views, the Songhwa Street apartments fall short of residents’ expectations due to chronic water and electricity shortages (Image: KCNA)
It has been three years since people moved into their apartments in the futuristic 83-story Songhwa Street Main Tower in Pyongyang and they’re not happy.
Dissatisfaction arising from poor construction and bad management of North Korea’s tallest residential building has apparently reached a peak of sorts. Sources in the city tell us that the theme appears to be, “Why did they even build such a high-rise if it’s going to be like this?”
Completed in the spring of 2022 after 13 months of construction, the postmodern tower in the capital’s Sadong district is the centerpiece of an ambitious five-year plan to build 50,000 modern apartments for Pyongyang’s relatively privileged residents.
Kim Jong-un himself was present at the groundbreaking. According to North Korean media, 10,000 homes have been completed on Songhwa Street so far, followed by another 20,000 on Hwasong Street in two phases in April last year and in April this year.
At 282 meters (925 feet), the Songhwa Street Main Tower is second only to the iconic Ryugyong Hotel.
The local source, who cannot be named for obvious reasons, quoted frustrated residents who previously lived in the district saying, “They demolished our homes to build Songhwa Street and gave us admission certificates we couldn’t refuse. But now as we’re high up in the building, we’re suffering even more due to electricity and water problems.”
The poorer and less influential people who lived in the area before were assigned apartments above the 20th floor. As is typical with normal residential blocks in North Korea, the higher your apartment, the more unlucky you are.
That is because of the chronic electricity shortage, which has worsened since the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. “Electricity has nearly disappeared this year,” the source told us. ”The elevators barely operate, and even then, only for three hours in the evening and for an hour in the morning.”
Lights on the outside
To add insult to their stress, residents have to accept that their tower functions for propaganda. Decorative lighting on the building’s exterior is illuminated every night, sending the message that there’s no shortage and all is well. The external lights come on every evening at 7 p.m. and stay lit until 11 p.m.
Anger is not against the regime in general, but rather seems to be directed towards officials who “just build the structures and then neglect them.” Some speculate that the problems are due to “spies among the officials.” This peculiar conjuring of an imagined “spy” is a consequence of the system, where openly criticizing Kim Jong-un or specific officials is too dangerous.
As the Sadong district is on the outskirts, electricity supply was limited even before the construction of the tower. Locals hoped it would improve the area’s status and result in better electricity and water services.
As one defector who used to live in the Songhwa Street area and came to South Korea in 2022 explained, in Pyongyang, discrimination between central and peripheral districts is severe.
“People from districts designated as central receive privileges,” said Jin. “Those in the peripheral districts are treated similarly to people in rural areas.”
This division effectively splits Pyongyang’s citizens into two classes. Residents of what is designated the peripheral “410 region” are not permitted to live or work in the central districts of the city. They cannot marry someone from the central district, as residency restrictions would make it impossible for them to live together.
If a central district person falls in love and marries someone from the 410 region, he or she must relocate to the surrounding district. Such relationships usually end. For this reason, people in the 410 region refer to the designation as an “invisible barbed wire.” State benefits for central district people are significantly better than for those in the surrounding areas, so no one voluntarily moves from the center to the outskirts.
In 2020, Jin recalled, central Pyongyang received electricity every three days for 3-4 hours in the evening, while peripheral districts were almost completely cut off. Residents there were lucky to receive power once or twice a month, typically for just an hour at dawn.
In winter, residents rely heavily on coal stoves. Most families in Pyongyang get through about two tons of coal each season. The unfortunate tower residents have to carry theirs up the stairs when the elevator isn’t functioning. Elevator operators refer to this coal-lugging time as their “harvest season,” as they receive bribes from residents in the form of money, cigarettes, liquor, or rice to prioritize their coal deliveries.
Due to the lack of power, water can only reach the 15th floor. Residents higher than that have to rely on their neighbors on the lower floors, often having to pay them to help. Some residents collect water from public taps installed on the ground floor and carry it up to their homes.
This daily struggle for water has forced many on higher floors to adapt to primitive living conditions. They use water sparingly. For instance, water used to wash rice or vegetables is saved for flushing toilets.
Zane is a defector from North Korea. Before defecting in 2022, he worked at a state-run North Korean company based in Russia. Prior to his assignment in Russia, he had worked at the external affairs department of a company affiliated with the DPRK's Escort Bureau. He graduated from Pyongyang University of Architecture.
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