North Korea: Housing and factory development making progress

According to recent satellite imagery made available by 38North on 4 June 2024, North Korea’s 20x10 program (see: WWR, 22 March 2024) and other projects seem to be making good progress throughout the country.

World Watch Research analyst Thomas Muller explains: “The report by 38North shows that housing construction has been going ahead at over 190 locations in various counties. While little can be said about the quality of the new housing (or who is to be allowed to live in such residences), the sheer geographic scale seems to be a deliberate effort by the authorities to show as many citizens as possible how the state is successfully bringing modern development within reach of everyone.”

Thomas Muller warns however: “As always with North Korea, many reports are to a certain extent inconclusive or even contradictory. It should be remembered that the country is still a place which holds its own people under significant levels of suppression, especially where they are regarded as dissidents, as are Christians, for instance. Successful North Korean escapees begged China at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2024 not to forcibly repatriate other escapees, detailing the horrific conditions awaiting them in North Korea. In a very rare and direct response from the Chinese representative, it was made clear that such escapees were considered illegal migrants entering China for economic reasons and so the principle of non-refoulement could not be applied (Radio Free Asia, 8 June 2024).”