DPRK — Pyongyang’s Design and its Messages

– We are all as human beings attracted by the unknown and driven by curiosity, what is morefulfilling than the accomplishment of discovery? This happens on a daily basis, from the more complex research projects to the daily taken from granted activities such as watching a movie, reading a book and playing a game.

Especially for us geographers, witnessing the unfolding of events, facts and data and see first hand what comes out of it, is indeed the driving force of study and progress. Simple observation is an underestimated technique, the most powerful mean able to bring to surface way more information than previously imagined, let’s take for example a rock. At first glance a rock is what it is; simple, boring, static, but as soon as more attention is being paid to its features on the very surface such as texture, color and weight we can already tell what kind of rock that is, in what group it belongs, where it can be found in nature or its hardness. Just by observing, an analysis of two pages can be written on what we found out regarding this apparent simple object.

If we can get all that from a rock, imagine what we can tell about a city. North Korea, or also known as the Hermit Kingdom, has this label for very known reasons, so what better subject of study if not its capital Pyongyang. Now, this city is not a total mystery, the regime does a good job maintaining as much privacy as they can but there are several aspects known and brought up to our knowledge by people who had the luck, yes luck, to visit the North Korean capital. Their information will lay the ground and be the base for our research which combined with observation of what is given to us will attempt to interpret more deeply the city.

I do not aim to answer existential questions or uncover the deepest secrets of the last communist capital but rather theorize on what this city’s appearance does speak to its people. Its architecture and structures are at the very surface of what is observable to us. What does it communicate to its local citizens? What does the rest of the western world see and interpret from its presentation? How does is compare to “our” cities? Ultimately how could this urban settlement develop and evolve under different circumstances and a capitalist reality given by an eventual reunification with the south? Well welcome to North Korea, welcome to Pyongyang.

Soviet Pyongyang’s Origins

– In order to understand where we are going we first have to understand where we are coming from. An important moment in history of the currently know Pyongyang’s appearance started right after the Korea’s liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945 when reports say that the capital indeed became the very crib of the Communist Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea. The domino tile that initiates the soviet architectural contribution ended up being the destruction of the city itself between 1950 and 1953 during the infamous Korean War.

Schinz and E. Dege report how Pyongyang was victim of more than 400,000 bombs that annihilated virtually all of the housing and facilities with the exception of very few buildings which today still recall the classical Japanese style. According to the same source Moscow started to furnish its Cold War pawn with financial assistance and teams of urban planners were sent even from the German Democratic Republic. The reconstruction of the city could be subdivided in four phases.

1. Three-Year and Five-Year Plan until 1961 where works were mainly focused around the area where some of the Japanese buildings may have survived. Buildings with East Berlin structures came along, a large square common in soviet style city planning and the Grand Theatre.

2. Seven-Year and Six Year Plan until 1976, perhaps the pinnacle of the soviet investment in Pyongyang’s reconstruction. Several streets, good housings, the Student and Children’s Palace and the famous Pyongyang Metro were all added to the urban repertoire.

3. The third phase reflected the second one, only this time our source tells us that new standards were added to further developments. Of big prestige in this period we have the appearance of the Grand People’s Study House.

4. The fourth phase between 1987 and 1993 was mostly dedicated, quite surprisingly, to sporting facilities, mostly in response to South Korea which in 1988 hosted the Olympic Games. Many were the projects started but some of them never reached their conclusion as a consequence of the Soviet Union collapsing in 1991, just like the Ryugyong Hotel which still today is still a work in progress after 30 years.

“Public buildings and monuments are placed so as to “reflect the ardent desire of the Korean people to pay tribute to the immortal Juche” (A. Schinz and E. Dege)

All four phases where meant to blend together to create a “speaking” environment which was fundamental for a society where propaganda is one of the three main pillars established in order to ultimately control people and their thoughts. The Architects Newspaper also reveals:

“Architects of Pyongyang aimed to set aside self-productive units within the city. Today’s Pyongyang continues to be planned based on a unit district system that combines the industrial and residential so that residents can both produce and consume their products.” (Dongwoo Yim)

As the quote says, past and present meet today creating a Pyongyang that both was structured and deeply worked as communist as it could.

A look at today’s Pyongyang’s Skyline

– At first, without even looking at a picture, a few issues come to mind. The biggest disadvantage Pyongyang faces is the fact that the first thing people connect to this city, thanks to the history between 1954 and 1992 that we just briefly explored, is the funded idea of the Slavic nature embedded within the city and its walls. This creates a cognitive image of a gray background, flat cold surfaces shaped with simplistic squared designs and decoration-less aesthetics .

“The Soviet oriented group under Kim II Sung prevailed over other political groupings, the new ideas, standards and methods of planning and construction were highly influenced by Soviet union.” (A. Schinz and E. Dege)

In the western world the term “Slavic” reminds of unpleasant appearance, almost derogatory, maybe offensive. Something rough, harsh, hard of the strong and sharp sound. It is not a coincidence that Mr. Ray Kroc decided not to name his burger chain after himself, for these very reasons. McDonalds was the perfect fit, and so that is what he decided to purchase. A smooth, fluid and elegant name, but more than anything; inviting ( see The Founder for more details). Interestingly enough though, according to reports by Oliver Weinwright, the aesthetic appearance of Pyongyang leads to very different directions.

“Colour is the most surprising thing about visiting North Korea. Where you might expect to find a drab Soviet-style world of crumbling concrete slabs and inflated Stalinist ministry buildings, Pyongyang instead unfolds as a pastel panorama”

“Almost every year has seen the grand unveiling of another lavish trophy project, each more futuristic than the last, with parades of jaunty towers dressed in sci-fi costumes and crowned with cosmic symbols, worthy of scenes from The Jetsons” (Oliver Wainwright)

These lines make us question who’s mind behind the scenes operates these surprising revelations. The city’s protagonist and main influence of recent urban development is indeed Kim Jong-Un, little is known about him but from what we can tell his tastes are considerably energetic, extravagant and almost progressive. It is reported that the Leader wants to turn the country into a “Socialist fairyland” and must “make tireless efforts to create architecture amenable to his people”.

Kim Jong Un spent over $600 million a year in Gift Policy, almost double his father. Pyongyang is not poor, unlike what popular opinion might rightfully assume, based on the overall national situation, the city really does not appear too different from what we are used to see in western towns. There are skyscrapers, monuments, leisure activity facilities such as a water park, shooting ranges and horse riding centers. Mind all these location are reserved only for the elite class of Pyongyang. The city may not be poor, but there sure is poverty, just like in New York, Rome or any other iconic metropolis you may think of that is part of the developed first world. Sure thing is Kim’s investment in Pyongyang has been remarkable, $88. 4 million just to create the “Avenue of Dawn” an exclusive street built to host residential housing for important members of the University of Kim Il Sung, scientists, researchers etc. The purpose of these investments is not only for an aesthetic end, the underlying message is clear. Elizabeth Shim reports;

“Kim said the new project is to serve as a yardstick for North Korean architecture aligned with its national ideology of self-reliance, which is ‘making leaps day by day’.”

The street should be built to suit a “civilized socialist nation, and transform Pyongyang into a city of even more magnificent splendor,” Kim reportedly said.” (Elizabeth Shim)

All of this even more surprising if we consider these structures have been equipped with energy-saving technology and rooftops powered by solar panels. Weinwright’s last words while leaving the country say;

“It soon became clear that we had left a limited bubble of prosperity” (Elizabeth Shim)

This creates a situation where the rest of the world sees North Korea as indeed an isolated “bubble” but more importantly the rest of North Korea sees Pyongyang as an isolated oasis within the nation itself, a different planet made for superior beings, maybe Gods, one for sure: Kim Jong-Un.

– The city stands above a very advantageous place in North Korea, the Taedong river flows right in the middle of it, and like a major artery possibly the most important local resource, more than any other street or railroad and most likely the major contributor to primordial local development. What resulted is what we see above, again with no concept or caption hinting at what we are looking at, one may assume this looks like Porto Algre (Brazil) or even better London, with the Thames river feeding it from within. There are no apparent signs of hints suggesting this is the capital of a country that lost millions of its people during a famine. The boulevards are huge, sidewalks clean, parks green and bright, people walk and take public transportation, there is a huge soccer stadium, tall hotels, statues and monuments, huge squares etc.

“This capital was razed in 1952 and immediately rebuilt in a gigantic version of Western Modernism. — In this strange, isolated city can be found all the classics that inspired generations of European and American architects” (Arnaldo Farnese)

What started as a Slavic re-imagination slowly molded into a more cosmopolitan reality yet grounded in its communist roots forming what appears to be a familiar urban landscape but still disadvantaged by local practices and their consequences. If we look at Pyongyang from above, we can immediately identify some iconic features, but before we get to those; if we had no idea this represented above was the capital of North Korea could we really tell this clearly resembles a Slavic monster? Because if the answer is yes than from this prospective we could label basically almost every city like that.

Pyongyang is cut in the middle by the Taedong River which divides the capital in two parts; the western side more “post-modern” with an impressive central business district characterized by tall residential buildings, statues, large boulevards, stadiums, green spaces and huge squares for political manifestations. The eastern side on the other hand appearing more humble and of a Slavic tone. Simple in composition, made up for the most part of suburbs areas and agricultural fields slowly fading in as distance proceeds.

Pyongyang’s Duality — A Message to Western Rivals

– It is important to take in consideration how subtly double faced Pyongyang is, not as clear cut as previously hinted by the river, but in a more grounded and amalgamated way. While previous definition can both result true is some form or another, none of the adjectives given so far can 100% define this city, and this happens because of two intersecting elements; the driving socialist competing ambitions of grandeur behind the urban planning and how mixed up the city ends up looking.

To translate this into practice the Ryungyong Hotel will serve as our example. The Hotel’s project was initially green lighted in response to widely positive international news about South Korea and the necessity to challenge them. Sure the tower looks like it was stripped straight out of Dubai — the latest Slavic looking place — and sends a powerful message to locals and foreigners, but the very underlying goal was indeed to intimidate the competition and reinforce the socialists ideal in the population ala “together we can do it too, we can do it better”.

Where the project really fell short of expectations — and basically failed — was in respecting deadlines, caused by indeed an irresponsible budget management and debatable priorities which are now impressing the western eye with the outside shell, but disappointing considering the exposed political motives.

– Another example of this phenomenon could be represented by the streets of Pyongyang themselves, in particular the large and wide boulevards that we all see at the beginning of many documentaries where incredibly synchronized parades are taking place. Now big boulevards are not new to us, in the USA especially just looking at Los Angeles or New York City we have plenty of them, perhaps they give the impression of being not as large because of the more crowded nature. Even in these circumstance it almost feels like the huge streets in Pyongyang are also an attempt to challenge the western counterparts, and it does not end there because there are plenty more examples such as the Arch of Triumph barely taller than the French version or the Juche Tower just a bit taller than the Washington Monument obelisk.

“In the 1930s, Pyongyang was configured to accommodate various commercial business activities and Japanese military activities. In contrast, after the city’s reconstruction, during the 1970s and beginning in 2010, streets and squares were constructed and extended to form axes, with the objective of using the new spacial configurations to draw the public’s attention to political and symbolic functions flaunting the superiority of the regime”. (Sang Kue Jeong, Tae Ho Lee, Yong Un Ban)

While hinting to how Pyongyang this was also lost its identity, we can also see how the political motives are also driving what could have been instead a great space for indeed commercial purposes, the good aspect about this is that the current streets’ blueprint may actually serve well in the future when perhaps the regime will fall and free market will retake its place, this of course also applying to the Ryungyong Hotel.

Pyongyang — Socialist Post-Modern Propaganda Machine

– As geographers we learn how nothing is put in place casually, there is a reason behind why such and such things are in a specific place. The same goes for appearances, virtually everything man-made is crafted in a way that respects rigorous studies aimed at pleasing the human eye or to simply communicate. Verbal speech and writing are only at the surface of how communication can be achieved, symbolism is one of the most unspoken ones but also one of the most powerful means, since prehistory graffiti and Egyptian hieroglyphs have allowed vibrant and dynamic societies. Pyongyang is not stranger to this concept, it may actually be one the cities most subject to symbolism in the world. Of course we are far away from graffiti and hieroglyphs but starting from posters and statues all the way up to even building design, everything in Pyongyang is meant to have an instructional relationship with its citizens.

“The emblem par excellence of the dictatorship through architecture is undoubtedly the Ryugyong Hotel — the hotel dominates the city’s center, a symbol of the ambitions and failures of the Kim Jong Il regime, which now refuses to even acknowledge the structure’s existence” (Arnaldo Farnese)

The design and size of the hotel is intimidating, it reminds people not to mess around. The statues of the Great Leaders stand tall and strong do show smiling faces, therefore an attempt to obtain respect and compassion seems exposed. “If the leaders are happy then you should too” is perhaps the emotion triggered over many. These places are memorials, ground of thought and memory, the simple composition, monochromatic pallets, sharp and symmetric squares whisper “constancy” to all the visitors on both what they are seeing and what they are expected to do on a regular basis; show up and pay tribute.

“Statues, monuments and towers loom over Pyongyang’s public spaces, symbols of the North Korean regime’s power over the lives of its citizens.” (Arnaldo Farnese)

If Pyongyang was a Christmas tree, these statues would definitely be the shiny little spheres, unmissable decoration for the symbolic plant that without them would hardly recall of the christian holiday. The city without these sculptures would lose most of its identity, so much so that locals could hardly imagine their capital city without them, maybe it wouldn’t even be home anymore.

– We already mentioned how Pyongyang is wrongly associated with depressing, gray and flat skylines. The most down to earth explanation for this circumstance is mostly due to connect to harsh memories and tales inspired by the dark themes of every war where the Soviet Union took place, keeping all that in mind, since the Soviet Union acted as the main founder of the North Korean peninsula then Pyongyang is therefore “imagined” as founded according to those dark themes. The reality though, as Oliver Weinwright reminded us, is considerably different. There are two aspects of Pyongyang to be analyzed; one which indeed reminds us of those harsh memories and tales, it is the side that includes all facilities meant to serve functions of non-public nature. The other side is the colorful and vibrant one which includes all infrastructures dedicated to political events or that are needed to subliminally spread propaganda to whoever attends them, and they all surprise the eye of the unaware who was expecting Pyongyang to look more like a prison camp than an actual city.

The harsh side of the city includes residential facilities in the suburbs like we examined just recently. These buildings were constructed with no decoration nor beautification in mind, their sole purpose was to host civilians therefore not worth investing into unnecessary complications, it is a very straight forward architecture reflecting in this way the most common cognitive western idea of “Soviet”. Hyeonseo Lee in Girl With Seven Names tells us how residencies very often resembled the appearances of harmonicas, very simple, compact and reaching for a very and only function.

Other examples of this side may be industries and factories decorated only with saturated portraits of the Great Leaders, every other ornament or decoration is unnecessary leaving the facility dominated by simple rectangular and cylindrical shapes.

– The colorful and vibrant side includes things we already talked about like main boulevards, hotels and statues, but we also have to remember the famous metro and libraries.

“Subways are a big thing in communist countries. Moscow is famous for its lavish stops in its public transportation system, as is Pyongyang.” (VICE reporter)

As the reporter of VICE reminds us; communist countries are famous for highlighting their public places and show the prestige not only of the — in this case — regime but also the power of people, community and self reliance. Compared to the New York City’s metro system, very straight forward design of subway stations (with few exceptions such as Grand Central), the North Korean one appears way more “clerical”, adorned in every little detail like a cathedral, a place that aims at pleasing the eye, a speaking place just like Pyongyang itself trying to tell people this is where socialism wins.

“Additional symbolic buildings and statues are distributed all around Pyongyang in order to serve as physical sites of propaganda for socialist ideology.” (Dongwoo Kim)

It is interesting to point out how a peculiar parallel could be drawn here between Pyongyang and indeed New York. The former lacks where the first shines. Public places, as as impressive as they are, still show imperfections such as occasional litter in the sidewalks, graffiti etc while Pyongyang on surface does look quite pristine at least from several reports. The private on the other hand seems to be a lot more curated in the capitalist city (of course depending on relative capital available), to be fair this is a bit of an unjust comparison since what is there really private in Pyongyang? We can say though, the North Korean capital has been moving towards a more western design lately especially for its newest residential buildings.

A clever study on Pyongyang conducted on City Lab in the article “The Improbable High-Rises of Pyongyang, North Korea” reports:

“Most new buildings combine futurist design features like rooftop orbs and pyramidal designs with a pastel color palette, producing a bizarre aesthetic at the intersection of Epcot and Wes Anderson.” (Nolan Gray)

Confirming as well what has been observed at least regarding the outside shell, but the capitalist counterpart still outshines Pyongyang when we take a look at the inside. It may be slight stylistic improvement over the nation’s previous obsession with Stalinist and Brutalist styles, which alternated from oppressively gaudy to oppressively spartan, but construction quality in North Korea remains suspect. Nolan Gray then continues:

“Visitors have reported that even in occupied buildings, interiorsare often shabby, with poor access to basic amenities like hot water. In 2014, a brand-new 23 story tower collapsed, reportedly leading to the execution of Choe Yong-gon, then deputy minister of construction and building materials”.

Mr. Gray ultimately exposes the reoccurring trend we have seen along the entire paper, Pyongyang is a speaking city, just like many others around the world, with powerful messages for both outsiders and locals, the problem resides behind the scenes; a backward, rotten and corrupted background limiting what is trying to reach out to the rest of the world, or is it?

Future Possible Capitalist Developments and Conclusion

– Now that we explored Pyongyang’s past and current state it is time to theorize on what the future may hold for this fascinating city. Chains of backwardness are still holding the the capital back but the potential is definitely there for it to prosper as a member of the capitalist world, in this regard The Architects Newspaper says:

“On the other hand, Pyongyang is comparable to socialist cities of decades ago, in that it exhibits a strong potential to attract huge investments if and when it begins to open its market to other countries.” (Dongwoo Kim)

The source mentions possible questions related to the possible “capitalization” of Pyongyang including: model of growth utilized, locations of new projects and if those will either replace or arise already existing structures. All these are indeed pillar aspect of what the development, after maybe, the collapse of the Kim regime. As additional evidence to our theory, Donwoo also reminds us how the North Korean government has indeed quietly allowed limited forms of free market in 2002. According to Kim and reflecting what we have seen so far, even with few similarities, socialist cities have different structures than capital ones and this plays a crucial role when taking in consideration the flow of capital.

“Hence, when socialist cities start to allow capitalist forms of capital flow, the urban figures also change based on this new logic.” (Dongwoo Kim)

The focus of this change will be at the center of Pyongyang, in a capitalist system most of the transaction and business decisions are concentrated there, a location which will slowly mutate into a more traditional CBD familiar to us while other socialist activities will still be there, but moved to other peripheral areas, slowly fading away.

– To answer the previous three questions Kim proceeds to say:

1. Incremental growth model would be the most ideal because able to fuse with the existing DNA of the city while also forging a new one.

2. Major changes would happen as previously mentioned in the center of the city but also for example in the area extending from the Kim Il Sung Square and the Juche Tower because of the advantageous position close to the river which will attract new investments and market oriented ideals.

To answer the third question I will let Kim do the talking:

“When a new parcel system is introduced for the sake of the market-oriented system, instead of just dividing parcel based on existing programs, the inter-relationship of programs should be carefully considered. For example, a parcel can be composed of both production facilities and residential lots, and it can be developed as a mixed-used program.” (Dongwoo Kim)

To make along story short, the immediate replacement of old infrastructure is out of the question, rather we should carefully inject the new ones and letting them slowly be absorbed and integrated. Pyongyang has been through a lot, historically specking it has been hectic and the city has been focal stage for a few interesting developments, a mask for its master North Korea, shiny in the outside and sweaty in the inside. Whether the city will morph into a capitalist settlement or maintain its socialist roots we can only hope for a healthy continuation of its life-cycle coordinated by its very peculiar Kim Jong Un to see where it goes. In the meantime we can continue to observe and note whatever happens in this very interesting stage of study and curiosity. Pyongyang has sure had its messages, it surely has spoken to me.

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