this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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[–] ThermonuclearHoxha@hexbear.net 37 points 6 days ago

But guuuuuuuuuuuuuys, these are fake Potemkin villages for the tourists and just a visibility project so some local leader gets promoted /s

[–] HarryLime@hexbear.net 42 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] HarryLime@hexbear.net 30 points 6 days ago (1 children)

bumping up against the limits of what I can upload in a certain time frame. I will post more when I can.

[–] Pentacat@hexbear.net 8 points 6 days ago

These are great. Thanks for sharing.

[–] GladimirLenin@hexbear.net 26 points 6 days ago (2 children)

That looks so nice. It alway surprises me how few cars there are considering the planning of their roads and stuff with roundabouts etc. I guess this is what it looks like when you have a government that is willing to plan ahead.

[–] CascadeOfLight@hexbear.net 30 points 6 days ago

I always wondered why the DPRK had such wide roads everywhere seemingly without the traffic to require it, until I saw a road map of Moscow highlighting the ring roads the Soviets built so they could rapidly deploy air defence equipment at a moment's notice, and suddenly it all made sense.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 18 points 6 days ago

Road mobile launchers and ability to easily move military equipment.

[–] KurtVonnegut@hexbear.net 33 points 6 days ago

By the way, this is an indirect result of the Ukraine-Russia war. Russia began selling large amounts of oil to North Korea in return for weapons since the war started. One of the new buildings was recently dedicated to the memory of North Korean soldiers who died while fighting Ukraine.

[–] RION@hexbear.net 27 points 6 days ago

It's really wild to think that they just... Did this. Can you imagine if trump shaved like $20 billion off the military budget and built Trumpville? Slam dunk PR for peanuts

[–] HarryLime@hexbear.net 34 points 6 days ago
[–] ClathrateG@hexbear.net 29 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Kim personally gave out the keys to 60,000 new apartments yesterday, obviously a photo op, but the fact that the state built and gave those apartments to citizens for free compared with people having to sacrifice 60%+ of their income for shitty accommodation without any ownership in sight for most, shows the difference between the DPRK and neoliberal states

[–] AstroStelar@hexbear.net 29 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

North Korean urban planning and architecture fascinates me as someone with a deep interest in urban planning. If I go there I wish I could study their guidelines and have discussions with planners.

The architecture feels almost cartoony with its designs and bright colours. This district feels modern but not sterile by being all white, glass and steel, I love it.

I do hope they extend a metro line to it, it badly needs it.

[–] Sasuke@hexbear.net 22 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They really have an eye for color

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 12 points 6 days ago

That's why the Workers Party Of Korea has the paint brush in its logo.

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 28 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

That second photo (the very isometric one) looks like a render from a video game or something.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 23 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I really like the cutaway style of these 2 white building fronts, I also want to know what's going on with the brown building with the pillar roof too it's a really strange design.

[–] dead@hexbear.net 23 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

This is the source of your photos, click the camera icon. The article says that 50,000 new living spaces have been constructed. I'm guessing that's why the 4th photo you posted has a '50000' sign.

http://kcna.kp/en/article/q/b84f1af857e5a9bd76e4300a91133f7a.kcmsf

https://archive.is/PEzjm

[–] dead@hexbear.net 16 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Photo 23 & 24 shows Kim Jong Un + daughter at pet store. I've wondered why many of DPRK signs have English translations.

[–] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 22 points 6 days ago (2 children)

i've wondered why many of DPRK signs have English translations.

lingua franca for international tourists, although i might've guessed they don't have the numbers coming through to need it.

[–] Horse@lemmygrad.ml 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

iirc, the DPRK is starting to open up more to tourism
makes sense for new construction

[–] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I thought they were scaling back on that recently

[–] Muinteoir_Saoirse@hexbear.net 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

They just opened the Wonsan-Kalma Tourist Zone last year, houses up to 20k tourists at a time. (Currently primarily for domestic tourism, but I have heard that there is re-opening of tourism from China after COVID shut it down, we'll see how that goes in the years to come)

[–] jack@hexbear.net 2 points 5 days ago

I think it's targeting Russian tourists mostly

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Pyongyang (and to some extent a few other places) get a meaningful volume of tourism (though it has waned with Covid, that waning is regarded as temporary I think). I don't really know why a pet store has English signage like that though, since I don't think the tourists have much business there. Maybe just for when they take pictures and videos to publish for an international audience?

[–] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

perhaps they broadly regulate all such signage and don't micromanage it enough that anybody cares to make an exception on the business type.

canada has french labelling requirements even in the places where nobody speaks it.

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 8 points 6 days ago

That's a good point

[–] invo_rt@hexbear.net 15 points 6 days ago

Not a single ad in sight wholesome

[–] Frogmanfromlake@hexbear.net 16 points 6 days ago

This endlessly fascinated me. I would love to visit North Korea one day and compare it to life in Guatemala. From the pictures it really does look like they live better than we do.

[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 6 days ago

Wow that's beautiful, I genuinely didn't know North Korea could look like this (of course I knew corporate media lies about North Korea but still)

[–] jack@hexbear.net 6 points 5 days ago

This is amazing. DPRK is winning lately, I think they're making wonderful strides towards socialism.