A groundbreaking ceremony for the fifth-stage construction project in the Hwasong area of the capital city of Pyongyang took place on February 18.

This marked the beginning of the new year’s campaign to turn Pyongyang into a more magnificent city.

The construction in the Hwasong area, where the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun is situated, started in February 2022.

The Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in January 2021 decided to build 10 000 flats in the capital city every year–50 000 flats in five years.

Accordingly, Songhwa Street began to be built in Sadong District in 2021 and was inaugurated in April the following year, and the construction of the first-stage 10 000 flats in the Hwasong area began in February 2022.

In a matter of one year, the builders built an ideal street with hundreds of skyscrapers, high-rise apartment buildings, public buildings, neighbourhood-serving amenities and other facilities covering a total floor space of well over a million square metres and sprawling over at least 150 hectares, an area nearly three times larger than Songhwa Street. This meant the successful completion of the first-stage project for building a modern urban district.

The first-stage project was followed by the second-, third- and fourth-stage projects for three years, leading to an outcome so remarkable as to far exceed the planned target of flats, public buildings, service networks and facilities. As a result, an urban district came into being.

On February 16, 2026 the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un participated in the inauguration ceremony of the fourth-stage 10 000 flats in the Hwasong area and looked round the new residential quarter. The capital city construction should be steadily boosted, leading the development and civilization of our own style, he said, adding that the successes achieved so far are really great and precious, but they are just the beginning in light of our dreams and capabilities. And he expressed his firm will to perfect the Hwasong area as a model district equipped with all the political, economic and cultural components and turn the whole area of the capital city into the one embodying the features of the new era.

With the start of the fifth-stage project in the Hwasong area, the capital city construction is to turn from the stage basically aimed at solving the housing problem to a higher phase of transforming the overall appearance of the capital city on a large scale.

The capital city of Pyongyang is approaching a new phase of civilization.

Kim Ye Ryong