Building fail sheds light on N. Korean priorities

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) Pyongyang isn't just any North Korean city. So when a 23-story apartment building under construction collapsed in the center of the showcase capital in May, officials faced a bona fide emergency.

Their response was in some ways predictable: a grudgingly slow and piecemeal confirmation, followed by scapegoating and spin. Three months later, they still refuse to give a death toll, saying only that it was "serious" and that leader Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

But in a country where acknowledgment of failure is rare, experts say North Korea's handling of the collapse also shines a light on how it is grappling with some deeper issues, including its image among foreign investors, the limits on its control over information and the need to address, at a public level, the concerns of its citizens.

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 31, 2014, a North Korean woman walks past a recently completed dormitory to house more than 3,000 workers at the Kim Jong Suk Textile Factory in Pyongyang, North Korea. Home to more than one-tenth of North Korea?s 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) (Wong Maye-E/AP)

Well aware of how far North Korea lags behind its more prosperous neighbors, Kim has singled out development projects as a key priority since he assumed power following the death of his father in 2011. This week, while visiting a block of apartment houses being built in Pyongyang for university teachers, he reportedly said the nation's soldier-builders are "racing against time in ushering in a great heyday of building a rich and powerful country."

Nowhere is that race more feverish or the political stakes higher than in Pyongyang.

Home to more than one-tenth of North Korea's 24 million people, Pyongyang has always been the focus of development and the prime beneficiary of state funding. Providing better housing for Pyongyang residents, who have a much higher standard of living than other North Koreans, is a key means for the leadership to ensure their support and loyalty.

In a country that sorely needs to improve its basic infrastructure, there is no public debate over whether North Korea really needs a new luxury ski resort, or a 105-story pyramid-shaped hotel that has been a Pyongyang landmark for more than 20 years, but has yet to open for business. Questioning the value of megaprojects held up as symbols of progress and national pride in North Korea is taboo.

Housing, however, hits closer to home.

"This accident happened because they broke the rules and methods of construction," Pyongyang resident Pak Chol told The Associated Press after the accident was reported by the state media. "We must make sure that this kind of terrible accident never happens again, by sticking to the proper method of building."

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Building fail sheds light on N. Korean priorities