By Jethro Mullen, CNN

updated 3:21 PM EDT, Sun May 18, 2014

North Korean officials stand among the families of victims of the building collapse in Pyongyang, North Korea, on May 17.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- An apartment building in the North Korean capital collapsed in what state media described as a "serious accident" that caused an unspecified number of casualties.

The unusual, apologetic report Sunday from the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the collapse took place Tuesday at the construction site of an apartment building in Phyongchon, a central district of Pyongyang.

"The accident claimed casualties," the agency reported without providing details on the number of peopled killed and injured. Rescue efforts were abandoned on Saturday, the agency said.

A South Korean government official said the building had 23 floors, estimating that as many as 92 families might have been living inside. It's common for people to move into North Korean buildings before construction is completed, the official said.

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North Korea

Jung-Yoon Choi, The Associated Press Published Sunday, May 18, 2014 7:51AM EDT Last Updated Sunday, May 18, 2014 9:23AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died.

The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital was reported Sunday morning by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which gave no death toll but said that the accident was "serious" and upset North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The report said it occurred in the capital's Phyongchon district on Tuesday "as the construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner."

In Seoul, a South Korean government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said the 23-story apartment building that collapsed was presumed to have housed 92 families.

That could mean the casualties could be in the hundreds because a typical North Korean family has four members. However, it was not clear that all the residents were inside at the time of the collapse, or that four people lived in each apartment.

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

The official said he did not have any figure for the actual death toll.

According to the KCNA report, the rescue operation ended Saturday and officials apologized to bereaved families and district residents.

On the streets of Pyongyang on Sunday, residents expressed outrage over the incident.

View original post here:
'Serious' building collapse prompts rare North Korean apology

North Korea has apologised to bereaved families after an apartment building collapsed in Pyongyang last week, possibly killing hundreds, the official KCNA news agency said, a rare admission of fallibility from the reclusive state.

Pyongyang's expression of "profound consolation and apology" was the first official news of the disaster, which happened in the Phyongchon district of the North Korean capital on Tuesday.

"The construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner," said the statement from KCNA, which is better known for its strident attacks against South Korea and the United States.

The KCNA statement also said the collapse of the apartment building "claimed casualties" but did not give any indication of how many may have been killed or injured. It said a rescue operation ended on Saturday.

An official from South Korea's unification ministry yesterday confirmed that a 23-storey apartment building had collapsed in Pyongyang on Tuesday, although he would not say from where the information had been obtained.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said the building was presumed to have held 92 households, or families, and that it was common for North Koreans to move into new buildings before construction was completed.

"Hundreds are presumed to be dead, assuming that each family has an average of four members," he said.

A spokeswoman for the unification ministry said it was presumed there were four households on each storey but she also said it was not known exactly how many were in the building at the time.

The KCNA statement said North Korean authorities put emergency measures into place to rescue people from the collapsed building and to treat the injured.

It said that Choe Pu Il, North Korea's Minister of People's Security, had "repented", saying he had failed to supervise the project adequately, "thereby causing an unimaginable accident".

Read the original here:
Hundreds feared dead in Nth Korea building collapse

SEOUL, South Korea North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died.

The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital was reported Sunday morning by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which gave no death toll but said that the accident was "serious" and upset North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The report said it occurred in the capital's Phyongchon district on Tuesday "as the construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner."

In Seoul, a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said that the 23-story apartment building that collapsed was presumed to have housed 92 families.

That could mean that the casualties could be in the hundreds because a typical North Korean family has four members. However, it wasn't clear that all the residents were inside at the time of the collapse, or that four people lived in each household.

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

The official said he did not have any figure for the actual death toll.

According to the KCNA report, the rescue operation ended Saturday and officials apologized to bereaved families and district residents.

The report cited one official as saying Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

The highly controlled state media for the authoritarian regime rarely report news that might be considered negative.

Excerpt from:
Pyongyang building collapse leaves considerable casualties; prompts rare North Korean apology

SEOUL - North Korea has apologized to bereaved families after an apartment building collapsed in Pyongyang last week, possibly killing hundreds, the official KCNA news agency said, a rare admission of fallibility from the reclusive state.

Pyongyang's expression of "profound consolation and apology" was the first official news of the disaster, which happened in the Phyongchon district of the North Korean capital on Tuesday.

"The construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner," said the statement from KCNA, which is better known for its strident attacks against South Korea and the United States.

The KCNA statement also said the collapse of the apartment building "claimed casualties" but did not give any indication of how many may have been killed or injured. It said a rescue operation ended on Saturday.

An official from South Korea's unification ministry confirmed on Sunday that a 23-storey apartment building had collapsed in Pyongyang on Tuesday, although he would not say from where the information had been obtained.

Downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, is seen in 2011. The portraits are of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, left, and the late leader Kim Jong-il.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said the building was presumed to have held 92 households, or families. "Hundreds are presumed to be dead, assuming that each family has an average of four members," he said.

A spokeswoman for the unification ministry said it was presumed there were four households on each story but she also said it was not known exactly how many were in the building at the time.

The KCNA statement said North Korean authorities put emergency measures into place to rescue people from the collapsed building and to treat the injured.

It said that Choe Pu Il, North Korea's Minister of People's Security, had "repented," saying he had failed to supervise the project adequately, "thereby causing an unimaginable accident."

See the rest here:
North Korea Apologizes After Fatal Apartment Building Collapse

SEOUL - North Korea has apologized to bereaved families after an apartment building collapsed in Pyongyang last week, possibly killing hundreds, the official KCNA news agency said, a rare admission of fallibility from the reclusive state.

Pyongyang's expression of "profound consolation and apology" was the first official news of the disaster, which happened in the Phyongchon district of the North Korean capital on Tuesday.

"The construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner," said the statement from KCNA, which is better known for its strident attacks against South Korea and the United States.

The KCNA statement also said the collapse of the apartment building "claimed casualties" but did not give any indication of how many may have been killed or injured. It said a rescue operation ended on Saturday.

An official from South Korea's unification ministry confirmed on Sunday that a 23-storey apartment building had collapsed in Pyongyang on Tuesday, although he would not say from where the information had been obtained.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said the building was presumed to have held 92 households, or families, and that it was common for North Koreans to move into new buildings before construction was completed.

"Hundreds are presumed to be dead, assuming that each family has an average of four members," he said.

A spokeswoman for the unification ministry said it was presumed there were four households on each storey but she also said it was not known exactly how many were in the building at the time.

The KCNA statement said North Korean authorities put emergency measures into place to rescue people from the collapsed building and to treat the injured.

It said that Choe Pu Il, North Korea's Minister of People's Security, had "repented", saying he had failed to supervise the project adequately, "thereby causing an unimaginable accident."

See the original post here:
North Korea says building collapse may have killed hundreds, offers rare apology

SEOUL: North Korea's state media reported Sunday an "unimaginable" accident at an apartment construction site in Pyongyang, which had resulted in an unspecified number of casualties.

South Korean officials said the incident involved the collapse of a 23-storey apartment building, which already had close to 100 families in residence.

It is extremely rare for North Korea to report negative news of this type, and the despatch from the official KCNA news agency included equally rare apologies from top officials.

KCNA said the accident had occurred last Tuesday and was the result of "irresponsible" supervision by officials in charge of the construction.

An "intensive" emergency rescue effort had been carried out to rescue survivors and treat the wounded, it said.

The KCNA did not provide a death toll or elaborate on the cause of the collapse, but said it had left Pyongyang citizens "greatly shocked".

The agency carried lengthy public apologies by senior officials including the Minister of People's Security, Choe Pu-Il.

"(Choe) repented of himself, saying that he failed to find out factors that can put at risk the lives and properties of the people and to take thorough-going measures, thereby causing an unimaginable accident," it said.

A South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Seoul was aware of the incident which involved the collapse of a 23-storey apartment complex.

"It is common in North Korea that people move into a new apartment building before construction officially ends," the official told AFP.

Continued here:
N Korea reports "unimaginable" construction accident

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died.

The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital was reported Sunday morning by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which gave no death toll but said that the accident was "serious" and upset North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The report said it occurred in the capital's Phyongchon district on Tuesday "as the construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner."

In Seoul, a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said that the 23-story apartment building that collapsed was presumed to have housed 92 families.

That could mean that the casualties could be in the hundreds because a typical North Korean family has four members. However, it wasn't clear that all the residents were inside at the time of the collapse, or that four people lived in each household.

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

The official said he did not have any figure for the actual death toll.

According to the KCNA report, the rescue operation ended Saturday and officials apologized to bereaved families and district residents.

The report cited one official as saying Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

The highly controlled state media for the authoritarian regime rarely report news that might be considered negative.

More:
Apartment building collapses in N. Korea

By JUNG-YOON CHOI Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died.

The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital was reported Sunday morning by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which gave no death toll but said that the accident was "serious" and upset North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The report said it occurred in the capital's Phyongchon district on Tuesday "as the construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner."

In Seoul, a government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said that the 23-story apartment building that collapsed was presumed to have housed 92 families.

That could mean that the casualties could be in the hundreds because a typical North Korean family has four members. However, it wasn't clear that all the residents were inside at the time of the collapse, or that four people lived in each household.

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

The official said he did not have any figure for the actual death toll.

According to the KCNA report, the rescue operation ended Saturday and officials apologized to bereaved families and district residents.

The report cited one official as saying Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

Go here to read the rest:
Pyongyang building collapse leaves many casualties - NBC40.net

Apartment construction is surging, in Southern California and nationwide.

New apartments and condominiums drove building permits up 8% in April from the prior month, to their fastest pace in nearly six years, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Housing starts which measure the launch of construction climbed 13.2%. Most of the growth came in multifamily building, which is now back at pre-recession levels and up 15% through the first four months of the year compared with the same period last year, even as permits for single-family homes remain sluggish.

All this building comes as rents continue to rise in Southern California and elsewhere and reflects growing demand for apartments and optimism from big builders that demand will keep pushing those rents higher even as more supply comes onto the market.

"It's a wildly different market than it used to be," said Steve Wilson, executive vice president for West Coast operations at AvalonBay, a large real estate investment trust that owns 12,000 apartments in Southern California. "I've got to believe we can get 4% to 5% rent growth a year over the next 10 years."

Wilson, like others in the multifamily business, sees multiple factors driving demand.

The economy is improving, which means more twentysomethings who've been living with their parents or piling in with roommates can afford their own apartments.

At the same time, the for-sale housing market is still tough with prices and lending standards high keeping more thirtysomethings paying rent instead of jumping into homeownership.

And then, he said, there's a growing cadre of people of all ages who are renters by choice, preferring the flexibility of an apartment and often willing to pay for top-end properties.

So AvalonBay is building. The company has seven projects under construction in the Southland including the Ava in Little Tokyo, where studio apartments start at $1,995 and an eighth on the way. Although many multifamily builders moved first into even hotter markets such as San Francisco and Seattle, Wilson said he now sees more potential for growth in the Southland.

Originally posted here:
Apartment construction surges across the Southland amid rising rents