How did the Kim dynasty design Pyongyang?

Resources:
A. This video is a synthesis of several sources. The most used was “Model City: Pyongyang” by Cristiano Bianchi, Kristina Drapic, and Pico Iyer. Other sources include:

Produced by Dave Amos in sunny San Luis Obispo, California.
Edited by Ryan Alva in Los Angeles, California.
Audio by Eric Schneider in cloudy Cleveland, Ohio.
Select images and video from Getty Images.
Black Lives Matter.

[CityBeautiful]

Did I say "southeast Asia"? I meant northeast Asia. Sorry about that!

[portugueseeagle]

How about a video about the reconstruction of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake?? 1700's city planning sounds interesting! 😁

[jasonfleischer]

I would still really love to see a video on Soviet Mass transit. Not just in the Soviet Union itself but also the role that Soviet planning played in mass transit in the Warsaw Pact.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Not only is the May Day Stadium one of Asia's largest, it's actually the SECOND world's largest stadium. It used to be the largest but India stole our thunder in 2020. We will get them back

[BRZguy]

Painting the soviet housing was a really good idea actually. Definitely helps fix that monotone depressing look.

[prettypic]

That Los Angeles feeling when Pyongyang has better public transit than you...

[chairmanofrussia]

Worth mentioning that wasn’t mentioned in this video: Pyongyang is designed along axes set by major boulevards, for the purpose of creating “favorable” street views. If you look through the arch of triumph towards Kim Il Sung square to the south, you see what looks like the Statue of Kim Il Sung on Mansudae leading soldiers to victory through the arch. This is almost 3 Km away from the viewpoint. That’s how carefully planned the city is. Park space is supposed to be equally distributed among each neighborhood, so I wouldn’t have trouble believing that park space is abundant. Though behind the apartment buildings that line the boulevards of North Korea cities you’ll find industrial buildings, shops and other amenities. You’ll also find a lot of one story houses similar to the ones you find in the rural areas. There may or may not be park space in those areas, which are pretty crowded. The Left bank is more historic and where the original footprint of the city is, as well as Kim Il Sung Square, whereas the right bank is newer, has more organized blocks and WAY more of those informal rural houses bundled together. The main monument on the Right bank would be the Juche Tower and the Worker’s Party Monument.

The city was originally planned for 1 Million people, and the original layout was designed by (I think) planners from both Hungary and East Germany.

There are multiple parts of the city that do not have a density gradient between the rural and urban areas. Specifically near tongil street and the Reunification Arch. When you pass the arch, which is just outside the city the first buildings you will see are hi-rises, and city streets at similar densities and activity to the streets found near the center of the city. There is no suburban in-between. There are other parts of the city that do this too.

I would go into details about how the Districts are divided into micro districts, and how there are Union-like organizations that carefully monitor the individuals in each section, but I can’t quite remember. If you want know what life is like in the rest of the country, I would look into a report called “Pyongyang Republic” by the committee for human rights in North Korea. Another good source is the 2 Volume series “Architectural and Cultural Guide to Pyongyang.” In those books you get to see the city in details that even the tourists often don’t get to see, including the _floor plans of the apartment buildings!_

[hynnyoozhao]

10:54 The footage is actually a Korean bank in mainland China, it says Hana Bank Tianjin Binhai Branch

[tomascinnsealeach]

Honestly doesn't seem like a bad city, at another time of the year when the trees are in bloom I can imagine it looking quite nice!

[seneca]

0:53 "the world's most [...] dangerous national capital"

Mogadishu: Am I a joke to you?

[pear]

Hi, a long time Korean fan here, thanks for a great video.
I am usually very against the 'nationalistic' ideas, but I really need to point something out.

The idea that the Japanese Occupation of Korea industrialized it is a common argument that the Japanese Imperialists say when they try to justify the harsh conditions that the Koreans had to go through. Straight to the point, it is simply not fair for Koreans, if not downright offensive. IF there were any infrastructure left behind, it got torn up by the Korean war that happened right after. The war lasted literally more than 3 years. The picture at 4:44 was the general state of what was left of korea post korean war. They needed to be rebuilt because there were literally none left standing.

If anything, South Korea was way more influenced by the US subsidies economically. Why do we say so? Because Korea's GDP growth didn't skyrocket till mid 1970s, long after the Japanese influence has worn off. Before that it was still a strictly agricultural industry with very little industry, people were literally starving back then. Frankly it can be more sensibly attributed to the industrialization efforts by then millitary dictator, Park Jung Hee, who took power in, well, 1970s.

Another point is, Southern Korea was exploited for its agricultural resources, while the Northern Korea for its industry (although still mostly primary sector). Lets not forget that the Imperial Japan was starving of supplies, and rice was a very valuable resource that Southern plains in Korea was plentiful of. To be fair, North Korea had some industry left by the Japanese, which was why they had an head start on economy. It wasn't till, again, mid 1970s, where the booming Korean economy overtook North Korean GDP.

The economic difference wasn't that big before 1970s anyways, and attributing South Korean growth to the Japanese Occupation, when North Korea is still struggling to this day, despite them having the same "glorious industrialization of Korea by the thankful Imperial Japanese- advantage" as South Koreans, cannot be explained by that theory.

Please remember that Japan is still denying the atrocities that happened in all of Asia, to this day, despite murdering easily 2-4 times that of the Nazis, and that this is a very sensitive topic that should not be taken lightly. Again, thanks for the great video as always.

Regards,

[lzh]

Previously thought "Kim Jong Il" was read as "Kim Jong 2" (mistaking 'Il' for 'II', the Roman numeral for '2')

[buckyhermit]

If you ever do another Korean-related video, just a small pronunciation tip: J almost never has a "zh" sound. It's often a relatively hard J, like in "jog" or "Joe." So "Juche" sounds like "joo-chay" (rather than "zhoo-chay").

[alexanderkim]

Great video! But I do think you could have mentioned the re-emergence of Korean architecture in Pyongyang. The government endorsed a "Korean National Style" which is essentially a mixture of traditional and modern Soviet-style architecture. A good example is the Grand People's Study House. It is an interesting philosophy toward traditional architecture, especially when compared to the South Korean approach, which is essentially more purist and less aggressive in mixing traditional and Western styles.

[anguscovoflyer]

Pyongyang was building a third metro line in the 1970's across the river when suddenly, a part of the tunnel collapsed.

[brsn]

yes daddy tell me more about masterplanned new cities

[BATTIS]

Pyongyang is super interesting! Walking through the city is super surreal. It's interesting that you mention changes in NK, I think Kim Jong Un is looking at China for inspiration. He's portrayed in official propaganda as a bearer of change and It looks like he's implementing similar measures to the ones Deng Xiaoping implemented in China. For starters, having a free market zone, investing on rural areas, decentralizing power (focusing on the provinces governments), importing cultural elements (now, for example, you see pizza places inspired in Naples), etc. I get the feel they're aiming for market socialism and that's why Kim Jong Un is much more focused on stopping the US block than Kim Jong Il ever was. The Kim-Trump reunion was supposed to be the breaking point.

Btw, there are no monuments dedicated to Kim Jong Un! Just like there were almost no monuments dedicated to Kim Jong Il until he died.
And the reunification monument is NOT about reunification under Kim's rule! Kim Jong Il has a bunch of speeches where he states that "The country's reunification is not a matter of settling any class contradictions within our nation or
antagonism between social systems. It is the national cause of establishing the nation's sovereignty all over the country. We maintain that the north and the south join their efforts to promote co-existence, co-prosperity
and common interests." as in: Two systems, one country. The monument represents the idea of a dual country coexisting as a confederation.

[pongop]

It's mind boggling that something can be so inexpensive that the US doesn't have a unit of currency small enough. A penny is double the cost. Wow.

[anneeq]

"one ticket costs 1/2 cent"

That's INSANE!

[mattluck]

I love that American cognitive dissidence when he says “ppl go to the park to get a break from the surveillance”, when not only do we barely have any public spaces but the unconscious requirement of those public spaces are that you’d spend money which advertisers use to track you. Americans are great.