Along with the project for building 10 000 flats in Pyongyang, the construction of the Pothong Riverside Terraced Houses District is underway on the picturesque riverbanks.

The construction of dwelling houses is part of the consistent people-oriented policy of the DPRK, but the on-going construction plan has a special meaning and impact.

The district is being built in the site where President Kim Il Sung’s house had been located.

The President had used the house for a long time before the then Kumsusan Assembly Hall was built.

In the post-war period, the President turned down the proposal for building a new house for him, saying his primary concern was to build dwellings for the people. It was only in the mid-1950s when residential districts were constructed circling Pyongyang and people were moving into their new homes that a proposal for reno-vating his residence was submitted. However, the designers of it had to change its design several times.

The President instructed them not to decorate the house with marble and imported building materials but to furnish it in a simple Korean way as he pointed out the direction of modifying the design.

Later, the second and third drafts were rejected in succession and the final design was too plain to be called that for a residence of a head of state.

According to information available, the President told architects at that time that he was planning to build a children’s palace in Pyongyang on a large scale and they could design it as large and elegant as they pleased.

Since then, numerous architectural structures and residential districts were constructed in the city, including the Pyongyang Students and Children’s Palace. However, the house of the President remained the same for a long time.

Therefore, for the Korean people, the house was not just an ordinary house but a beloved place which was associated with the memories of the leader of the people.

Nevertheless, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un decided to build luxury apartments for people at the site of the house.

As he inspected the site last March, he said that the President would be pleased if he knew that the house would be removed to build modern terraced houses to be provided to the people, and added that the Pothong Riverside Terraced Houses District would become the most civilized urban area with outstanding scenic beauty in Pyongyang.

The luxury houses which are to be built within this year under the direct guidance of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea will be supplied to ordinary working people.