Serpo
2nd January 2011, 08:35 PM
North Korea's heir-apparent launches luxury villa construction spree
A starving North Korea is reportedly spending more than £100 million on new offices and villas for Kim Jong-un, the country's heir-apparent.
By Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor 9:30PM GMT 31 Dec 2010
The construction spree, documented in satellite photographs and informant accounts assembled by South Korea's intelligence services, began as Kim Jong-un was named to succeed his ailing father, Kim Jong-il, last month.
No independent corroboration of the photographs was possible, but two North Korea experts told The Daily Telegraph that the material was credible. North Korea's ruling family has long been known to live in considerable luxury, unlike the vast majority of the population it rules over.
House 15 in Pyongyang's central district, where Kim Jong-un grew up, has been rebuilt from the foundations to standards of luxury deemed appropriate for his new role. The building earlier housed Kim Jong-un's mother, Ko Young Hee, who is thought to have died of breast cancer in 2004.
House 16, next door, houses Kim Jong-il. Both houses are thought to be connected to offices through an underground tunnel.
Kim Jong-un, South Korean intelligence sources believe, is also the likely inhabitant of a new villa that has been built in North Hamgyong province, famous for its hot springs and spas. Local residents were alleged to have been press-ganged into work on a railway line and road that will ease access to the villa.
A massive new hall is coming up at Songdowon, along the sea in Gangwon province -- the site of a family resort complex that includes a dock for a yacht and a private railway station.
The structure of the hall, South Korean intelligence believes, suggests it includes an undersea viewing area similar to that at Seoho Villa, another family property in South Hamkyung province. That is reputed to include a three-level undersea gallery that allows visitors to view aquatic life 100 metres below sea level.
South Korean intelligence says the Kim family's assets include at least 33 villas scattered across North Korea's countryside. It is alleged that 28 of these are connected by railway stations maintained exclusively for the ruling family's use.
In November, the World Food Programme provided a grim assessment of mass poverty in North Korea, saying public food rations provided to 68 per cent of the country's population met less than half their needs. The WFP said that a third of all children were chronically malnourished, as were a quarter of pregnant women and breast-feeding women.
The WFP said that North Korea would have to import 867,000 tons of cereals, but planned to buy just 325,000 tons. Even if 305,000 tons of promised food assistance made its way to the intended beneficiaries, the WFP data showed, North Korea's citizens would still be left short of 237,000 tons.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8233874/North-Koreas-heir-apparent-launches-luxury-villa-construction-spree.html
A starving North Korea is reportedly spending more than £100 million on new offices and villas for Kim Jong-un, the country's heir-apparent.
By Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor 9:30PM GMT 31 Dec 2010
The construction spree, documented in satellite photographs and informant accounts assembled by South Korea's intelligence services, began as Kim Jong-un was named to succeed his ailing father, Kim Jong-il, last month.
No independent corroboration of the photographs was possible, but two North Korea experts told The Daily Telegraph that the material was credible. North Korea's ruling family has long been known to live in considerable luxury, unlike the vast majority of the population it rules over.
House 15 in Pyongyang's central district, where Kim Jong-un grew up, has been rebuilt from the foundations to standards of luxury deemed appropriate for his new role. The building earlier housed Kim Jong-un's mother, Ko Young Hee, who is thought to have died of breast cancer in 2004.
House 16, next door, houses Kim Jong-il. Both houses are thought to be connected to offices through an underground tunnel.
Kim Jong-un, South Korean intelligence sources believe, is also the likely inhabitant of a new villa that has been built in North Hamgyong province, famous for its hot springs and spas. Local residents were alleged to have been press-ganged into work on a railway line and road that will ease access to the villa.
A massive new hall is coming up at Songdowon, along the sea in Gangwon province -- the site of a family resort complex that includes a dock for a yacht and a private railway station.
The structure of the hall, South Korean intelligence believes, suggests it includes an undersea viewing area similar to that at Seoho Villa, another family property in South Hamkyung province. That is reputed to include a three-level undersea gallery that allows visitors to view aquatic life 100 metres below sea level.
South Korean intelligence says the Kim family's assets include at least 33 villas scattered across North Korea's countryside. It is alleged that 28 of these are connected by railway stations maintained exclusively for the ruling family's use.
In November, the World Food Programme provided a grim assessment of mass poverty in North Korea, saying public food rations provided to 68 per cent of the country's population met less than half their needs. The WFP said that a third of all children were chronically malnourished, as were a quarter of pregnant women and breast-feeding women.
The WFP said that North Korea would have to import 867,000 tons of cereals, but planned to buy just 325,000 tons. Even if 305,000 tons of promised food assistance made its way to the intended beneficiaries, the WFP data showed, North Korea's citizens would still be left short of 237,000 tons.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8233874/North-Koreas-heir-apparent-launches-luxury-villa-construction-spree.html