As reported here in July, the drive to show North Korea as a "strong and prosperous state" by 2012, the centenary of Kim Il Sung's birth (aka Juche year 100), has seen a building boom in Pyongyang.
The Daily NK now has photos. Here's downtown in all its glory:
In an effort to accomplish these aims, the regime has reportedly closed universities in order to inject students into the construction work alongside members of the Chosun People's Army. Inside sources allege that there have been many accidents as inexperienced workers are pushed to finish on time.
More photos here.
Elsewhere, Stephen Haggard has a couple of interesting North Korean posts: one on the increase in the importation of luxury goods, and another on the food crisis.
That second piece links to this Nicholas Eberstadt article on the futility of humanitarian aid:
More than a decade and a half of humanitarian relief initiatives for North Korea have been financed by well-meaning but essentially clueless bureaucracies in the international community oblivious to, or unwilling to face, the ugly realities that account for North Korea’s hunger problem today. To no great surprise, these clueless programs of supposed humanitarian relief have been a resounding failure. Or to be a little more precise: they have done a wonderful job of nourishing and supporting the North Korean regime — they have only incidentally and episodically mitigated the distress of the victims for which they were intended. Thus the unending calls for more food aid for North Korea — a pattern that in itself should awaken us to the basic bankruptcy of our current approach.
Worth reading in full.
Mick Hartley 
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