Penthouses in North Korea are mainly for the unfortunate few

SEOUL: For people in many countries, living in a penthouse is the dream. In North Korea? Not so much.

Leader Kim Jong Un keeps building outwardly glamorous high-rise apartment buildings in the capital, Pyongyang, with the latest being an 80-storey skyscraper completed this week.

But defectors and other North Koreans say that unreliable elevators and electricity, poor water supply, and concerns about workmanship mean that historically few people have wanted to live near the top of such structures.

"In North Korea, the poor live in penthouses rather than the rich, because lifts are often not working properly, and they cannot pump up water due to the low pressure," said Jung Si-woo, a 31-year-old who defected to neighbouring South Korea in 2017.

In the North, he lived on the third floor of a 13-storey building that lacked an elevator, while a friend who lived on the 28th floor of a 40-storey block had never used the elevator because it was not working, Jung said.

Asked about the new 80-floor skyscraper opened this week, Jung said he thought Kim was just showing off.

"It's to show how much their construction skills have improved, rather than considering residents' preferences," said the university student.