[lwptoc]
P’yŏngyang, North Korea’s capital and biggest city, with a population of around 2,750,000 people. It is located on the Taedong River in the country’s southwest.
Since the Korean War (1950–53), the capital has been extensively renovated. It is laid out with broad avenues, massive monuments, and monolithic structures.
Pyongyang was destroyed during the Korean War and has been completely rebuilt in accordance with Kim Il-vision. Sung’s His ambition was to establish a capital that would bolster Korean morale and ego in the postwar years. As a consequence, the city has vast, tree-lined boulevards and massive public buildings with terraced landscaping, mosaics, and ornate ceilings.
Foreign tourists have praised Pyongyang as one of the most beautiful cities they have seen; its Russian-style architecture reminds them of a Siberian metropolis amid winter snowfall, however edifices of traditional Korean design soften this view. It is known in the summer for its rivers, willow trees, flowers, and parks.
Pyongyang’s structures are classified into three types: monuments, buildings with traditional Korean patterns, and high-rises. Monuments, such as the Juche Tower, the Arch of Triumph, and the Mansu Hill Grand Monument, are among of North Korea’s most recognizable landmarks. The first is a 170-meter granite tower that symbolizes Juche philosophy. It was finished in 1982 and consists of 25,550 granite blocks, one for each day of Kim Il-life Sung’s up until that moment. Ryugyong Hotel, the seventh tallest building in the world in terms of floor count and one of the world’s tallest hotels, is by far the most visible structure on Pyongyang’s skyline. It is yet to be opened.