Kim Jong Un Executes Architect Over Design

We can all have problems with builders.

But when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un showed off his country’s newest building he failed to mention that it seems its chief architect was executed because Kim didn’t like the design.

North Korea’s propaganda machine has spent days promoting a new airport in Pyongyang, showcasing the building’s sleek glass walls and espresso stations.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency published a 30-photo slide show last week of Kim Jong Un and his wife touring a two story international terminal in Pyongyang’s airport.

The project is the country’s latest bid to appeal to potential tourists since Kim ascended to power in North Korea three years ago and features a jewellery store, coffee bar, a pharmacy, a chocolate fountain and other luxury amenities.

The new airport is scheduled to open this week and will primarily accept flights from China and Russia.

But Ma Won Chun, who was North Korea’s director of the Designing Department of the National Defence Commission until he vanished last year, was noticeably absent from the press photos.

Chun was the chief architect behind North Korea’s biggest government projects when he, along with five other high-level officials, were reportedly killed during one of Kim’s purges.

Ma was executed in November 2014 “for corrupt practices and failure to follow orders,” according to the Diplomat, a news outlet that covers the Asia Pacific.

His death coincided with a report explaining that airport renovations were being suspended because of Kim’s dissatisfaction.

“Defects were manifested in the last phase of the construction of the Terminal 2 because the designers failed to bear in mind the party’s idea of architectural beauty that is the life and soul and core in architecture to preserve the character and national identity,” Kim said, according to NKNews’ transcript of a state media report.

“It is necessary to finish the construction of the terminal to be an icon of [North] Korea, the face of the country and the gateway to Pyongyang.”

It’s not clear where North Korea - a country ravaged by regular famines and fuel shortages - got the cash to build the new airport.