The ceremony, which coincided with the birthday of the leader’s father, took place in Pyongyang’s Hwasong district on Sunday.
ADVERTISEMENTNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un detonated a massive explosion at a groundbreaking ceremony in the country’s capital on Sunday as part of the final phase of an initiative to build thousands of new apartments.
In footage released by state media on Monday, the 41-year-old spoke to a large crowd, many of whom were wearing protective helmets.
By activating a switch, Kim triggered a large blast in the Hwasong district, a suburb of Pyongyang where many high-rise buildings have been built in recent years.
Sunday’s event comes as part of a five-year drive to construct 50,000 apartments in the capital.
“With the 10,000-household construction project of this year, the construction of 50,000 houses in Pyongyang City, which has been vigorously implemented since the Party Congress, has finally entered the final stage of completion,” Kim said in his address.
The ceremony took place on the anniversary of his father’s birthday, an occasion known in North Korea as the Day of the Shining Star.
Kim also visited his family’s mausoleum on Sunday for the first time in four years. It houses the embalmed bodies of his father and grandfather.
