KLDR reportedly plans to celebrate the anniversary by building 100,000 new houses

Pyongyang - North Korea reportedly wants to celebrate two upcoming major anniversaries with an ambitious urban project. By 2012, around 100,000 new homes are to be built in Pyongyang. This was reported today by the Korea Herald, citing the South Korean agency Yonhap.
In 2012, the DPRK will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the state’s founder, Kim Il-sung, and the 70th birthday of his son and current leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il. Pyongyang is also planning to carry out several other projects as part of the celebrations.
The newspaper Choson Sinbo, which is published in Japan and is favorable to the regime in North Korea, described this ongoing construction as "an unprecedented and pivotal national project" among all other state plans expected to be completed by 2012.
The paper reported that the DPRK has started building 65,000 new homes in the western district of Mangyongdae, Kim Il-sung's birthplace, 15,000 homes in the center of Pyongyang, and 20,000 homes near the railway in the northern part of the metropolis. Each house will be approximately 100 square meters in size, the report states.
The capital of North Korea is experiencing a significant shortage of residential buildings, even though migration of people from rural areas to the city is subject to strict control. According to Choson Sinbo, the completion of the project is expected to solve the housing problem here. Approximately 3.25 million people live in Pyongyang, according to estimates.